Philadelphia Flyers Trade Deadline: The Good, The OK and The Bad

Although the Flyers made just one move at the deadline, there were good, OK and bad decisions made.

The Philadelphia Flyers made one move on trade deadline day, as the team sent Wayne Simmonds to the Nashville Predators for Ryan Hartman and a pick. While that’s a small transactions list, it was some of the non-moves that ended up sticking out as the dust settled.

Here are the good, the OK and the bad decisions that seemed to be made on Monday.

The Good

As clocks ticked toward 3 p.m. on the Eastern seaboard, it started to look more and more like the Flyers wouldn’t move Simmonds at all. Not doing that would mean squandering potential assets for a couple more months of Simmonds amidst a likely playoff-less season.

Although there was plenty of heartbreak at seeing the longtime Flyer part of a deal, from a more logical perspective, it was good to see a deal actually be made. The conditional fourth-round pick that could become a third isn’t much, but I’ll include Ryan Hartman coming back the other way as a good thing.

Heading into next season, the Flyers should have a competent top six of Claude Giroux, Sean Couturier, Jake Voracek, James van Riemsdyk, Travis Konecny, and Nolan Patrick/Oskar Lindblom — without any additions. Hartman is a very solid third-liner that has scored 19 goals in a season before and despite struggling in Nashville, scored 10 goals with the Predators this season. That total would rank eighth without Simmonds on Philly’s roster this season.

The Flyers’ bottom six has long been underwhelming, which has a lot to do with the veterans that were a part of it over the past few seasons. Adding Hartman is a step in the right direction.

I also am not buying into the thought that Fletcher waited too long to move Simmonds. With the Blue Jackets picking up both Matt Duchene and Ryan Dzingel Saturday while also keeping Artemi Panarin, I think it’s only possible that Simmonds’ value rose.

The OK

While I’m content with the return on Simmonds, like most I was expecting a first-round pick in return. It was a shame to not see one come back, but not because the Flyers need to add prospects to their farm.

Since general manager Chuck Fletcher has taken over, there’s been plenty of rumors that he wants to upgrade the team. Unfortunately, the team’s eight-game losing streak created no reason to improve the 2018-19 roster. This offseason, though, is an opportunity to upgrade in 2019-20.

Free agency will be a way to do that, but so will trades — particularly around the draft. Adding a second first-rounder would have given the Flyers more ammo to work with and makes it much simpler to part with one first-rounder.

Instead, the Flyers will head into June with just one pick that will come in the top 15. Giving up that selection will hurt more should Philadelphia explore the trade market.

On the flip side, the Flyers have plenty of prospects that can be trade chips or can make trading a first-round pick reasonable. And with Fletcher knowing he wants to upgrade his roster, he’s probably already explored some deals and has an idea of what the cost will be.

Switching gears to deals that weren’t made, Fox Sports reporter Andy Strickland reported that teams were interested in Radko Gudas, but Fletcher wasn’t interested in moving him:

That stayed true as Gudas remained a Flyer past the 3 p.m. deadline.

With a good return, I would have been fine with a Gudas trade, despite him signed through next season. I outlined in my trade deadline primer that Philly could have a lot of blueliners next year. With that being said, Gudas has had a strong season and should certainly stick around before some other orange and black defensemen. The only possible concern is that Fletcher may have missed a chance to sell high.

The Bad

Holding onto Gudas was acceptable, but right now, I’m not liking the decision to hold onto Michael Raffl and Brian Elliott, who were both reportedly gaining interest and on expiring deals:

I understand holding onto Elliott with Carter Hart currently injured, but there’s little chance the team will re-sign the former Blue with Cam Talbot in the fold. But Raffl is the stranger case.

Raffl can easily be replaced within the organization (maybe even by Hartman) and trading Simmonds effectively means Fletcher isn’t expecting to make the playoffs. So why not trade Raffl for some asset?

He’s reportedly good in the locker room but will likely be gone in a few months anyway. It’s not a backbreaking non-move, but Fletcher may have missed a chance to add some future assets.