Daniel Briere said he was going to make moves to turn the Philadelphia Flyers around. He wasted no time. In his first trade as general manager, he shipped Ivan Provorov to the Columbus Blue Jackets and depth pieces Kevin Connauton and Hayden Hodgson to the Los Angeles Kings. In return, Philadelphia got quite a few pieces.
Before we look at the haul, we have to give a big shout out to Briere. Unless Briere didn’t do it. There is a part of me that thinks that Eagles GM Howie Roseman put together this sort of deal because the Flyers got quite a bit for an above average defenseman. Joking aside, Briere did receive a lot in return for what the team traded away.
The Draft Picks
So, from the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Flyers received the 22nd overall pick in this years draft and a conditional second-round in either next year’s draft or 2025. From the LA Kings, the Flyers received a second round pick in this year’s draft. No draft picks were traded away.
This is pretty significant. The Flyers got a pair of second rounders and a first round pick for Provorov. In comparison, the Flyers only got a first rounder and a fourth rounder with Owen Tippett when they traded away Claude Giroux last year, To be fair, Giroux was a rental, but dang, he is still a future Hall of Famer. Briere got a lot of picks for Provorov who hasn’t even made an all-star game.
The 22nd overall pick is a pretty big deal. The Flyers could use that pick with the seventh pick they already own and try to package a deal to move up to draft a more highly regarded prospect like Adam Fantilli or…dare I say….Connor Bedard. (Briere might need Howie’s help to pry that pick away from Chicago!) Or, Briere could save the pick and draft another piece to add to the Flyers’ arsenal of young players and continue building for the future. Or again, Briere could move some picks to acquire more future picks.
The two second round picks, one this year and one in 2024 or 2025 help to restock draft picks that were traded away. This is, by all accounts, a really good draft year; especially for forwards. So, it is possible that a good defender or goalie prospect could fall into the second or third round for the Flyers to snatch up. This trade gives them more flexibility as they now have some ammunition to work with.
Cal Petersen
Over the last two seasons (2020-21 and 2021-22), Petersen looked like the heir apparent to LA Kings legend Jonathan Quick. While his 29-32-7 record isn’t impressive, remember the Kings have been about as bad as Philly has been during that time span, his .904 save percentage and 2.89 goals against average are pretty solid.
This year, he played in just 10 games. He wasn’t hurt. He just didn’t look solid this year with a save percentage of .868 and a GAA of 3.75. Petersen was placed on waivers in December, spending the rest of the year with the Ontario Reign. For a 28 year old goalie, that’s not a good sign. It also doesn’t help that he is making $5 million and won’t be eligible for free agency until after the 2024-25 season.
So, why did the Flyers get him? It’s unclear as of yet. Is he here to be a more stable backup for Carter Hart instead of Felix Sandstrom or Sam Ersson? Is this a sign that Hart may be moved and the Flyers wanted an available goalie who isn’t going to tie down a lot of long term financial resources? Hart will be a free agent at the end of this season. Has he indicated he wants out? Has Peterson been acquired so he can be flipped to some other team?
All of these questions don’t have answers yet, but may soon. There are lots of rumors swirling around the Flyers right now, so we’ll just have to sit and wait to see which are true and which are just nonsense. It is worth waiting to see though.