Owen Tippett has once again found his name amid the trade rumors. It happened last year, especially in the offseason. And now it's happening again.
There is usually one player that people focus on as the so-called scapegoat. It happened before with Morgan Frost until he was finally traded last year. The same happened to Joel Farabee, who was traded in the same deal.
Now Tippett has become the target of fans. While some have reported that Tippett's name may be floating around, Elliotte Friedman was rather quick to put a pin in those rumors. When explicitly asked by Colby Cohen on the Morning Cuppa Coffee podcast, Friedman made it clear that the Flyers have not put Tippett's name out there.
"What this says to me is that somebody asked about him, or the Flyers maybe were looking at something specific, and Tippett's name came up, and it got out. This reads as one of those situations where, like I said, do I think the Flyers are looking to trade Owen Tippett? No."
Tippett has always been a streaky scorer during his NHL career. However, since arriving in Philadelphia, he has scored 20 or more goals and 40 or more points in three consecutive seasons. He hit a career-high 28 goals and 53 points in 2023-24. He regressed a tad last season, but still reached the 20-goal mark. It was a struggle for numerous players, and some of that may have come from former head coach John Tortorella.
This season, Tippett has come out of the gate hot. He has scored in four of the Flyers' first six games and has goals in three straight. Tippett had one instance of the latter last season, coming in late February. And he didn't hit his fifth goal of the season until the end of November. He went through multiple long stretches without a goal.
Tippett is one of those players who, when he gets hot, can keep it up for at least a few games. It's a confidence builder for sure, but it's not the main priority.
"I think it makes it kind of easier for that confidence to stick around. But at the same point, you can't get too focused on that," Tippett said after his two-goal performance against Seattle. "You still gotta work on our goal here and playing a complete game with whoever you're on the ice with. Obviously, it's nice to see them going in right now, but there's other parts of the game you gotta focus on too."
Tippett is in the second year of an eight-year deal worth $6.2M until 2032. And with the cap set to rise quickly in the next few seasons, that deal will look like a bargain sooner rather than later. He has a modified no-trade clause between 2026-2030. That could play into why some have put his name out on the rumor mill. If the Flyers were going to do it, they'd want to cash in before being slightly limited on where they could send Tippett.
Understandably, the Flyers have depth at the wing, both at the NHL level and in their prospect pool. Matvei Michkov is certainly here for the long haul. Tyson Foerster and Bobby Brink have staked claims on NHL roles. Nikita Grebenkin is making a strong case to remain on the roster as well.
Players like Porter Martone and Alex Bump are knocking on the door. At some point, Philadelphia may have to make a move to make room for those players.
Anything could change if the right deal comes around, but Tippett is not one of those players right now.
"I don't think he's a guy Philly's really looking to deal or is really available out there. I think it may have come up in one specific case or something like that." Friedman said.