The Philadelphia Flyers haven’t exactly had a bustling trade deadline day, but they’ve still found a way to be active and in the mix. In a bit of depth shuffling, they’ve traded Wade Allison to Nashville for right winger Denis Gurianov.
Gurianov is 26 years old and has split this season between Nashville and their AHL affiliate in Milwaukee. In 14 games with the Predators, he has two points, and he has 12 goals and 30 points in 27 games with the Admirals in the AHL.
The Russian right-winger is currently on Nashville’s NHL roster and will require waivers if he were to be sent down to the Phantoms before the season is done.
Prior to that, Gurianov spent parts of five seasons the the Dallas Stars, and while he ultimately dropped off with them a bit and fell out of favor, he did also spend some time playing up in the lineup with the Stars’ top players. So there’s some potential lineup flexibility here, and despite some of the strife in his career so far, Gurianov seems exactly like the kind of reclamation project the Flyers have been looking to pick up recently.
And as for Allison, this is likely a welcome change of scenery. He showed some promising flash in the NHL, but fell out of favor with the coaching staff, and despite him seeming to be putting it back together in the AHL this season with the Phantoms, with Tortorella still at the helm of the NHL squad, it felt unlikely that Allison was going to get a real sniff with the Flyers again.
The Flyers have still been looking to find the perfect mix for their forward group, even as they’re getting healthier, and this addition gives them another option to work with, as they look to polish things out down the stretch.
All stats via Elite Prospects
