The New New Unending Flyers thread

[Austinfan]

It's almost impossible to trade into the top 5.

What is more likely is using one of the later 2nd rd picks (say Calgary), to move up 4 or 5 slots from #20 or #25, or package their 3rd with one of the earlier 2nds to move up a few slots, if they were targeting a specific player.

[Squire]

I’m convinced that Danny is going to trade nobody by the deadline.

[phillychuck]

This is sort of a measuring stick deadline. If he doesn't get it done, maybe he doesn't have the closing skills to be a GM.

[zambonir]

I don't really see what the urgency is. The main value of it would actually be to help the tank. Laughton and Ristolain will be worth exactly as much in July or even next deadline as they will now, and the '26 or '27 picks will also be available (but more players will be too). It would be a measuring stick fail if he settled for 2nd rounders for either of them. And what if he hadn't made the trade he already made and just did that at the deadline?

Risto is almost definitely not going anywhere, IMO. There seems to be more noise about Laughton down the stretch here. Also, Kurz pointed out that they could always bring him back in 2027 if he's such a great bottom six glue guy. That sort of thing is usually fan fiction when you trade a pending UFA who is then going to get his next big deal while his former team isn't good, but that's not where Laughton and the Flyers should be by then. If they trade him, for instance, to Winnipeg, he might be happy to play for a top team but equally happy to get back to Philly in the long run. If they trade him to Toronto, different story.

Whatever happens, what he does in July is a lot bigger deal, including the final steps on who gets to stick around long term of the younger guys and RFAs. And the coach.

[VoteForKalas]

Their value will not be the same. They will one more year older and coukd get injured at any time this year or next if you keep them. Risto especially also has a bad contract that would help us tremendously to get off the books.

Again, neither of them have any future here so what is the point of holding onto them for another year?

These are exactly the players that a rebuilding team would deal to get assets and open up cap space plus open up roster spots for young talent to get chances to play. The team is going nowhere so this idea we need to post a respectable record is nonsense.

[zambonir]

You're right about the injury risk (or decline in play) for Risto but he will still have two full years left in July, or a year and change next year. The word is nobody wants to give a 1st and they want the Flyers to pick up $. And they aren't going to be playing for the draft lottery next year. There is a place for him on a team that is going to acquire a young player or two, has a little $ to spend (they already opened up plenty of cap space with the other trade, plus it's going up) and should actually want to be better next year. A solid veteran defensive defenseman makes all of the young players - D, F, G - better. And a team that's desperate next trade deadline would give up a first with less of a financial burden. Also the Flyers could probably retain more readily next deadline because Hayes is coming off (the fact that they are apparently reluctant to squander their two open spots mean they must hope to use them in other trades this off-season or next year).

The real wild card on the back line is, there's no way York, Drysdale and Andrae will all be here by 2027.

I agree it's dumb they should try to be respectable but you also don't trade two guys for 50% of what you want just to get a few more lottery changes.

Keeping Laughton is dumber, for leadership/chemistry reasons, as he is more replaceable positionally, though I think his value really doesn't change. He should be worth a first now and they should take it rather than hold out for a better market or risk injury (it's crazy these guys even skate a week before the deadline, in baseball guys get pulled so easily).

[Docs]

Also it’s a sellers market for center, Laughton's value is probably peaking, and in some cases having the extra year is more valuable than a rental.

[zambonir]

In the end Laughton is still a third-line center and the Flyers will probably cash in. If he was a second-line center they wouldn't trade him, they need one of those!

As many as 8 teams swirling around the Flyers with calls on Scott Laughton. The center market is shrinking so Briere is in no rush. 1st round picks are in play, but there could be room for improvement as the week unfolds.

— Darren Dreger ( @DarrenDreger ) March 4, 2025

[Squire]

When it comes to the Flyers I am a full on cynic. That Dreger tweet feels like it came straight from our front office. If it were close to being true there is no way they would have risked playing him tonight. In 18 hours we’ll know whether that analysis is right.

[zambonir]

Well, would you rather the front office didn't try to goose up interest in him? Let's say it's nonsense and only two teams are interested in him. It's also in the press that the Flyers want a first or equivalent. Should they do the deal for less?

If Winnipeg was ready to give that up for him this morning he could have played for them tonight.

[Austinfan]

I don't think they'll get a 1st for Laughton without retention, taking on a bad contract or throwing in a 3rd or 4th rd pick like the Walker trade (Johansen contract and a 5th).

Risto is cost, Danny doesn't want to retain for two more years, so he won't consider a late 2nd rd pick plus retention.
Risto will have more value in that case in June when teams know their needs and cap situation for next season.
He also may want to keep Risto for one more season, giving Bonk and Sotheran and Grans more time to be NHL ready, with Gill going pro in 2026.

Next TDL Laughton, Poehling and Fedotov are FAs after the season.
Next summer (2026) Risto would have one season left, Hathaway would have one season left, Seeler two seasons but no NTC.

