Ten Worst Trades in Flyers History

No. 5 — Flyers trade JVR for Schenn (not the good one)

For a while, if you signed a long term $100 million deal with the Flyers, it was a death sentence. Carter and Richards both signed them and were traded away. Wunderkind James van Riemsdyk, second overall pick in 2007, was making strides being paired up with Jakub Voracek and Brayden Schenn. However, he ran afoul of then coach Peter Laviolette. He was traded out of Philly to Toronto.  The Flyers received Luke Schenn, Brayden’s brother.

Turned loose in Toronto, JVR would become a prolific goal scorer, topping 30 goals twice. Luke Schenn would be a decent defender, but nothing special.

He never provided the offensive spark they hoped on power plays. He’s been an average level defender ever since the Flyers traded him to LA for Jordan Weal.

JVR would later return to the Flyers, but it looks like his best days may be past. Maybe a new coach could coax more out of him, but he is not the player they once had. Maybe had they held onto him, an offense lead by JVR, Giroux, Voracek, B. Schenn, and Wayne Simmonds could’ve dominated the Eastern Conference.

No. 4. — The Flyers trade for the shell of what was once Adam Oates

Adam Oates is one of the greatest hockey players who ever put on a pair of skates. Any team that traded for him would’ve loved to have him. However, in 2001-02, the Flyers were looking for a veteran presence to get back into the Stanley Cup. They would trade goalie prospect Maxime Ouellet, as well as the first, second, and third round selections for Oates. Oates played in 14 games with three goals and seven assists.

Worse than that, he left in free agency in the offseason. Meanwhile, the Flyers floundered to the Ottawa Senators in an embarrassing five game series in the first round after winning the Atlantic Division and finishing second in the Eastern Conference. Coach Bill Barber would be fired following the playoff exit.

While Ouellet never panned out like expected, those were a lot of picks to give up for a guy who played a handful of games. Worse, no effort was made to retain him.

No. 3 —Flyers trade away Mr. Game 7

If you notice, there seems to be a trend here. The Flyers give up someone young, or a pile of picks, to nab a veteran defender only to have it blow up in their face. Never did one blow up so much as trading away Justin Williams, a first round pick in 2000 for a rental player in Danny Markov of the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2003-04.

Markov played in 34 games for the Flyers, a team that fell to Tampa Bay in seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals. Markov scored five points, but racked up 58 penalty minutes in 34 games. After the lockout the following season, he was traded to Nashville to relieve some salary cap issues for a third rounder.

Meanwhile, Williams enjoyed a 21 year career that is worthy of hall of fame consideration. His playoff heroics have made him a legend in Carolina, Los Angeles, and Washington as he was part of three Stanley Cup champion teams and won the 2014 Conn Smythe Award. He has the most game seven points in NHL history at 15.

Again, imagining him with all of the young players the Flyers had in the 2000s makes you wonder. Maybe he could’ve been Mr. Game 7 for us.

No. 2 — Flyers trade for Daigle

This trade would be hilarious if it happened to someone else, but no…it happened to Philly. Alexandre Daigle was the prize of the 1993 draft. The Ottawa Senators selected him first overall and were even accused of tanking on purpose to get him; one of the first instances of a team doing that.

He was so highly regarded that the Quebec Nordiques were offering a lot of the pieces in the Lindros trade to acquire him. Still, the Senators held onto number one, drafting him ahead of Chris Pronger and Paul Kariya, two future hall of famers. Daigle had a decent rookie season,  scoring 20 goals with 31 assists.

But next year, the Senators had a rookie named Alexi Yashin who outperformed Daigle in every possible way. Daigle seemed to suffer from jealousy and didn’t “play hard” that following year, scoring just five goals in his third season. He was disgruntled, lazy, and a bad teammate. Maybe a change of scenery would do him well. After all, he is only 22 years old. Ottawa dangled him out there and traded him to Philadelphia for Pat Falloon and Vaclav “Vinny” Prospal.

Falloon was the second overall pick by the Sharks in their first season. He played well for the Sharks, but not super well. On the Flyers, he scored 22 goals in his first season, but nothing impressive. As a third-line player, he was ok, so giving him up for Daigle was fairly even.

Prospal was 22 years old and had scored 10 goals in bits of two seasons. It seemed like a fair deal. Nobody saw that in two seasons, he would score 22 goals, topping that mark six more times. He would score 255 goals in a 16 year career. That’s not bad!

Daigle was a disaster. In parts of two seasons, he played 68 games, scoring 12 goals and 19 assist. He was moody and temperamental; something that would not fly with GM Bobby Clarke. Clarke barred him from team facilities and, in effect, suspended him until someone would trade for him.

The Flyers would trade him to Edmonton for Andrei Kovalenko, a right winger who had promise early on in his career but flamed out. Kovalenko would be traded six weeks later after playing in 13 games and getting only one assist.

Daigle would be traded within minutes of being acquired by the Oilers and sent to Tampa Bay. He scored six goals in 32 games. He was released and out of hockey before he was 25. He had brief comeback attempts with the Rangers, Penguins, and Wild; where he would score 20 goals in 2003-04, but he was effectively done; forever remembered as probably the biggest bust in NHL draft history.

But for a brief moment, he was ours. And if you get a chance to google it, look up all the fun drama between Clarke and Daigle. It made the Lindros saga seem tame by comparison.