Flyers trade Ivan Provorov to Columbus in three-team deal

As the Stanley Cup Final chugs along, Danny Briere has made his first big move as GM. The Flyers are trading Ivan Provorov to the Columbus Blue Jackets in what will end up being a three-team trade. The Los Angeles Kings are involved in the deal as well. They will be retaining 30% of Provorov’s contract.

There is a lot to work out in this deal and what went where. Provorov was originally traded to the Kings and then flipped to Columbus. In that, the Kings sent Cal Petersen, Sean Walker, Helge Grans, and a second-round pick to the Flyers.

In flipping Provorov to the Blue Jackets, the Kings retained 30% of his deal. The Blue Jackets sent a first-round pick (22nd overall) and a conditional 2024 or 2025 second-round pick to the Flyers. There were some other minor-league players in the deal, as mentioned below, but that’s the bulk of what was moved.

Adding another goaltender has led to rumors about a potential Carter Hart trade. And it looks like that may be coming, as Briere is showing he is up for the task. Briere did say recently that the Flyers were willing to listen to any phone calls they got on Hart. But it seemed as if he was content to keep his franchise goaltender. Things can change rather quickly, though we don’t yet know about any potential deals being made.

Back to the Provorov trade, it felt as if it was more about when this trade would happen than if. While there was never anything confirming Provorov had asked for a trade, the writing felt like it was on the wall. When asked at the end of the season about a rebuild, Provorov didn’t exactly sound pleased about it.

"“That’s definitely not exactly what you want to hear because I feel like I came into a rebuild, we had one good year, the bubble year that was also kind of paused – we were going into the pause on a nine-game winning streak, or it was just snapped, I think. Then after that, things went sideways, and we tried to quick fix that didn’t work.”"

Provorov had become a workhorse on defense for the Flyers ever since he entered the league. He has been awarded the Barry Ashbee Trophy as the team’s best defenseman four times. Provorov has averaged over 24 minutes of ice time and only missed time when he was forced to sit out due to COVID protocols.

His play has regressed over the last few seasons, making him more of an option to be traded. He has two more years left and a 6.5M cap hit.

Looking at the return, Walker has battled with some injuries over the last few seasons but seemed to come on toward the end of this past year. He’s likely to be a depth piece that can move up if need be. He is entering the final year of his contract with a cap hit of 2.6M.

Petersen, on the other hand, comes with a much larger contract. Buried in the minors for most of this past season, Petersen has two years left on his contract that pays him 5M a year. With the potential for a Hart trade down the line, it appears that Philadelphia is looking at Petersen with a combo of either Felix Sandstrom or Sam Ersson. Both players still have another year left on their deals.

The summer of change has begun in Philadelphia. Buckle up, it’s going to be a long ride.