The Philadelphia Flyers have been on quite the roll of late and they have added some depth on trade deadline day. With wins in seven of their last 10 games, the Flyers are up to third place in the Metropolitan Division and now just five points behind the Washington Capitals for the top spot.
Flyers Add a Key Role Player
As first reported by Pierre LeBrun of TSN, the Flyers have acquired forward Nate Thompson from the Montreal Canadiens. In exchange, the Canadiens will be receiving the Flyers’ fifth-round pick in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft.
Thompson is no stranger to having his phone ring on deadline day. Today’s trade marks the third straight season in which he was part of a trade at the league’s deadline. He was part of the 2018 Dion Phaneuf trade between the Ottawa Senators and Los Angeles Kings. Last season, the Kings moved him at the deadline to Montreal for a fourth-round pick.
The 35-year-old center is a veteran of 760 NHL games with the Boston Bruins, New York Islanders, Tampa Lightning, Anaheim Ducks, Senators, Kings and Canadiens. He has plenty of Stanley Cup playoff experience as well. He was part of the 2011 Lightning team that made it to the Eastern Conference Finals and had two runs wit the Western Conference Finals with the Ducks in 2015 and again in 2017.
Thompson Does the Dirty Work
Thompson is having one of his better offensive seasons in quite a while with four goals and 14 points. However, you don’t trade for a guy like Thompson expecting to get find him on the scoresheet every night. He provides the dirty work that needs to be done for a team to succeed this time of year.
The Flyers have added a gritty veteran to the bottom of their lineup who also happens to be one of the better centers at the faceoff dot. Thompson has won 55.1% of his faceoffs this season which is a big uptick from his career average of 52.9%. He will join a team that already features Sean Couturier and Claude Giroux, so good luck trying to win late offensive zone draws against the Flyers.
In addition to his work at the dot, Thompson will give the Flyers boost on the penalty kill unit. He averaged 2:15 of shorthanded time per game with the Canadiens this season, the third-most among their forwards and is more than any Flyers forward has averaged. Now the Philadelphia as Couturier and Thompson anchoring their penalty kill units and that is a pretty formidable duo to start with.
Stay updated on all of today’s moves with our 2020 Trade Deadline: Deal Tracker.
