Flyers Depth Providing Needed Offense, But When Will This Well Run Dry? Here’s Some Players The Flyers Could Use

The Philadelphia Flyers have been receiving excellent play from the team’s bottom six forwards and the bottom-pairing-defense core as of late. During Saturday’s game versus the Winnipeg Jets, Defenseman Justin Braun had three assists. Defenseman Robert Hagg had an assist and was a plus two on the night. Forward Tyler Pitlick had a goal, and versatile-forward Scott Laughton had two goals. This is something down the stretch that separates great teams from the rest of the pack.

The Flyers have had to rely on these players and others like Connor Bunnaman, Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Morgan Frost, Mark Friedman, Carsen Twarynski, Mikhail Vorobyev, German Rubtsov, and David Kase to step up in the absence of Center Nolan Patrick and Winger Oskar Lindblom. With the Flyers now sitting just 3 points out of 1st in Metro Division, these players (some more then others) have done what has been asked of them and then some. One must think though- at what point will this welcomed point-production dry up? As the regular season winds down the playoffs will begin to ramp up, and with that so will the play. Games are already becoming more physical and coming down to the final ticks of the clock to decide the winners. Every game and every point now matters! With the trade deadline a mere hours away, do the Flyers want to head into the playoffs still needing to draw from that same well that they have been forced to rely on all year? Or do they anticipate the possibility of that well soon drying up, and trade for some much-needed reinforcements?

Philadelphia looks certainly good enough to make the playoffs, but with teams like the (90 point) Boston Bruins and the (85 point) Tampa Bay Lighting adding to their already heavily stocked arsenals of talent in the previous week the Flyers may need to do the same to stay relevant in the East.

Where should the team go calling for that talent? Maybe Flyers General Manger Chuck Fletcher should call a familiar number- that being one belonging to the Minnesota Wild. The Wild have all but called it quits on the season with terminating Head Coach Bruce Boudreau, then trading star forward Jason Zucker to the Pittsburgh Penguins, and now having many other players in the current trade rumors.

Who should Fletcher try to acquire from the Wild- a team Chuck helped once build: A team that still has many names he either signed, drafted, or made trades to gain? The Flyers could benefit from another veteran, one maybe by the name of Eric Staal (who just might be willing to take a trade to a team that is en route to the playoffs for one more real shot at hoisting Lord Stanley’s Cup). By now most of you may have heard the rumors connecting the LA Kings’ star Jeff Carter to a possible reunion with the Philadelphia Flyers: some of you might just be in favor of that.  Let’s compare these players in a side by side comparison:

Trading for Eric Staal instead of Jeff Carter would not only save the Flyers $1.95 Million in salary cap space, but they would have the option to get the aging veteran off the books a year earlier as opposed to Carter, which is very important when you’re dealing with veteran players; their point production can come to a sudden halt without any predictable reason.

A proposed trade might look like this:

With the addition of Eric Staal and Wild’s underutilized Gerald Mayhew (a 5’10 170-pound Center/Winger) the Flyers would add more of a scoring threat to the bottom lines. Staal could step in as 3^rd line center, allowing Scott Laughton to go back to playing wing. Mayhew would step in as center on the 4^th line, providing more offense then Connor Bunnaman. The potential bottom 6 would now be: 

This proposed trade would fill the holes- both lineup and production- left behind by Nolan Patrick and Oskar Lindblom, but most importantly it would leave the Flyers with a more competitive bottom six, who are capable of competing against the best in the East come playoff time.