Flyers’ Rumor Roundup: What’s True, What’s False, And What Should They Really Pursue?

Photo Credit: phinsnews.com

As expected, the Philadelphia Flyers are involved in a lot of rumors swirling around the league. After failing to make the playoffs, their general manager (GM) Chuck Fletcher has vowed to try and make some big changes to the lineup this off season. With that being said, which ones of these rumors is true, which ones are false, and which ones should the Flyers try and really pursue? That’s what we’re about to find out.

Perhaps the biggest rumor- or name- the Flyers have been linked to this off season (through countless sources) that is true is that of Columbus Blue Jackets’ Seth Jones, a first pairing, right-hand-shot (RHS) defenseman. The Flyers have been salivating over the idea of bringing him to Philly ever since it was leaked some time ago that Jones was not willing to sign an extension with the Blue Jackets and would look to test free agency when his contract expires after this upcoming season. Since then, plenty of teams have been burning up the Blue Jackets’ GM Jarmo Kekalainen’s phone to try and get him. Jarmo is no stranger to making big deals and, knowing what Seth’s value is now compared to what it might be at the trade deadline, immediately began to listen to offers for his still-young defenseman and has now even permitted Jones’ agent to try and conjure up a deal of their own. But, in a big turn of events in which the Flyers at one time looked to be one of the heavy favorites in the race to obtain him, it seems that Seth is not willing to sign an extension with the Flyers if traded which leaves Fletcher in an absolute gamble situation if he were to pull the trigger and acquire Jones. Whether the team would be able to retain him after next season being the big question. Since that news has come out, talks with the Blue Jackets have stalled and Chuck has been left to reevaluate his options.  

To look into some rumors that have proven to be false we must shift our focus to the Calgary Flames, where a local fan favorite (and Salem NJ. native) Johnny Gaudreau- better known as “Jonny Hockey”- has been rumored in connection to the Flyers countless times since his introduction unto the league. Unfortunately, these rumors are about to be put to rest once again: Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman just announced that Calgary and Gaurdreau have begun contract negotiations. Gaurdreau is entering into his final year of his contract that is paying him $6.75 million a year and is speculated to make more than teammate Matthew Tkachuk’s $ 7 million price tag if such a deal can be reached. 

Speaking of Tkachuk, it was reported by Sportsnet’s Shane O’Brien some time ago now that Matthew (who plays that old-style Philadelphia Flyers brand of hockey) wanted out of Calgary- to which many teams came clamoring about to try and request his services. One of them should have been Philadelphia. But, since this report came out, Calgary has let it be known that this couldn’t be any further from the truth and they have no intentions of trading away their gritty young forward.    

Now, onto some rumors circulating about some of the Flyers’ own players. With the Seattle Kraken expansion draft looming ever closer, reports out of Philadelphia via Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman suggested that the Flyers journeyman Jakub Voracek will be left unprotected for the expansion draft with the hopes that the new Kraken head coach and ex-Flyers bench boss Dave Hakstol might try and coax his new GM Ron Francis into selecting him. It is thought that even if Jakub is not the one selected from the Flyers’ roster that the team will then try and facilitate a trade to try and move on from Voracek anyway. Herein lies the problem: Voracek will be 32 years old by the start of next season and is still owed $8.25 million for the next three seasons. Therefore, if Seattle does not do the Flyers a favor by relieving them of such an anvil of a contract, then the Flyers will be hard pressed to find a team that can or will take on that kind of salary outright. The more likely scenario will be that, if Philadelphia even finds a willing trade partner, they will either have to retain salary or take back a bad contract in return in order to complete such a deal. 

Another rumor that has been managing to linger around Philadelphia so long now that most just believe it to be true is that restricted free agent (RFA) center Nolan Patrick wants a fresh start somewhere else and has (or will) demanded either a trade or his right to walk away freely from the team that drafted him with such high expectations. There currently is no factual evidence that this is true, but the organization already signed him back to a prove-it type deal this past season after missing the entire season prior, only to have him post just 4 goals and 5 assists for 9 points. Not to mention, Patrick had the second worst plus/minus in the entire league this past year with a -30. After all that, you have to believe that the team would not be opposed to at least listen to other team’s trade offers for him.

