The date June 23 might mean many things to alot of people. They could be birthdays, anniversaries, memories of a favorite, etc. But June 23rd for Flyers fans will go down as a day that 5 times changed the landscape for the Flyers forever. No day in the last decade might have been as busier than today as there were several high profiled trades that went down that ultimately changed the trajectory of this forever. I didn’t realize until Monday June 22nd the day before as I was checking twitter that yesterday’s date would mark the nine year anniversary of Mike Richards and Jeff Carter trades the day before the 2011 NHL draft. Then not even a year later there was the now infamous JVR for Luke Schenn trade, not stopping there two years later we had another big trade that sent fan favorite Scott Hartnell to Columbus in exchange for former Flyer RJ Umberger. We proceeded three years later and Brayden Schenn was traded to St. Louis for Jori Lehtera dead up. Sorry, I can’t, that’s not even funny, the Flyers received 2 first round picks and Jori Lehtera. And last but certainly not least, in the 2017 NHL draft, after having the third worst odds to win the draft lottery a month ago the Flyers climbed up all the way to the 2nd overall pick and selected with that pick Nolan Patrick.
It’s crazy to think that all those trades and the draft selection all happened on this one particular day. If the coronavirus pandemic wasn’t happening in the world right now, the 23rd of June would be a day Flyers fans and players might be thinking about running for the hills when this day comes around. Nonetheless, those were some absolutely massive trades that not only had a huge effect on the Flyers, but also teams around the league as well. Some trades won in the end, while others were less to be desired (Yes, we’re looking at you Luke Schenn and RJ Umberger). But you can’t help but say all trades (some strangely enough) put the Flyers on the path of success that we saw all of this season and hopefully more to come in the playoffs next month.
When talking about all the trades that went down on this date, there is no better place to start off then the shocking blockbuster trade that was the Mike Richards and Jeff Carter trades. No trade the Flyers have done in the last decade had more of an immediate and long-term impact than those two trades the day before the 2011 draft. First, the Richards trade which I believe was the more shocking of the two was shipped off to Los Angeles for at the time top prospect Brayden Schenn, Wayne Simmonds and a 2012 second-round pick. Then, a short time later Jeff Carter was traded to Columbus in exchange for Jakub Voracek, the 8th overall pick in the 2011 draft which turned out to be Sean Couturier and a 2011 3rd round pick (Nick Cousins).
At the time of the trade people didn’t know what to think. Some believed at the time the Flyers didn’t get enough for the two franchise cornerstones. However, now nine years later, this trade was a win-win for the Kings and Flyers. The Blue Jackets, uh not so much. The Kings got their two cups with the help of Richards and oh Jeff Carter, whose Blue Jackets career lasted a good three months of the 2012 season. Like I said now looking back at the trade now years later, the Kings got what they wanted in the two Stanley Cups, but it didn’t help them for long term success. The Flyers clearly won this trade with the years that followed because of the emergence of Sean Couturier, Jakub Voracek, Wayne Simmonds, and Brayden Schenn who will get to a little bit later.
Now the JVR for Luke Schenn trade, there are not enough bad things I can say about this trade. Though he didn’t show the skill and goal scoring prowess that made him the 2nd overall pick, the Flyers traded him to Toronto for a defensemen who already looked like a bust to start his NHL career. The only reason this trade happened was due to the fact the Flyers didn’t have any young d-men on their team or farm system to look forward to years down the line. This trade turned to be disastrous as Luke was traded three and a half years later as part of the Vincent Lecavalier trade to Los Angeles in 2016. During those tough times, Van Riemsdyk blossomed into a great net front presence power forward who consistently scored 30 goals a season. It was the last bad trade of the Holmgren era, but his successor’s first trade wasn’t popular with the fans either.
Ron Hextall’s first duty as GM was to create salary cap space for the upcoming season, and his first move as GM was trading fan favorite Scott Hartnell to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for RJ Umberger. Now, like everybody I was never a huge fan of this trade, but I got what Hexy was trying to accomplish. Hartnell’s contract didn’t expire for another couple of years, so to avoid long-term salary-cap commitment he decided to trade for Umberger who had one less year on his deal than Hartnell. However, the trade did prove to be outright terrible, as Hartnell enjoyed two more productive seasons with the Blue Jackets before he jumped off the proverbial cliff. Whereas in Umberger’s case as soon as his plane landed in Philadelphia he fell off the face of the earth when it came to production. In two seasons during his second stint with the Flyers, Umberger in 106 games was only able to produce a fantastic 26 points! Yes, you could probably sense the sarcasm even through an article piece. Luckily, he was bought out at the end of the 2016 season.
Though that trade was very unpopular with the fans when it happened, this trade in 2017 didn’t go bad for him, it actually went really well for him. During the day of the draft, Hextall traded Brayden Schenn and was able to fleece two first round picks and Jori Lehtera from St. Louis. Lehtera really didn’t add much to the Flyers and was merely just thrown into the deal for salary cap reasoning. However, it was two first round picks that became the crown jewel of the trade. The same draft that the Flyers after almost winning the draft lottery and picked Nolan Patrick with the second overall pick. With the Blues 27th overall pick the Flyers selected Morgan Frost, who is now regarded as the Flyers top prospect and the year after selected Joel Farabee with the 14th overall pick, who has stuck with the big club this season and has contributed here and there for the team as well. And though Schenn turned into the player Philly hoped he would become, producing 182 points in 225 games, along with winning the Stanley Cup last season.
The trade has looked like an absolute home run for the Flyers as both Farabee and Frost have shown when given the opportunity they can play at the highest level. Hopefully becoming key players on the team’s top-six in the years to come. June 23rd to say the least has been a very busy day in the Flyers long history. If the season had continued as planned, who knows what move the Flyers or any team in the league would’ve made on this date. Who knows maybe this time next year the Flyers pull off a trade that sends hometown kid Johnny Gaudreau to Philly in a classic Philadelphia blockbuster.
