By now, you might have heard the rumors that originated from AntSan Filippo in that Nolan Patrick has hired a different agent and asked for a trade. Supposedly Nolan is believed to not want to be here anymore because he does not like the criticism that he has received since being drafted. Moreover, he does not like the spotlight on him constantly, and most importantly, he does not like the coach. Again, these are still JUST RUMORS. Patrick has yet to officially ask the team for a trade, but these rumors are becoming more and more prevalent throughout the Philadelphia media with each passing day, which leads this writer to believe that there must be some truth behind them.
With that being said, if these rumors are indeed true and the Flyers do choose to move him this off season, they will have to find a replacement. With Nolan seemingly being relegated to the fourth line towards the end of the season seeing that the Flyers have the center of the ice pretty well covered already with Sean Couturier, Kevin Hayes, Claude Giroux, and Scott Laughton all being more than capable of taking a face off, the top three lines seem to be covered. It should not be that big of a deal if the team were to trade away Patrick and have to find a replacement for him this off season seeing that Nolan only managed to score four goals and tally five assists this season. In fact, they are sure to do better without him because they will not have to worry so much given that their defensive liability would now be gone. Patrick was the second worst player in the whole league last season defensively- averaging a dreadful -30 on the season.
If the team does decide to grant Patrick’s rumored wishes one person whom the Flyers’ General Manager (GM) Chuck Fletcher might be interested in to strengthen the middle of the ice is 29-year-old Mikael Granlund, who he drafted in the 1st round back in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft when Fletcher was the GM of the Minnesota Wild. But Granlund is coming off of a one-year deal that he signed with the Nashville Predators that paid him $3.75 million dollars last season; A price that would be too steep to have to shell out for a fourth line center.
That leaves Chuck still with the conundrum of having to find a reasonably-priced replacement option who will- hopefully- turn out to be an upgrade over Patrick. The team has used Connor Bunnaman in the past, and currently has newly-signed centers Tanner Laczynski and Jackson Cates who could slot in; but, if the Flyers have the intentions of returning to the playoffs next season, these players are simply not going to be able produce the kind of production needed for a playoff push just yet.
That’s why Fletcher should focus on bringing in another player whom he is quite familiar with: Erik Haula, who Chuck drafted back in 2009 in his first season as the Wild’s GM. This now 30-year-old who stands at 6’0 and 193 pounds is an extremely hard worker. Through pure hustle and the will to win he has been an instantaneous spark plug to every team he has played for throughout his career thus far.
In fact, if I had to name one past Flyer who his game reminds of it would be (Winger) Scottie Upshall.
Like Upshall, Haula never takes a shift off and has a motor that just won’t quit. Every time he steps on the ice you can see Erik in board battles, crashing the net to get in place to screen the goalie and to have a chance at redirections or rebounds. He also possesses a very quick release which helped him achieve an astonishing career year of 29 goals and 26 assists for 55 points back in the 2017-2018 season while playing with some particularly good players in Las Vegas for the Golden Knights.
Now a couple of years removed from the success that he had in Vegas, Haula’s stats this year were a bit misconstrued. He still manages to lurk just outside the reach of his opponents’ defense and score key goals, but with just nine goals and 12 assists for 21 points this year down in Nashville, one would assume his play has begun to decline. But I would disagree: The Predators did Erik no favors this year. For example, his last game he was forced to play with a 36-year-old Brad Richardson, and failed Flyers’ prospect Nick Cousins. Not quite the “dream” linemates that everyone hopes to play with.
But this necessarily isn’t a bad thing for Philadelphia; Haula made just $1.75 million dollars this year and the Flyers should be able to sign this career plus player for something similar if not less next season. While Erik may not be the flashy-big name free agent most Philadelphia fans want, he is the guy they need (and can afford to bring in) to solidify the bottom six forwards group next season. So, lets just hope Chuck still has Erik’s number in his cell phone so that he can try and persuade this talent (that he found in the 7th round of the draft so many years ago) to join him once again this time in Philadelphia.
3$ mill too steep for 4th line yet we pay a 3rd liner 7$ mill