Photo Courtesy of, Sergei Belski, USA TODAY Sports
With the NHL Trade Deadline set for Friday, March 3rd at 3pm and approaching quickly. The trade market is starting to heat up around the league. From a Philadelphia Flyers perspective, their most valuable trade chip at this year’s Trade Deadline is veteran winger James Van Riemsdyk.
Van Riemsdyk has had a decent season on an offensively starved Flyers team. In 40 games he’s posted 9 goals and 14 assists for 23 points. This places JVR at a 0.58 points per game average this season. His leadership qualities and experience also make him a valuable asset to sell for the Flyers. Not to mention his known Power-Play prowess.
One other quality JVR possesses, making him an attractive asset for a playoff contender, is his past playoff experience. The veteran winger has participated in the NHL post season tournament for the Stanley Cup on seven separate occasions. The tenured forward reached the Stanley Cup finals with the Flyers during his rookie season. He’s also made it to the second round twice with the Flyers and the third round once. The fact JVR participated in lengthy playoff runs before, certainly adds to his value from a team building and locker room perspective. Majority of contenders are looking to prepare themselves as best they can for a potential playoff push and lengthy run. Making plays for pieces that can still be contributors offensively and have playoff experience are typically what buyers at the Trade Deadline are looking for.
An important thing to note regarding Van Riemsdyk and his pending trade status is the forward was scratched for apparent “body soreness” last evening. He did not participate in the matchup taking on the Devils. Although, it’s hard to tell if he was indeed scratched for actual body soreness or as a means of the Flyers protecting their most valuable trade asset as the Deadline grows closer.
Trade Value and Teams In The Mix
In terms of trade value there’s been a fair amount of speculation on what Van Riemsdyk may potentially be moved for. Based on the current trade market and what players of similar value have been traded for it’s likely JVR will fetch a similar return.
Some examples of returns we could see for JVR may compare to Nashville trading Niederreiter to Winnipeg for a 2024 2nd round pick. Another trade that was just recently completed saw St Louis move Ivan Barbashev to Vegas for Zach Dean, a former 30th overall, 1st round selection in the 2021 Draft. It’s possible the Flyers receive a return similar to the above for JVR.
It was initially reported by Elliotte Friedman on the 32 Thoughts podcast that the team’s interested in acquiring JVR are the Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild, Vegas Golden Knights and the Winnipeg Jets. Unfortunately for the Flyers, the Jets and Golden Knights have already acquired similar role players to JVR and what he could provide them in Niederreiter and Barbashev. This likely removes them from the conversation.
In addition, the Stars have made a move and acquired Evgenii Dadonov for Denis Gurianov. Also, placing them on the outside looking in when referencing interest in JVR’s services. That leaves just one of the four initially rumored teams interested in acquiring JVR left, which is the Minnesota Wild.
The Fourth Period’s Dave Pagnotta has reported the San Jose Sharks are interested in forward Jordan Greenway who effectively has two years left on his contract at a 3 million dollar cap value moving forward. While The Fourth Period’s Anthony DiMarco has also reported the Wild are looking to shed Greenway’s salary. He added the Flyers could potentially have interest in Greenway as part of a JVR return package as well.
If the Flyers were to eat half of JVR’s salary and take on Greenway’s contract that has two years remaining at a 3 million dollar cap hit, one would assume they’d be appropriately compensated. Ideally if a JVR deal to Minnesota were structured to include Greenway the full trade could look something like the examples below:
Mock Trades
Philadelphia receives: 2024 1st round pick, Jordan Greenway
Minnesota receives: James Van Riemsdyk
Another possible deal could be:
Philadelphia receives: 2023 2nd round pick, 2024 2nd round pick, Jordan Greenway
Minnesota receives: James Van Riemsdyk
The above may not be entirely accurate in relation to JVR’s perceived value around the NHL at the moment. However, the key aspect of these deals would be Jordan Greenway’s involvement. Philadelphia would essentially be doing the Wild a favour taking on Greenway’s contract. Helping them shed the salary of the under-producing forward who only has 2 goals this season and 6 points total in 42 games. By taking on his cap hit you’d imagine the Flyers would receive increased compensation in the form of draft picks. Due to providing Minnesota an upgraded replacement for Greenway in Van Riemsdyk all the while assisting them in clearing salary.
When analyzing the landscape of the NHL trade market and the returns for particular players, it’s probable JVR may be dealt for an equivalent value as other recently traded forwards. It’s projected that JVR could be traded for either a 2023 2nd round pick or a young player/prospect of comparable value.
Even though returns of the above nature are fair value for Van Riemsdyk one thing that could haunt the Flyers in this situation is their inactivity within the trade market so far. Majority of the teams rumored to be interested in the veteran winger such as the Stars, Jets and Knights have already acquired similar depth pieces removing them from being viable trade candidates for JVR.
Minnesota is still in the market for JVR at forward per various reports referenced above. But you have to wonder if the market for Van Riemsdyk has potentially dried up when considering three previously interested teams are likely no longer pursuing the player.
It’s certainly plausible other teams may emerge as suitors for JVR in the coming days. Though it cannot be ignored that the lack of action from the Flyers front office and GM Chuck Fletcher in this situation may have cost them a higher value return for Van Riemsdyk. In the Flyers circumstances the logic would be as more available forwards are traded JVR’s value could rise. The thought process here is a desperate team that still needs forward help could have no choice but to turn to JVR as an option.
This is a slippery slope for the Flyers because there is no guarantee the particular team described above is going to exist in this scenario.
Overall, as the Trade Deadline gets even closer the likelihood of a Van Riemsdyk trade increases further. The hope for Philadelphia is the teams interested in JVR don’t acquire depth scoring pieces that would remove them from pursuing the veteran winger as the Trade Deadline approaches. Nevertheless, there are typically teams looking to acquire players that were not always reported to be initially interested in trading for them by media outlets. That may be the case here with Van Riemsdyk when all is said and done.
