Marner, Robertson, and if it’s worth it for Flyers to splurge on a center

As the NHL quickly progresses into the offseason, the rumors of transactions to come are starting to make their rounds. Whether it be Minnesota’s Marco Rossi , Vegas’s Nic Hague , or a big trade involving one of the team’s first round picks, the Philadelphia Flyers are in the middle of nearly everything that comes out.

But while those more concrete expressions of interest are a bit easier to justify and pull off, they aren’t as exciting as say, acquiring an elite top-line winger that may or may not be readily available.

Mitch Marner’s contract in Toronto is set to expire, and the 28-year old winger looks poised to leave the only team he’s ever known after a checkered past marred by repeated playoff disappointments. Despite repeated underperformances when the calendar turned to April, Marner still is a proficient regular season weapon, and has some of the best on-ice vision in the NHL when he is running right. The Maple Leafs have no control over where he goes now, and reports lean towards the idea that Marner will try and find greener pastures and begin anew on July 1.

Meanwhile in the deep south, the Dallas Stars are staring down a host of difficult decisions following their third consecutive conference final exit. The massive Mikko Rantanen extension has put a 12 million dollar hole in their cap sheet, and makes it so the Stars will have over $53 million committed to just seven forwards for the upcoming season, and that’s taking into account that Matt Duchene, Mikael Granlund, and Evgenii Dadonov all looking set to leave in free agency , and longtime Stars captain Jamie Benn needing a new deal if he wants to stick around for another ride.

Jason Robertson’s name has come into conversation as a potential cap casualty due to his 2026 restricted free agent status, as the Stars may look to reclaim some cap space and shake up a roster that has repeatedly failed to break through. And according to recent reports , Dallas wants to re-sign Mikael Granlund and if they cannot ship cap burdens in the form of Matt Dumba and Ilya Lyubushkin, out to other teams, then Robertson might be moved instead.

Robertson’s production in the regular season has vastly outpaced what was expected of him as a 39th overall pick, peaking in 2022-23 when he exploded for 46 goals and 109 points. His regular season consistency is almost as impressive as his one season peak; every other time he’s played more than 70 games, he’s either scored 79 or 80 points.

Both players have their merits and drawbacks, and Robertson would need both a trade to acquire his rights and then a subsequent big money contract extension, but both would definitely make the team better immediately.

The larger question at hand is: Would acquiring another talented winger, after extending Travis Konecny and Owen Tippett already, make sense while the team is still so desperate for centers?

You only need the One

All of this depends on whether or not Danny Briere and Keith Jones believe in their ability to find a centerpiece, pun intended.

There is a need for center depth, for certain, and aside from the need for a deep defense, it is probably the most important spot on the entire roster. But the Flyers have shown the ability to create that sort of player. Scott Laughton was a perfectly fine fourth line center, Noah Cates is either a great third line center, or a good second line center, Jett Luchanko seems as if he will be another legitimate middle-six option, and Sean Couturier continues to exist, for the most part. There will be some depth available if the Flyers can somehow stumble into that perfect first-line center that every NHL team wishes for.

It ultimately comes down to the front office’s ability to acquire a sufficient player at a reasonable cap hit that can lead the line as a two-way force. It doesn’t have to be a generational talent up the middle, names like Anze Kopitar, Aleksander Barkov, Patrice Bergeron, and even Ryan O’Reilly won Stanley Cups as number one centers without a particularly potent offensive dominance. These players are still exceedingly difficult to find, without a doubt, but it at least offers an alternative to simply hoping to luck into generational talents.

If you believe that this regime can find that special player, and relatively quickly, then acquiring a bonafide 85-point scorer at minimum will greatly improve the team immediately, regardless of their position. Do it, and get ready to switch this project into overdrive perhaps a year earlier than anticipated.

That is a risk, and gums up the cap sheet even further with money committed to wingers while a number one goalie, center, and defenseman continue to elude the organization\'s grasp.

It seems like a leap of faith that is just unnecessarily speeding up the timeline of a roster that has, up to this point, been on a very gradual incline over the past couple of years. While it may take advantage of Matvei Michkov being on an entry-level contract until 2027, that probably isn\'t worth justifying that quick of a turnaround while there are still so many holes on the existing roster. A luxury piece like an elite free agent winger comes as a final push to move towards ultimate contention, and is hard to justify as a true cornerstone.

Putting $14 million on the table to try and entice Mitch Marner is a very 2000\'s way to build a competitor. It is something that the Flyers have tried to emulate in the past, to predictable results. And in the case of Robertson, the assets that you give up in order to acquire the player\'s rights in the first place, plus the enormous contract that would follow, you could argue makes it not even worth the hassle of trying to lure him into a long-term deal.

It\'s fun, it\'s provocative, but it really doesn\'t make much sense.

Talking Points