The Philadelphia Flyers are a team in a position that organizations don’t want to be in. They’re not good enough for playoffs right now as they sit eight points back of a playoff spot and have won three of their last 10 games, they’re not bad enough for a top-5 draft pick to have a good chance at winning the lottery or getting a game-changer, and they don’t have players to sell for any value. So they have to either dig deep and trade players with term to get something out of the season or stand pat and just let the season play out as a failure.
The good thing is there are some bright spots. Travis Konecny is still a top player, new additions in Dan Vladar and Trevor Zegras gave them more hope for the future, Denver Barkey stepped in, Jamie Drysdale has stayed healthy, and players like Christian Dvorak and Cam York stepped up. This is a team on the rise that needs a couple of years to really take form and for the young players to progress the way the Flyers hope.
But in terms of trading anything away at the deadline, the team has four pending UFAs, and they’re all depth players they may be able to get a sixth or seventh round pick for. This includes Noah Juulsen, Carl Grundstrom, Nick Deslauriers, and Rodrigo Abols.
Abols didn’t suffer a season-ending injury, but injured in January, he is missing the Olympics and might be able to play again this season. He has three goals and 10 points in 42 games while averaging 10.5 minutes per game. He’s not worth the pick for any team.
Juulsen would be acquired as a depth/seventh defenseman for a team with injury issues or something of the sort, and would probably get a seventh-round pick. He kills penalties and plays 14 minutes per game.
A team might want some physical presence in their lineup for the playoffs, so Deslauriers would be an option to them, but teams might also think he’s just taking up a spot playing just over eight minutes per night this season. He provides no offense.
And for Grundstrom, I would say he would fetch the highest price at a sixth-round pick because he has eight goals and 10 points in 27 games as a depth player playing 12.5 minutes per night and killing penalties. He also has a relatively cheap contract.
But if this is all the Flyers can do while still trying to chase a playoff spot and likely missing, it’s no ideal at all.
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