A year ago, hardly anything was going right for the Philadelphia Flyers. The team was well on its way to a third straight playoff miss, and apathy among the fanbase was running high. But any hockey fan can get excited for the trade deadline. Even the most depressing teams can make progress toward returning to greatness or at least create some much-needed intrigue.
But in 2023, the trade deadline proved to be more of the same for the Flyers. General manager Chuck Fletcher failed to move the needle, making minor depth moves to part ways with Zack MacEwen and Patrick Brown, netting just two late-round draft picks. His inability to find a taker for James van Riemsdyk, an overpaid but still decently productive third-line winger in the last year of his contract, led to ownership reaching the zero-confidence threshold with Fletcher. He was fired exactly one week after the deadline.
It would have been defensible for current GM Danny Brière to stand pat this season. The Flyers are currently in a playoff spot. There was a case to be made for signing Sean Walker to an extension, just like Brière ultimately wound up doing with Nick Seeler. But if the Flyers are going to make this rebuild work, they need an abundance of quality assets.
The Erik Johnson and Wade Allison trades both have their pros and cons, but neither is a needle-mover. Dealing Walker for a return centered around Colordado’s 2025 first-round pick is. Walker was the easiest conduit to adding another piece of the team’s future, which is what matters most — not winning in the present.
Flyers Have Rarely Made Big Deadline Moves in Recent Years
Yes, there is an immediate counterpoint to this headline. The Flyers were involved in one of the biggest trades leading up to the 2022 deadline, dealing long-time captain and franchise icon Claude Giroux to the Florida Panthers. Giroux was excellent in Sunrise, scoring 23 points in 18 regular season games and eight points in 10 playoff contests with the Panthers, who won their first playoff series since 1996 with Giroux. But the Flyers made out very well, too, turning Owen Tippett from a stalled-out first-round pick to a top-six winger. They also nabbed a 2024 first-round pick and used the 2023 third to select Denver Barkey, who is third in the Ontario Hockey League in scoring.
But other than that, the Flyers haven’t made a truly big deadline move since selling Braydon Coburn and Kimmo Timonen in 2015. Wayne Simmonds was a big name on the move in 2019, but he only netted a pre-breakout Ryan Hartman and a fourth-round pick in return.
It’s not like the Flyers haven’t had opportunities to make big splashes. Scott Laughton was on the block in 2021, but the Flyers chose to re-up him on a five-year, $15 million extension. The team could’ve doubled down on focusing on the future in 2022 — instead, they inked Rasmus Ristolainen to a five-year extension of his own, this one carrying a $5.1 million cap hit. Instead, the biggest trade the Flyers made as sellers since 2015 was getting a third-round pick for Justin Braun two years ago.
Even when the team has been buyers, they’ve never made a big splash. The team has made the playoffs three times across the tenures of their three most recent GMs (Brière, Fletcher and Ron Hextall). In 2016, they didn’t make a single move and only added Petr Mrázek in 2018 because their starting and backup goaltender went down. The one time they were better than a bubble team (2019-20), they only spent a fourth and fifth-round pick, bringing in fourth-liners Derek Grant and Nate Thompson.
Why Walker Was the Piece to Move
There were a couple of noteworthy players the Flyers could’ve moved. Seeler was an intriguing option for many teams due to his defensive prowess, hard-nosed playstyle and dirt-cheap cap hit ($775,000). Laughton could have brought back at least a second-round pick and fits the same mold of past deadline pick-ups like Blake Coleman and Artturi Lehkonen, who have played big roles for Cup-winning teams.
But Seeler was never a candidate to bring back a significant haul. His extension price ($2.7 million cap hit) is likely much cheaper than retaining Walker would have been. Laughton is still under contract for two more seasons and is a valued part of the team’s leadership group.
Walker, on the other hand, has only been a Flyer for less than a year. He plays a position (right defense) where the organization has a clear surplus. Travis Sanheim is signed through 2030 and prefers to play the right side. Ristolainen’s deal runs through 2027 and will be hard to trade. Jamie Drysdale was just acquired in a blockbuster deal for Cutter Gauthier — he’s a major part of the team’s plans.
That’s three entrenched right defensemen right there. Oh, and there are prospects on the way, too. There’s Ronnie Attard, a 24-year-old who won’t be exempt from waivers next season and has played well in the American Hockey League. Oliver Bonk, a first-round pick last year, has elevated his ceiling with a strong season alongside Barkey for the OHL’s London Knights.
So, when you combine the lack of a future roster spot, the price for an extension and the ability to get a truly impactful return, it just made too much sense not to trade Walker. The 2023-24 Flyers will miss him, but the franchise should be thankful for this trade in the years to come.
Where the Flyers Stand Now
The Flyers hold eight picks in the first two rounds of the 2024 and 2025 NHL Drafts. They’ve got Florida’s 2024 first (from the Giroux trade) and just acquired Colorado’s 2025 first in exchange for Walker and eating Ryan Johansen’s contract. Both picks are top-10 protected, but it’s unlikely that stipulation would come into play.
The Flyers also own a second-round pick from the Columbus Blue Jackets, who get to decide whether the pick is in 2024 or 2025. The Anaheim Ducks’ 2025 second-rounder is also their property as part of the Gauthier-Drysdale swap. The Flyers don’t have their second-round pick this year — they sent that off to the Carolina Hurricanes to acquire Tony DeAngelo in the 2022 offseason. But they do have a compensation second-round selection from the league for not signing Jay O’Brien, a 2018 first-round selection.
Related: Flyers’ Depth Defensemen Will Be Crucial for Playoff Push
Philadelphia also holds four extra picks in the fifth and sixth rounds in the next two years, although they’ve parted ways with their 2024 and 2026 fifths, plus their 2024 fourth. But overall, the team holds an above-average amount of draft capital. The Flyers are trying to turn themselves into a stable, consistent contender. Trading Walker gives them a better chance at that than re-signing him. And that made that move an easier decision than it may have seemed.