I get it was disappointing … but it has to be this way.
At one point this season in late November, the Flyers were in third place of the Metropolitan Division, and I thought to myself, “Man, this is the year.”
This is the year they spend big at the deadline to finally get the player that will get this organization back into the race. This year will give this fan base what it so deserves — a consistent winner. I drank the Kool-Aid.
Not so fast. The six-game losing streak that the Flyers absolutely could not afford in early January destroyed that thought in my head. Now, the Flyers are so out of a playoff spot, which led to something we are very used to here in Philadelphia — an underwhelming NHL trade deadline.
Here are my takeaways.
1. I applaud general manager Danny Briere’s consistent messaging and patience, even though it’s not fun to talk about or observe.
When Briere became the full-time general manager in May 2023, his message was simple yet impactful — the Flyers didn’t want to just make the playoffs one season. They wanted to build a consistent winner this city could count on. To do that, Briere handled the trade deadline exactly how it was supposed to be handled Friday.
Everyone and their mother wanted the Flyers to swing big and get an asset that could make this season enjoyable in the here and now. How cool would it be to spend big and get a centerman? But that makes truly no sense when you look at where the Flyers are in the standings, on the outside looking in at the last wild-card spot. One player isn’t going to save this season. It can’t be saved.
Therefore, you make small moves that could lead to big changes in the future. You won’t see immediate results in the coming games. The Flyers are counting on their prospects to be the players everyone says they can be. They are counting on blending those prospects with talent that is already on the roster. And when you can blend right winger Porter Martone with Trevor Zegras on the left, that is when the Flyers go spend big for the centerman they have always wanted.
That isn’t this year. And that stinks. We all wish it was. Patience is required and I understand why the fan base’s patience is running thin.
2. I would have loved to have seen the Flyers take advantage of the trade value for Rasmus Ristolainen.
His trade value was never higher than it has been the past month. He finally is healthy after dealing with so many unfortunate injuries. He represented his country at the Olympics, playing nearly 20 minutes per game and recording an impressive plus-9 rating.
And when Ristolainen returned to Philadelphia post-Olympic play, I thought it was the best we have seen him as a Flyer in years. We couldn’t stop talking about him on postgame shows — he was creating plays in the offensive zone and remaining aggressive and stout in the D-zone to protect Dan Vladar. I thought he was going to try a Michigan the other game for crying out loud.
And yet, nothing. The Flyers couldn’t take advantage of the trade value of Ristolainen to get what they wanted. As frustrating as that is, I get it. Ristolainen is not a player you just give away and Briere was right to stay firm on his stance of wanting a high draft pick or franchise-changing player in exchange for his 6-foot-4 defenseman.
Now we have to talk about Ristolainen on the trade block again next year possibly and I dread that. The Flyers will bet Ristolainen stays healthy enough to be in that conversation again, or we will look back at this as a whiff on getting assets for the Flyers’ best trade value.
3. The ceiling for the Bobby Brink-David Jiricek trade excites me.
I won’t lie — I will greatly miss Brink’s intermission interviews. “Sometimes the puck goes in the net” will go down in history. I have a feeling Briere didn’t take Brink’s electric interviews into account during trade discussions, which I suppose is fair.
The Flyers knew eventually they were going to have to make room for the wingers that are coming up in their system and are starting to deserve some playing time, like Alex Bump. Brink on the wing gave the Flyers an option to trade for a position that is much more in need currently and that’s on defense.
Credit to Brink for not allowing the John Tortorella experience to break him. He became a stronger player against the boards and now is one of the more consistent players on the ice every night. Brink has become trustworthy, when at one point, he was getting benched because you couldn’t trust him with the game on the line.
For Jiricek, this is the ultimate “could go really well” or “this will be a dud” trade — there is no middle ground here. Drafted sixth overall in 2022 and now on his third NHL team, the talent is there. It’s up to a team to get the most out of Jiricek and the Flyers think they are that team.
This just might work. We saw it with Jamie Drysdale — defensemen take time to develop. And if we know one thing about the Flyers, patience is something that is required with this organization. I am starting to sense a theme here.