Trevor Zegras wasn’t the first, and he certainly won’t be the last given the Philadelphia Flyers and this specific day of the year.
If you are a Flyers fan, and looked at a calendar today, you probably suspected something was going to happen. Regardless of how secretive or close to the vest general manager Danny Briere plays his cards, the calendar date today read June 23. It is the 174th day of the calendar year, but a day that seemingly is synonymous with the Philadelphia Flyers making a trade.
We’re not sure why the team makes so many moves on this particular date. The days before the NHL Draft often come with discussions and trade speculation. But for a team to routinely do something on a calendar date almost defies logic, sort of like Anaheim general manager Pat Verbeek’s rationale in today’s trade sending Trevor Zegras to Philadelphia for two picks and Ryan Poehling. Zegras isn’t the first June 23rd arrival to Philadelphia. And given their track record, he sure as hell won’t be their last. Here then is a timeline of the Flyers and their movements on June 23.
June 23, 2001
The Flyers didn’t change the course of their history with two moves on this date. But in terms of the date, this was the first of the lot. Philadelphia acquired Jiri Dopita from the Florida Panthers in exchange for the Flyers second-round pick (56th overall) in the 2001 NHL Draft. Florida flipped that pick to Calgary who took Andrei Medvedev, a Russian goalie who never played in the NHL. As for Dopita, he played 52 games with Philadelphia in 2001-02, scoring 11 goals and adding 16 assists for 27 points. The following June (not the 23rd, but the 19th) Dopita was traded to Edmonton, playing 21 games for the Oilers before returning to play in Europe the rest of his career.
The second trade the Flyers made that same day was with Ottawa. The Flyers acquired Ottawa’s first-round pick and a seventh-round pick in 2001 as well as a second-round pick in 2002. In exchange the Flyers gave up their 2001 first-round pick so Ottawa could move up. Ottawa took Tim Gleason with the pick. Meanwhile none of the Flyers picks from this trade panned out to any significance. The Flyers took Jeff Woywitka with the 2001 first-round pick (27th overall) but he never played a game for Philadelphia. The seventh-round pick, David Printz, oddly enough played 13 games over two seasons for the Flyers despite being taken 225th overall.
The two moves were quickly surpassed by the five transactions the Flyers made on June 24, 2001. But remember, let’s stick with June 23!
June 23, 2002
Not a blockbuster but a move nonetheless. During the 2002 NHL Draft the Flyers and Columbus swapped picks. The Flyers acquired a 2003 fifth-round pick in exchange for a sixth-round pick and seventh-round pick the Blue Jackets used in 2002. Philadelphia took David Tremblay with the pick (140th overall) but he never saw NHL action.
June 23, 2007
Philadelphia found the Capitals to be a suitable trading partner this time. The Flyers acquired Washington’s second-round pick in 2007 in exchange for a 2007 third-round pick and a 2008 second-round pick. The Flyers selected Kevin Marshall in 2007 (41st overall). Marshall had 10 games of action with the Flyers but didn’t register a point. In February 2012, Philadelphia traded Marshall to Washington of all places for Matthew Ford.
June 23, 2011
Despite making the Stanley Cup finals in 2010, the Philadelphia Flyers never quite had that same magical mojo with them heading into the 2011 playoffs. Boston spanked the Flyers in a four-game sweep, getting rid of the sour taste in their mouths somewhat from the Bruins’ epic collapse in 2010. It also was the year Boston went all the way, winning the Cup over Vancouver.
With the contract extensions for Mike Richards and Jeff Carter — both considered to be building blocks for the Flyers the next decade and beyond — taking up a long chunk of time and dollars, Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren did the unthinkable. In a span of an hour roughly, the Flyers parted with their two golden sons. Richards was on his way to Los Angeles. The return was Brayden Schenn, Wayne Simmonds and a second-round pick in 2012. Richards (who went along with Rob Bordson) won two Stanley Cups with the Kings. Meanwhile the package the Flyers got back was questioned by some, but not by others. Simmonds and Schenn were at the time young, prime forwards who looked to help Claude Giroux who became the key foundational piece to build around. And during their time in Philadelphia, both were key contributors, with Simmonds becoming a fan favorite for his style of play. Schenn went on to play 424 regular season games with the Flyers, scoring 109 goals and 137 assists for 246 points. Simmonds played 584 regular season games in Philadelphia with 203 goals, 175 assists and 378 points. Of those goals, 91 came on the power play and 34 were game-winning goals.
