So, the 2016 NHL trade deadline has come and gone and the Philadelphia Flyers have ….
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… done nothing at all. Not a single trade. Not even really a sniff at a trade, from what we can tell. So that’s underwhelming, I guess. On the other hand, they didn’t go out and do anything stupid, so that’s always a win on this day when doing stupid things can be very tempting for NHL general managers of all types.
There weren’t a lot of trades at all today. Just about 10, as of this writing, with the possibility of some last minute deals coming through. By comparison, 23 trades were made on deadline day last year. The biggest deal today was probably the move of defenseman Kris Russell from Calgary to Dallas, in which the Stars gave up … well, a lot.
That’s likely for a lot of reasons. The salary cap crunch could be on this summer with the Canadian dollar in the toilet, and the uncertainty there leads to less movement in general. From a Philadelphia-specific perspective, the team’s inability to retain salary in a trade — they are already retaining salary on three players, which is the limit — likely ruined chances of being able to move somebody like Mark Streit.
So, no moves. I don’t think anybody is necessarily upset about that, although it certainly made today a little less fun. Oh well. There’s a game tonight, and now we turn our attention to Jakub Voracek’s injury status. Ron Hextall will speak with the media at 5 p.m.
