Flyers Trade Candidate: James van Riemsdyk
The Flyers have a complicated history with James van Riemsdyk. The Monmouth County native was drafted in 2007 as the second overall pick. His first two years saw him become part of a young corps of Flyers who could skate and score. This included Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, and Claude Giroux. It looked as if this young core would stay around for a while as Richards, Carter, and JVR were all signed to $100 million contracts.
But Carter and Richards were shipped off following the 2010-11 season. The following year, JVR had an injury plagued season. Still, he put up 25 points in 43 games. He was 22 and entering the prime of his career. The future with him and the Flyers looked really bright.
That offseason, JVR was sent packing to Toronto for Luke Schenn; a defenseman who was the brother of Flyer forward Brayden Schenn. Schenn would spend parts of four seasons in Philly playing as a decent, but unremarkable blueliner.
Meanwhile, van Riemsdyk took off. He helped get the Maple Leafs back to the playoffs for the first time in years. In his six seasons in Canada, he scored 25+ goals twice and had two 30+ campaigns. He was the sort of scorer that Toronto needed to become relevant again. But as the Leafs began to acquire younger players, JVR was seen as a player they could afford to lose. In 2018, he became a free agent again.
It was here that he re-signed with the Flyers on a five year, $35 million contract. To be fair, the last few years have been kind of crazy with pandemic issues. For many, JVR has not lived up to his contract. However, in his first season he scored 27 goals and scored 24 goals for the Flyers this past season.
Reasons to Trade Him
He’s going to be 33 years old. While he played all 82 games this year, he has dealt with injuries in the past. He’s obviously slowing down. His cap hit is $7 million. The Flyers do not have a lot of cap space this offseason. Trading him will free up money that could go to signing some younger players to long term contracts; whether they are free agents or locking up young stars.
And remember, the Flyers left him available for the Seattle Kraken to grab last offseason during the expansion draft and they didn’t bite, grabbing Carsen Twarynski instead.
Reasons to Keep Him
His cap is $7 million. If you are trading him, either you are flipping him for someone of equal age/cap hit (similar to the Voracek-Atkinson trade last year) or you are trading him for peanuts. No team is going to take on that cap hit willingly. Dumping a player of his ability just to save some cash is not worth it; unless you are taking on a Johnny Gaudreau type.
Final Verdict
Unless you are making a move to get a Gaudreau, keep him. He’s only going to be around for one more year. Besides, with the departure of Giroux, the Flyers need all the veteran leadership they can get. JVR understands this city…both the good and bad sides to it. He is a Flyer through and through. He is going to give the current young core a veteran leader who can successfully navigate what it means to be a Flyer. He needs to stay.