With just around four hours left for NHL general managers to make trades, it turns out that Chuck Fletcher has pulled the strings yet again and acquired center Nate Thompson from the Montreal Canadiens:
Nate Thompson to PHI for a 5th-rounder
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) February 24, 2020
Thompson, 35, is regarded as a great penalty killer, is good from the face-off dot (55.0% of face-offs won), and will likely slot in at the 4C spot as the Flyers look to make a playoff run.
He has 14 points (four goals, ten assists) in 63 games played, with a 48.66% Corsi-for percentage at 5-on-5, which isn’t amazing but is better than both Tyler Pitlick and Connor Bunnaman’s 5-on-5 CF%.
Thompson’s contract is only for the 2019-20 season, so this is almost certainly a rental move for the club. The pick is for 2021, so this is a very no-risk move for the Flyers to make.
