You know, you wake up this morning this morning to see if the Flyers won, and then you see that the headline ISN'T the game. It's what happened during it. Daniel Briere struck a deal with the Calgary Flames and shipped Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee off to Alberta. In return, the Flyers acquired forwards Andrei Kuzmenko and Jakob Pelletier as well as a pair of draft picks: a 2025 second-rounder and a 2028 seventh-rounder.
This is a very interesting deal for both sides. It could be a great deal for one, both, or none of the teams. It is a deal where both teams are flipping players who have high upsides but need a change of scenery. Let's take a look and break this down.
For the Flames
Let's be honest here. Frost and Farabee are good players, but not great. Despite coming off a career year last year with 22 years and 50 points, Farabee has never seemed to make that next leap forward. It's almost like something is holding him back. In a sense, he's almost like Matt Read. He was an ok forward but never got better. It seems like Farabee kind of plateaued. Maybe he needs a new place to play in a new system and can flourish there. Maybe we've seen the best he can give and that's all folks.
As for Frost, we've seen this coming for a while now. He just hasn't fit the system. Even then, before John Tortorella arrived in Philly, he struggled. Case in point, in the 77 games he played as a Flyer before Tortorella arrived, he scored just seven goals across three seasons. For a first-round pick, that is not good. He did deal with injuries as well, though. Even if he is young, he has never really unlocked his potential. We wish him the best, but he's got first-round bust written all over him. Time to move on and cut our losses. Again, being honest, we weren't going to get a first-rounder pick for him.
For the Flyers
Kuzmenko is a soon-to-be 29-year-old unrestricted free agent. He's got a ton of talent, having scored a whopping 39 goals in his rookie season. However, that was as a Canuck and Vancouver traded him in his sophomore season. In Calgary, he just didn't click. Granted, the Flames have kind of been a mess the last year or two.
Kuzemenko is also a Russian. Perhaps he could find some sort of chemistry with Matvei Michkov. He could serve as a mentor in navigating the NHL or become a scoring partner with him. If that's the case, maybe the Flyers will re-sign him. Despite his issues over the last few years, he could be a piece added by Briere to flip to somewhere else. It could also be all he could get for Farabee and Frost.
Next up is Pelletier. He is an interesting case. He was a 2019 first-rounder and has seen limited action in the NHL over the last three seasons. He has just eight goals in 60 games. However, he will turn 24 in March. He's put up some great numbers in the Quebec Junior League. It just really hasn't translated well at the AHL and NHL levels, yet. Before the trade, he has scored four goals with seven assists in 23 games since being recalled in December. This is on a bad team in Calgary. Perhaps he could unlock something good with other young guys, like Owen Tippett or Michkov, and be a success here. After all, Florida gave up on Tippett and he has done well in Philadelphia.
Then you have to look beyond the swap of disappointing players. There are the draft picks. We're going to ignore the 7th rounder and focus on that second-round pick. Thanks to the trade, the Flyers now have three first-rounders and four second-round picks in this year's draft. Could the Flyers draft seven potential stars this year? Could they use those picks as ammunition to move up this year or next year? We'll have to see.
Also, the Flyers moved Farabee's salary out of the way. That will give them more cap flexibility to sign a free agent if they choose to.
Again, we won't know how good of a trade this is for years to come. As for now, we can say it is a bold one. I can also guarantee that Briere is not done yet.