The Philadelphia Flyers are starting to turn the corner in their rebuild. The veterans are still contributing enough, role players are reaching their primes, and several young players are taking steps forward.
A lot of important decisions have already been made by Danny Briere and Keith Jones, but the most crucial moves are yet to come. The Flyers still don’t have the top-end talent at center that they need to contend, nor do they have the depth to make up for that.
Briere & Co. have to choose their next steps carefully. They don’t want to miss out on a potential opportunity, but making a big move too soon or for the wrong player could put the team into a tailspin.
They’ve already shown that they can find some underappreciated assets from other teams and turn them into pieces — big or small — that can help the team moving forward. Trevor Zegras is the prime example of that, but the forward is primarily playing a wing-hybrid role with center Christian Dvorak. He was brought in as an option to improve the team down the middle. Instead, he’s turned into a nearly point-per-game player on the wing — that’s not a complaint.
But the Flyers do still need to find some help at center, whether that’s a top-line guy or someone who can provide stability in the middle-six.
Flyers can address center depth with another reclamation project
It’s obviously not a perfect comparison to the Zegras situation in Anaheim, but you have to wonder if the Flyers will be in on Shane Wright in Seattle. The Kraken are open to moving the young center, per Elliotte Friedman:
“The Shane Wright stuff, that he’s available and out there and the Kraken are considering moving him — that’s real,” Friedman said on the January 23 episode of 32 Thoughts.
Seattle has been an up-and-down squad this season, and Friedman noted that the Kraken were looking more toward selling when they were struggling in December. They’ve put together some solid showings since then, but are back on a downswing.
Nevertheless, Wright is available and could be the type of center the Flyers could pursue.
Wright was the presumed first overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft. He was ranked first on most boards out there, but fell to the Kraken at fourth overall, infamously glaring as he finally made his way to the stage. So the talent is there for Wright, and he clearly has a competitive drive.
While that hasn’t shown up in Seattle yet, he is still just 22 years old and could’ve needed a bit more time to develop rather than going back and forth and playing in the NHL, AHL, and OHL in his draft year, and then NHL and OHL in the following year.
Last year was his first full season in the NHL. He scored 19 goals and added 25 assists for 44 points in 79 games. He did that while primarily playing with the likes of Oliver Bjorkstrand, Eeli Tolvanen, Andre Burakovsky, and Jared McCann. Those are fine wingers, but the Flyers could probably provide him with better support, especially in the future when Tyson Foerster is healthy and Porter Martone dons the orange and black.
This season, Wright has 18 points (7 goals, 11 assists) through 52 games. He’s been playing on the third line with McCann and rookie Berkly Catton, and now with Jaden Schwartz and Kaapo Kakko.
Seattle hasn’t exactly shown an ability to properly develop players either. Having three head coaches in three seasons will do that. First it was Dave Hakstol through 2024, then Dan Bylsma last year, and Lane Lambert this season. That’s a lot of different systems and strategies to learn, forget, and relearn while finding your footing in the NHL.
Wright may never reach the potential of what people thought he might be entering his draft — he had 94 points (32 goals, 62 assists) as captain of the Kingston Frontenacs in the OHL –, but he can still carve out a role as a middle-six center. He’s still just 22 years old and has bounced around since getting drafted.
Wright is in the second year of his entry-level contract. That carries a $886,667 cap hit through next season when he becomes a restricted free agent.
What will a Shane Wright trade cost the Flyers?
As always, the big question when it comes to anything is the price.
Not too many top-five picks are traded so early in their careers, but one has recently been in Kirby Dach. After being selected third overall in 2019, the Blackhawks traded Dach to Montreal for a first-round pick (13th overall) and third-round pick (66th) overall at the 2022 NHL Draft. Maybe the Flyers would be willing to move a first-round pick to get a young middle-six center with potential.
Friedman did speculate a bit on what the Kraken might be looking for.
“That’s one thing Seattle has always looked at, is trying to find a dynamic offensive player. That’s kind of one of the things that they’ve never really had,” he said. “They have (Matty) Beniers, who’s a talented guy, but they’ve never had that kind of young dynamic scorer. I think what they’re hoping is that maybe Wright can get them that and see where it goes.”
The Flyers don’t exactly have a young, dynamic scorer, and any trade rumors around someone like Owen Tippett should be shut down for now unless it’s for a true top-line center like Robert Thomas, who Friedman also mentioned as being available, but that’s a conversation for another day.
Perhaps Bobby Brink could fit the bill, but he would probably need to be the start of part of a package to woo Seattle, and he’s proven to be a valuable depth winger for the Flyers.
Friedman floated out the idea of the Kraken swapping Wright for Alexis Lafreniere, another top pick who has disappointed with his first club. The Flyers certainly don’t have a former top-five pick to move, although trying to sell Seattle on Jett Luchanko in a deal for Wright could be interesting. It’d basically be giving the Kraken a slightly younger center who also hasn’t impressed too much offensively since being drafted last year.
But if the Kraken are determined to move Wright, and there aren’t many bidders, perhaps that price comes down a bit.
By no means is it a slam dunk, but Wright is the type of player that Briere and the Flyers should be in on or at least asking about. Centers are hard to find in today’s NHL, and ones with pedigree like Wright don’t become available too often.
