Flyers: Role Guys Who Won’t Fetch Much
Nick Seeler, Zach MacEwen, Patrick Brown
These are three guys who easily could move into the “untouchable, but” category. All three seem to be the type of players that Coach Tortorella loves to have in his lineup. All three have been plugging holes all season and have done well. Seeler is having the best year of his career and MacEwen has really come to play as a solid fourth-liner.
You could trade them, but why? You wouldn’t get much for them.
While all of the focus on a team is on the superstars, and for good reason, your team rises or falls on the role players who do their job. They don’t get as high a paycheck as the top guys, but you can’t win without them. Lukas Sedlak is a great example of this and it is a shame he couldn’t stick around. But these guys aren’t going anywhere and I, for one, hope they stick around longer than this season.
Flyers: Most Likely Gone
Justin Braun, James van Riemsdyk
These guys are vets. They bring valuable leadership and experience to any team they can come to. They are also both on expiring contracts. Teams looking to make a push will want a guy like JVR and Brauny.
Last year, Braun brought the Flyers a third-round pick from the Rangers. That’s not a bad haul. I don’t think he’ll bring us that much back, but a fourth-rounder for a rental player might not be too much to ask for. But if a bidding war between competing teams heats up, the Flyers could drive up the price.
JVR seems to have found his scoring touch recently. If he keeps that up, he might bring the Flyers a nice haul. Look for one of the top teams, maybe a Carolina Hurricanes or Florida Panthers looking to jump-start their offense, to make a play. Or one of the Western Conference teams, like Dallas or Vegas, or Winnipeg might want to add another winger to add to their offense.
And the best part is, we can resign them in the offseason. Braun came back on a cheap deal. JVR, if he takes a DEEPLY discounted price could return as well.
Of course, at the same time, this means also having faith that Fletcher can pull something good off. With the way some of his deals have gone, it is totally not inconceivable that he could trade JVR and a 2nd round pick this year for a 3rd round pick in 2026, a 6th round pick for this year, and a used Zamboni.
It’s still too early to tell. Players get hurt and teams may get desperate. Maybe the Flyers have nothing teams want. Maybe the Flyers could suddenly turn it all around and become a buyer, not a seller. We’ll see.