Since Briere is probably looking at 2026 and 2027 picks, he can wait if he's not offered something decent, that is, in the top 50 in value.

[zambonir]

Laughton is cheap enough that there shouldn't have to be retention really. Walker was a FA, Laughton at his salary for an extra season is value, not something you have to struggle to unload.

[Austinfan]

Depends on the team.

One reason Risto might have value this summer is some teams struggle to sign FAs, so two years (age 31-32) is attractive.

Same way some teams might want that extra season with Laughton, but others would prefer not to have to carry $3M going into next season if they have players returning from injury, etc.

Right now Toronto and NJ would be the main suitors it seems, but Toronto is really cap squeezed and next year have to resign Marner. So they might not want $3M on the books next season. NJ has a lot of LTIR room this season, but L Hughes hits his RFA years next season and they shed smaller contracts that don't save much (b/c you hae to pay their replacements).

[bigegypt0417]

Laughton will get traded if a team offers what the front office believes he's worth.

He's not a future albatross and he isn't a dump.

If they get a first for him, he'll get traded.

It's not really very complicated...IMO.

[zambonir]

Yeah, they should not be trying to make the playoffs this year, and they should not be trading any assets for short-term assets, but with no unrestricted free agents of note they don't have to have a fire sale either. Sure, they should be more willing to tank, but we already know they aren't.

I guess I actually do think this team is better than people give them credit for, when healthy, and except for the awful PP. They an be a legit contender next year without compromising the timeline or giving up any long-term assets for short-term gain. They'll need to fix the PP, find that younger center and a back-up goaltender to do that, and maybe Luchanko can take Laughton's roster spot. But if they trade Risto they will just have to go out and find another Dman and getting lucky on the cheap like they did with Walker and Seeler isn't a frequent occurence

[VoteForKalas]

Laughton will get traded if a team offers what the front office believes he's worth.

He's not a future albatross and he isn't a dump.

If they get a first for him, he'll get traded.

It's not really very complicated...IMO.

The question is, if Laughton has not generated an offer of a 1st rd pick over the last several years that he has been dangled, what makes you think he suddenly will this year or, at another year older, next year?

At some point, the Flyers need to get what they want or adapt to the market. I think this deadline should likely be the last effort on their part to get that price. Reality is hard to accept sometimes, but continuing to bang your head against the wall does no one any good.

I do not see any team giving a 1st rd pick for Laughton and never have. He is a 30-40 pt player at max (career high of 43 pts) who would play 4th line C on a good team and 3rd line C on teams like the Flyers. He is quite good on the PK and in the locker room, but brings no value on the PP.

[kmc1019]

I hope events today prove me wrong, but.......
NHL trade deadline is a microcosm of the Flyers' last 20 years: Flyers want to trade bottom 6 forward and 3rd pair defenseman, insisting on first round pick for each in return. Other teams tell them they are bleeping crazy. No movement, and the hundred year "rebuild" goes on.
Next up: finding some other current Flyers forward with bottom-6 talent or 3rd pair defenseman to give 10-year $60 million dollar no-trade contract this summer. Throw in drafting more "strong 2-way players", i.e. low offensive skills.
This is the Flyers way of the past 20 years and why there is no end in sight for this franchise in the wilderness.

[zambonir]

At some point, the Flyers need to get what they want or adapt to the market. I think this deadline should likely be the last effort on their part to get that price. Reality is hard to accept sometimes, but continuing to bang your head against the wall does no one any good.

Well, that's fair, but they don't have to adapt to this market. If they can only get a second for him but wait until June to do that and then use the second in part to get a young center, nothing wrong with that. If they keep him and are not likely to make the playoffs next year, they still get that second next deadline (I'll grant you if a first isn't likely now it won't be then).

Still not sure it really has to come to that. There may not be eight teams trying to get him but there are no other players like him available (in terms of the combination of salary, terms and role). It's a poker game but the other teams don't have that many cards either.

Walker shouldn't have been worth a first either, but he was with the salary-dump added. That's the part where the Flyers could/should concede. They have the space.

[VoteForKalas]

Elliott Friedman stating that this is turning out to be a seller's market so hopefully Briere gets it done.

Friedman says the price for Laughton is a 1st rd pick or 1st rd pick type player. Not sure what the definition of that type of player would be, but I guess we'll see.

[zambonir]

I think it basically means either a former 1st round pick or a 2nd-3rd guy who has already out-developed his draft spot. On the Leafs that is Easton Cowan (#28 in 2023) or Fraser Minten (38th in 2022 which was a second). Or their '26 1st.

Listen, I get it. You guys wish the Flyers weren't the Flyers. This front office is the Emperor's New Clothes but only half-naked. But the old regime wouldn't have traded Frost and Farabee... or at least not until they could be blamed for a playoff failure.