The NHL has resumed. After the hockey hysteria we were all in thanks to the 4 Nations Face-Off, the 2024-25 regular season has come crashing back into our lives and now we find ourselves just a handful of hockey games until the March 7 trade deadline.
It will be an interesting one for the Philadelphia Flyers. Six games to play before general manager Danny Briere loses the option to trade anyone from the roster for the remainder of the season — a season which will almost certainly end after 82 games and we watch 16 other teams make the postseason. But what route will Briere take? We know that there are a couple names and options.
Both forward Scott Laughton and defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen have found their names involved in trade rumors for the last few months and the two-week break forced by the 4 Nations has not changed that. General managers around the league had two weeks to chat and plan without any of their hockey clubs in action, and the volume around the rumors surrounding the Flyers is starting to get louder.
On Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli’s most recent trade target board, Laughton and Ristolainen are near the very tippy top. The Flyers forward’s name is third on the list, and Ristolainen is steady at fourth. With that ranking, considering that on Frank’s previous trade boards this season six top-10 ranked players have already been moved, the likelihood that the Flyers are going to move on from these two veterans is seemingly increasing.
Nothing is for certain, though. Past reports — and essentially everything that has been repeated ad nauseum — claim that the Flyers will only move either player if they get a return that is worth it. Obvious statement aside, they have a price and considering that Laughton is under contract through next season, and Ristolainen has two more seasons on his deal after this one, they don’t need to be in any rush here.
And as pointed out by Ryan Gilbert last week, it is beginning to look like a major seller’s market around this trade deadline. With options dropping and some teams wanting to hold onto some expiring contracts, Laughton could be the best depth center option and some team might want everything that Ristolainen brings to the table more than some other guys like a Carson Soucy or Jamie Oleksiak. The Flyers can take major advantage of this and make two trades that will benefit their rebuilding plans more than we could have ever hoped for.
For right now, we’re just busy scouring trade boards and looking at rumors trying to connect some dots. The 4 Nations break hasn’t changed a thing. Maybe, if anything, it has accelerated conversations and we could see something happening sooner rather than a move with just hours remaining before the trade deadline on March 7.
