Photo Credit: Our very own Rob Windfelder
The Flyers are on fire once again, with winning the past three out of four games. They are legit contenders at the moment, with their eyes set on making the playoffs in May/June. Without further delay, here are our answers to your questions.
They will be both buyers/sellers at the trade deadline. The Flyers have to walk a fine line here. It has taken John Tortorella almost two years to get this locker room right, and he finally has it going in the right direction. Teams have to be cautious with breaking up that good vibe in the locker room when it comes to the trade deadline.
In the same token, obviously the orange and black are in the midst of a rebuild. Unless a deal makes sense long-term, I do not expect them adding much, with the exception of adding assets. For instance, maybe a team becomes desperate enough to give a first for Sean Walker, or a third round pick for Marc Staal. That could solve their log jam, at least defensively.
The front office has no lost their sights on the rebuild, and they will keep subtracting for the majority, unless a deal comes to fruition like the Jamie Drysdale deal. That’s a deal that made sense, so I don’t believe this is the trade deadline for player additions.
Owen Tippett should re-sign for two-years $10-$11 million ($5 million AAV-$5.5 million AAV tops). That way this would walk him to free agency, which is not ideal from a Flyers standpoint. This would alos be similar to the contract that Travis Konecny signed, just more term associated with Konecny’s contract.
I’m sure the Flyers would like to do a long-term deal with Tippett, but he might cost a bit more.
Tij Iginila- Jarome Iginlas’s son, stands at 6’0 and weighs 185 pounds. He’s fourth amongst WHL scorers, and he can play both Left Wing and Center.
Sacha Boisvert- He could puck handle with the best of them. He’s a very creative player, that mainly plays Center in the USHL.
I think they would like to bolster their depth down the middle, and they should draft the best player available, especially in a rebuild, but if they do choose to select one Center and one defenseman, look for the orange and black to grab Charlie Elick. He’s a big right-handed defenseman that stands at 6’3 and weighs 198 pounds. Elick plays for the Brandon Wheat Kings in the WHL, so the Flyers are very familiar with that organization. He has netted four goals and 16 assists on the season in 42 games played.
Denver Barkey reminds me of Danny Briere or Brayden Point, in a sense of, not being the biggest player on the ice, but getting the job done appropriately. Unfortunately, Barkey is not a sniper, rather he is a very good playmaker. He will be valuable for the orange and black in the near future.
The Flyers have a few snipers in their system, to include the likes of Matvei Michkov and Samuel Tuomaala. Tuomaala is having a good first professional season in North America for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Let’s see how he progresses as the season continues to wind down here.
Now the Flyers will either have to draft one or trade for one, which could come costly, however, the good thing is the Flyers on two first round picks in this draft. Maybe they use it and select the potential sniper, or they use it to move up to draft a potential sniper, or move back and get a sniper that way. Of course, there might be other pieces to the puzzle included with the trade, but anything can happen.
The one good thing for the Flyers in regards to the Cutter Gauthier situation is they did obtain a hole in obtaining a 1A/1B defenseman. Another good thing about the trade was timing. This trade occurred before the NHL Draft commenced, meaning the Flyers have two first round picks and this upcoming draft to plug that hole with Gauthier. Now fortunately the first round is loaded with Centers and Defensemen, so Danny Briere good either move one of those picks to grab an NHL ready player, or he could use one of those pics to possibly move up in the draft and possibly draft another Gauthier that way.
Honestly, it does hurt a little bit at least on the surface, but the Flyers have reserves in their pocket to withstand something like this, whereas, in the past the Flyers would have been unfortunate in this type of situation.
If you would like to see your questions submitted in our weekly mailbag. Just submit your question on our Twitter page @flyersknitty using #Flyersmail, or @JameyBaskow. Thanks to all the fans for another great mailbag.
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They need a #1C and I’m not sold on Drysdale being the #1D they need. They’re going to need more than their #1 and Florida’s #1 to move into the top 8 in the draft.