Why a team would be willing to take a chance on this apparent draft bust is beyond this writer, but there does seem to be some interested teams out there, Nashville being one of them. The Predators and the Flyers have been trade partners many times over in the past and, with the frequency that these two teams scouted each other prior to this past season’s trade deadline, they have to have liked some of what they saw. Nashville’s bottom 6 didn’t scare anyone last year and with both centers Mikael Granlund, and Erik Haula set to become unrestricted free agents (UFA’s) the Predators will likely need some replacements. The Flyers have been rumored to covet just about every right-hand-shot (RHS) defenseman in the Predators’ lineup and would be wise to try and secure one of the following if they can get their hands on them. With the latest news surrounding Seth Jones, Philadelphia could send Patrick to Music City as part of package deal that could bring back a first line RHS defenseman like 30-year-old veteran Ryan Ellis, who may not score in bunches but is a career +114. Ellis has fortified the Predators’ blue line for quite some time now and could do much of the same for the Flyers slotting in day one alongside Ivan Provorov on the top pairing. The risk being that Ryan would carry with him a cap hit of $6.25 million until the ‘26- ‘27 season when he would then be 35 years old. Will Father Time allow him to stay consistent over that period? Who knows.

If they Flyers didn’t want to take that risk, they could look at acquiring RHS defensemen Matt Benning or Dante Fabbro in a trade for Patrick. Benning, who Fletcher could have signed this past off season but didn’t, took his services to Nashville after spending the past four years with the Edmonton Oilers. While Matt may not be the most well-known player around the league, he is very solid defensively, earning a +31 career plus minus average to date.  Benning would not be that top-pairing guy the Flyers so desperately need but he would sure up the bottom pairing quite nicely for a very reasonable price of just $1 million next season. 

Dante Fabbro, on the other hand, is a bit harder to judge his worth. Much like Patrick, Fabbro is a former first-round pick who was thought to have a ton of talent and currently finds himself an RFA. While Dante has shown promise while in the lineup for the Predators, this 23-year-old defenseman can’t manage to make a name for himself because of Nashville’s depth on the blueline. It is believed that the Predators wish to move one of their veteran players with a hefty contract (like Ellis) to free up cap space in which to re-sign Fabbro but if they can’t find a suitor Fabbro will be left in a state of ambiguity once again. 

Other teams that are rumored to be interested in Patrick’s services are the Las Vegas Golden Knights and the Edmonton Oilers. Just my opinion here, but if the Flyers were to try and make a deal with the Knights then they should try and obtain the scrappy William Carrier in return who, at just 26 years old and now 5 years into the league, already has 846 checks to his credit and is considered a human wrecking ball. Carrier would offer Philly a physical edge to their game that they currently lack and would do so for a reasonable price of just $ 1.4 million for the next three seasons.         

The Oilers understand that Nolan probably isn’t ever going to be a 1^st line center like once projected and they darn sure don’t need him to be when they have a guy like Connor McDavid on their roster. They do, however, need help on their bottom six forward group- something that Patrick may be able to help them with. Again, just my opinion here: A player the Flyers should ask about receiving in return (if Edmonton shows some real interest in the coming weeks) is their 24-year-old indigenous RHS defenseman Ethan Bear who, like Benning of Nashville, would not likely come in and be a first-pairing player but could strengthen Philadelphia’s bottom defensive pairing. Bear is a solid defenseman who is under contract for just $2 million this coming season and would then be a manageable RFA after that.   

I hope that this article now has you up to date on all the rumors that are currently surrounding the Flyers. You now know what’s true, what’s false, and what moves that the Flyers should pursue with other deals now falling through. This off season is different than most with Seattle’s expansion draft to worry about also. There is no time for Chuck Fletcher to wait for a deal to magically transpire in order to get this team back into the playoff picture. He may not be able to make that one big deal everyone is hoping for. The Flyers’ players and prospects are currently viewed as less-than top-notch and may not have any takers. Therefore, he should be working a few side deals as well (like the ones suggested above) that could help the team take a step in the right direction so that we don’t have yet another season-ending press conference next year where CEO Dave Scott finds himself saying yet again “well it wasn’t for Chuck not trying”.