The Philadelphia Flyers are on the hunt. General manager Danny Briere is crouching down in the bushes and ready to pounce on whatever first-line center becomes available for this team to take a major step. And now they’re in the stages of just waiting to see who comes up next.
As we all know, the Flyers are missing that massive piece down the middle. They have very good wingers in Travis Konecny and Tyson Foerster and Owen Tippett, and then up-and-coming stars like Porter Martone and Matvei Michkov on the wings as well. Travis Sanheim and the dynamic duo of Cam York and Jamie Drysdale are keeping things steady on the blue line. And then in the first move of the offseason, Briere created a goaltending tandem that, if everything breaks right, could rival the best in the league.
All the pieces are starting to fall into place, and we all saw a little bit of that potential come to fruition when they managed to make their first playoff appearance as a group and even earn themselves a series win over the rival Pittsburgh Penguins. It just seems like, while their group of centers has been improved with the additions of Trevor Zegras and Christian Dvorak, forward steps taken by Noah Cates, and Sean Couturier settling into a depth role; they are still missing that actual bona fide top-line center to really help everything settle down and for every player to get snug in the role that works best for them to make Philadelphia a regular contender.
While there are some centers that are certainly available this summer and the Flyers could pull off a major addition, they might just be waiting for the biggest fish of them all. Because why commit yourself to catching a cod when you can get yourself an Atlantic bluefin tuna?
(Yes, I had to look up what was the biggest fish ever caught on a boat.)
Flyers could be waiting for Auston Matthews to come to Philadelphia
The Auston Matthews situation with the Toronto Maple Leafs is a weird one and it seems like everyone is just waiting to see what happens and what his ultimate decision is. Because, after all, just like it was with his Olympic teammate Quinn Hughes, he has the call and if he tells Leafs general manager John Chayka that he’s not signing a contract extension, then he could be traded well before his current contract ends in July 2028.
And according to a recent quasi report, the Flyers are waiting to see what happens with No. 34.
“The Flyers are already keeping tabs on the Red Wings’ Dylan Larkin and, according to a team source, have an ear pointed towards Toronto if Auston Matthews becomes available,” Kevin Kurz wrote in The Athletic Thursday.
Matthews is coming off an injury-plagued season while coached terribly in a terrible situation on a bad team, and still scored 27 goals and 53 points in 60 games. It is still questionable if he can return to scoring 69 goals and being a Selke Trophy finalist, but he is at the very least a very good first-line center. The 28-year-old is under contract for two more seasons at a $13.25-million AAV cap hit and has a full no-movement clause in both years.
While it has been speculated on and vaguely reported, this feels like the most definitive answer as to whether or not the Flyers are even looking around Matthews and thinking of the possibility of making a move on him.
But, of course it’s somewhat obvious. For a team that desperately needs a first-line center to not be interested in potentially the best one to ever be made available via trade since Wayne Gretzky — you can have your debate about Eichel vs. Matthews in the comments — would be insane to think about. Of course the Flyers are thinking about a potential Auston Matthews trade.
Although now, we can maybe piece together that they could be planning for such an occasion.
If the Flyers don’t spend a whole lot of assets this summer to upgrade the team, it can mean that they just don’t want to take that massive leap into people expecting them to return to the playoffs. That is the goal, of course. But for them to then spend a couple good draft picks and empty a portion of the prospect pool for a Dylan Larkin — which Kurz mentioned — it is signaling that that center is their guy and they would be taking themselves a little bit out of the race for Matthews.
Or, you know, Briere just wants to be smart about this and isn’t feeling pressure to make major additions to a team who gets to experience a full season of Porter Martone for the first time next year.
The Flyers might just end up being extremely patient if they even get a whisper that Matthews would consider coming to Philadelphia in free agency or waiving his no-movement clause for a trade. But, there is a major question that needs to be asked.
Is Auston Matthews really available?
The unfortunate thing is that it won’t happen this summer.
Barring anything absolutely insane happening, it has been reported that Matthews is going to see things through and start the season as a Maple Leaf. With new management, he will see what moves Chayka makes in the offseason and how he can work under new head coach Jim Hiller. Adding Gavin McKenna to that mix will certainly help, but it will take a big overhaul of the blue line and scoring depth to then convince Matthews that he can actually win in Toronto.
Because that is what he has said multiple times: That he wants to win as a Maple Leaf and as their captain.
But, if things turn for the worse and they start the season on a dreadful note, we can see a situation unravel just like the situation with Quinn Hughes and Vancouver, and Matthews is heading out the door before next year’s trade deadline.
So, the Flyers might have to wait for their perfect situation to happen — but there is a world where the Leafs are terrible (which is good news for the Flyers as holders of their 2027 first-round pick) and then Matthews hands over a list of teams he would waive his no-movement clause for by January. The Flyers would theoretically have the pieces to make that move too, with all the prospects they have drafted and maybe the most prized possession of them all: That 2027 first-round pick so that the Leafs can properly tank after trading their captain and draft Landon Dupont or something.
This is, of course, a dream scenario, but it is not impossible. We at least know that the Flyers are seriously monitoring this situation and might just be waiting and holding onto their prime assets to then pull this off. Could it be a mistake if they wait too long or wait for the perfect situation and don’t go out and get a good-not-great top-line center? Maybe, but that’s the risk they seem to be fine taking for now.
