Every Move Made By The Philadelphia Flyers At The Trade Deadline and What It All Means
The 2021 NHL trade deadline is officially over. With tons of teams looking to add depth to their playoff run, Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher had plenty of phone calls to take inquiries of some of Philadelphia’s veteran players. The Flyers finished their “Deadline Day” with three trades under Fletcher’s belt. Here is a deep dive of all three trades, as well as a look into what the future holds for Philadelphia’s beloved, but struggling, hockey club.
Claude Giroux traded to the Florida Panthers
PHI receives: Owen Tippett, 2024 1st-round pick, 2023 3rd-round pick
FLA receives: Claude Giroux, German Rubtsov, Connor Bunnaman, 2024 5th-round pick.
While plenty of fans were in an uproar across social media over the announced return package for Philadelphia’s longest-tenured captain in Flyers history, it really wasn’t as bad as fans’ initial reactions let on. For starters, Owen Tippett is a great addition to the Flyers. With a smart hockey IQ, great hands, and a quick release on his shot, Tippett fits great with some of Philadelphia’s core pieces and is effective all over the ice. This will allow him to make players around him better by taking pressure off of them and enhancing their own skills.
The third-round pick is also more valuable than one would think. The 2023 NHL Entry Draft is supposed to contain a very deep prospect pool that is loaded with talent, so Fletcher and the Flyers will have a decision to make on whether they keep the pick or trade it away in hopes of something better.
The 2024 first-round draft pick likely won’t amount to much if we actually use it in the draft, as the prospect pool is not expected to be anything like 2023’s. However, a first-rounder thrown into trade talks is always valuable so expect Fletcher to offload that draft some time before the end of next season.
Justin Braun traded to the New York Rangers
PHI receives: 2023 3rd-round pick
NYR receives: Justin Braun
This is honestly a great trade for all parties involved. Braun, at 35 years of age, will not be playing much longer in the NHL. Since he has never won a Stanley Cup despite reaching the Finals back in 2016, it’s obviously something on his bucket list that he would not be able to do here in Philadelphia. Fletcher noted that Braun’s many contributions to this team are greatly appreciated, but that both he and Braun expected the team to be more competitive at this stage. So they parted ways with Fletcher doing what he could to land Braun with a playoff team.
The New York Rangers add a veteran defenseman to sure up a Stanley Cup run. Justin Braun gets another chance at chasing the cup. The Philadelphia Flyers get another draft pick in a valuable draft year. It seemed apparent that Braun was not always appreciated by fans during his tenure but make no mistake, he was surely one of the hardest-working players here during a relatively depressing era of Philadelphia hockey.
Derick Brassard traded to the Edmonton Oilers
PHI receives: 2023 4th-round pick
EDM receives: Derick Brassard
While Derick Brassard played well in his limited appearances with the Flyers due to battling injuries, the 34-year-old becomes a free agent at the end of the year and was rightfully not a part of Chuck Fletcher’s long-term plans for Philadelphia. The Oilers were desperate for veteran depth and paid a good, but fair price to land one.
Fletcher’s addition of yet another 2023 NHL Draft pick is an indicator of one of two possible things: He plans on selling all of these picks as incentive in a trade package that would allow the Flyers to dump necessary contracts (possibly while acquiring an NHL-ready player). Or, this “re-tool” process is truly a “rebuilding” process that fans will have to wait another three to five years after using these draft picks before seeing how the team is truly shaping up.
Gerry Mayhew claimed on waivers by the Anaheim Ducks
Released by the Flyers in hopes of creating more space for contracts next season, Gerry Mayhew will officially be a Duck–for the remainder of the season, at least. The biggest way this benefits the Philadelphia Flyers is by opening up space for them to sign their young guys drafted out of college who are planning to join the team next year. It is also, however, a chance for Mayhew to permanently crack an NHL roster spot as a bottom-six forward with a team like Anaheim where he seems to be a pretty good fit for their attacking style.
Aftermath of the deadline
Cam York and Max Willman are sent to the AHL
NHL clubs only have four recalls for the remainder of the season following the trade deadline. York and Willman were sent down to Lehigh Valley in order to be eligible to play in the AHL playoffs. They do count as two recalls with the move only being on paper.
When asked if Morgan Frost would be one of the AHL moves in a pressure conference that followed the end of the deadline, Fletcher said that him and Tippett would remain with the Flyers as they’ve paid their dues at the AHL level.
The prospects are coming…
As mentioned above, a lot of the players and prospects that Chuck Fletcher chose to move elsewhere before the deadline expired were moved so the Flyers will have room to sign their young prospects who are coming from college. Players like Bobby Brink, Ronnie Attard, Noah Cates, are currently some of the names Fletcher would like to sign to deals over the off-season.
Another prospect that is worth keeping an eye out there for is Russian goaltender Ivan Fedetov. He has spent time playing in the Russian KHL and has been making quite the name for himself between his appearances in that league, as well as for the Russian National team. With Martin Jones not being traded, but still becoming a free agent, it seems likely that Fletcher may want to bring back Jones for another season while they test Fedetov a bit more in the AHL before he lands on the main roster with Philadelphia.
Future of the team is uncertain
Overall, the acquisition of Owen Tippett is by far the most exciting return that Philadelphia received. That being said, all of the draft picks, especially the ones from 2023, should prove to be valuable enough for Chuck Fletcher to have a few different ways of profiting from them. However, the reason the direction of the team is unclear is because the acquisition of draft picks rather than NHL-ready players seems to leave the future of the club hanging in the air.
Despite being clear the team is “re-tooling” and not rebuilding, Fletcher comes out of this deadline with assets for Philadelphia that certainly screams, “The Flyers are rebuilding.” The course of the next season will hold many defining moments for the Flyers organization. Whether they are good or bad remains unknown, but fans will get through these hard times together.