The Philadelphia Flyers are playing well enough to be in the hunt of a playoff spot as we enter December, but they will certainly still be involved in some significant transactions before the NHL trade deadline hits three months from now.
Thankfully, this team still is committing to the longer process of a rebuild. Piling up loads of draft picks and prospects to try and ice a competitive team when the already-drafted Flyers are entering their prime. A difficult dance for most organization, but they are attempting it in Philadelphia.
With all that in mind, the Flyers have a handful of pending unrestricted free agents that could be dangled for compensation to help them on this rebuilding journey. One of those guys, and certainly the one that will fetch the most when it is all said and done, is defenseman Sean Walker. And Walker’s name just keeps on popping up in recent trade rumors.
On Monday’s episode of 32 Thoughts, Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek were going over some options for the Toronto Maple Leafs to recover from some season-threatening injuries to their blue line. Of course, it is very Toronto-centric, but a little bit of Flyers Chat snuck through and they mentioned that as recently as the past couple of days, Walker’s name was out there in the trade stratosphere.
“There was a name that was floated out over the weekend — I don’t think by either of the teams who would be involved in the deal — but the name Sean Walker was out there,” Marek said. “That’s another right-shot D. Now, it’s not the snarly Nikita Zadorov or the shot-blocking machine that is Chris Tanev, but he is someone who is having a really great season.”
This is certainly pertaining more to the Leafs’ current issue and to see if they are willing to fix it via a trade before year’s end. But, it wouldn’t be completely out of nowhere to see Walker traded months before the actual trade deadline. Teams need the exact type of player that Walker is, and if a team comes strolling in and offers a pretty package, then Briere could certainly jump at that opportunity.
The NHL trade deadline is March 8, so there is certainly loads of time remaining to make deals, but we should be hearing a lot more buzz around Sean Walker than we ever expected.