But another shoe that day dropped. The Flyers dealt Carter to Columbus for then young forward Jakub Voracek, the 2011 first-round pick and a third-rounder the same year. Nick Cousins was taken with the third pick (68th overall) and a bottom-six forward during his relatively short stay (107 games). The first-round pick (8th overall) saw Philadelphia take Sean Couturier. We all know Couturier panned out relatively splendidly, a Selke Trophy winner while also being one of the better shutdown centers in the league the last decade. Couturier as of now has 232 goals and 374 assists for 606 points in 874 regular season games. Voracek? Well he played 727 regular season games, scoring 177 goals and earning 427 assists for 604 points. Voracek was a perfect compliment to Claude Giroux during most of his time in Philadelphia. And when the Flyers had a power play!
In short, seeing Richards and Carter leave pissed off some fans. Richards ended up playing 453 regular season games, scoring 133 goals and 216 assists for 349 points. Carter meanwhile had 461 regular season games as a Flyer, scoring 181 times and adding 162 assists for 343 points. A return that saw Voracek, Simmonds, Schenn and Couturier alleviated some of that anger. At least it should have. The trades reshaped the Flyers for the next decade while clearing up some cap space at the time to address the goaltending situation in, er, Ilya Bryzgalov.
June 23, 2012
Compared to 2011, this one-for-one swap paled. However, the Flyers acquired a big blueliner in Luke Schenn with James van Riemsdyk heading to the Leafs. Schenn beefed up the blueline but his foot speed was problematic. He often was near the top of the league in hits, but some naysayers attributed it to the fact he couldn’t get out of his zone, thus the need to throw more checks. Schenn’s stint in Philadelphia last 213 regular season games with Schenn collecting 42 points. James van Riemsdyk did what he always seemed to do: score between 20 to 25 goals a season but rarely being the difference maker in the playoffs.
June 23, 2014
This trade wasn’t quite as perplexing to some as the 2011 deals, but it still annoyed some people, including some former BSH now current PHLY writer who will not be mentioned. The Flyers sent one of the team’s crowd favorites in Scott Hartnell to Columbus. In exchange, the Flyers received R. J. Umberger and a fourth-round pick in 2015. Hartnell was coming off 20-goal, 52-point season with the Flyers. Umberger was coming off a season that wasn’t great with 18 goals and 16 assists. Meanwhile the Flyers later swapped the fourth-round pick for a fourth-round pick and a sixth-round pick in 2015.
However, with the salary cap where it stood, the biggest difference was in term. Umberger, although not as good a player as Hartnell was, had two fewer seasons on his contract (with a $4.6 million AAV) than Hartnell (who was similiar with a $4.75 million AAV). Hartnell was bought out of his contract by Columbus, essentially paying him not to play over four seasons rather than simply eating the two years. As a hockey trade, it did not make a lot of sense. From a cap perspective, it had its modest upside.
June 23, 2017
Six years to the day after being acquired by the Flyers, Brayden Schenn was sent to St. Louis. In exchange the Blues sent Jori Lehtera, a 2017 first-round pick and a conditional first-round pick in 2018 back to Philadelphia. Lehtera was big. And slow. My god he was slow! In 89 regular season games, Lehtera scored all of four goals. He also had seven assists. You can do the math on the point total. The upside? Well the Flyers took the first-round pick to take Morgan Frost. Frost, who was sent to Calgary this past season alongside Joel Farabee, played 278 regular season games in Philadephia with 50 goals and 85 assists for a rather underwhelming 135 points. He never quite found his footing with the Flyers and was often the subject of rampant trade talk the last few seasons.
As for the conditional pick, the Flyers took Joel Farabee (14th overall) in 2018. Farabee had 90 goals and 111 points in 384 regular season games with Philadephia. It seemed fitting both players which were part of the same trade coming into the Flyers would be part of the same trade heading out to Calgary last January.
June 23, 2018
Not a huge one, just part of a rather inane series of deals Montreal and Philadelphia had over the years regarding seventh-round picks. Whether it was because scouts had planes to catch or teams wanted to focus on July 1 and free agency, both teams routinely swapped these late-round picks. The Flyers acquired the Habs’s seventh-round pick in 2019 for the Flyers seventh-round pick in 2018. Almost a year later, on June 22, 2019, the two teams against swapped seventh-round picks during the 2019 NHL Draft.
And now….the saga continues….June 23, 2025
The Philadelphia Flyers continued the June 23 story with another chapter today, sending Ryan Poehling, a 2025 second-round pick (reportedly 45th overall) and a fourth-round pick in 2026 to Anaheim. In exchange the Flyers acquired one many had discussed most of this season: Trevor Zegras. Zegras should help the forwards and could be a distinct help in terms of resolving the dearth of center depth. Zegras had 12 goals and 20 assists for 32 points in 52 games. But as was the case with Jamie Drysdale, the Flyers certainly don’t mind taking a player who needs a change and a challenge. This looks to be a huge win for the Flyers on paper. We’ll see how it transpires on the ice in October.
