With the 2023-24 NHL season over halfway done, the Philadelphia Flyers have achieved astounding success with a 24-14-6 record when they were projected to finish dead last in the Metropolitan Division by many. During the offseason, they had several key departures that made them a doubtful candidate to rise to the level of success they have experienced. Which players left the team during the offseason, and how have they fared with their new teams?
Ivan Provorov
In what was definitely the biggest offseason departure, Ivan Provorov was traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets in a three-way trade that the Flyers couldn’t be happier they made. Last season with him as the team’s leader in ice time at a 23:01 average, they had an expected goals against per 60 of 3.28, which ranked just 21st in the NHL. With him gone, someone seen as one of the best defenders the Flyers had, they have since become the sixth-best team in this category with an expected goals against per 60 minutes of 2.81. Philadelphia certainly got better after his departure, but did Columbus benefit from getting him?
Provorov hasn’t really seen a role regression with an average of 22:51 of ice time this season, but it’s been a trade-off with him. Instead of being a two-way defender, he has leaned on his offensive creation and has done that well. His 23 points aren’t too far behind of the team lead of 28. With that being said, he has held onto the same defensive woes he had in Philadelphia.
Related: Evaluating Philadelphia Flyers’ Rebuild After Ivan Provorov Trade
Of Columbus’ five worst defensive pairings in terms of expected goals against per 60 that have over 100 minutes of ice time, he is on three of them. Provorov has at least found his niche as a more offensive-oriented defender, but still has the same issues with defense that he had during his final seasons with the Flyers. He hasn’t exactly been bad, but he also hasn’t been good enough to justify the hefty price tag he came with. The Blue Jackets should be regretting this deal at this point in time, but that’s not to say he hasn’t improved — it just hasn’t been incredibly significant.
Kevin Hayes
Trading Kevin Hayes was a hard pill to swallow this offseason, and there were a couple of reasons for that. Not only would his production of 54 points be hard to replace, but the Flyers also had to eat half of his $7.14 million contract for the next three seasons. In exchange, all they could get the St. Louis Blues to cough up was a sixth-round pick. Considering where the two teams are at, it could be argued that Philadelphia is winning the trade thus far. Team success aside, how has Hayes himself performed?
With 10 goals and 10 assists for 20 points in 42 games, Hayes has not been the reason why the Blues are just 21-19-2 this season. As a middle-six option, St. Louis can’t be too upset with themselves for making this deal. The retention on his contract is valuable, making it so they could likely trade him down the line for much more than they gave up. Still, the Flyers got out of paying half of an albatross contract. With the extra money, they have more freedom to make moves. In the end, this turned out to be the perfect win-win deal.
James van Riemsdyk
With his five-year contract expiring, the Flyers let forward James van Riemsdyk choose his next home in free agency. The veteran signed a cheap one-year contract with the Boston Bruins in the offseason, and it might have just bought him a few more seasons in the NHL. Despite aging, he is having one of his most productive campaigns ever and is still a dominant net-front presence.
During his two separate stints with the Flyers, van Riemsdyk had a career-high 48 points in 66 games. With just 13:44 of average ice time, he already has 27 points in the 39 games he has played thus far. Playing both power-play and bottom-six minutes, the Bruins couldn’t have asked for too much more out of him. Philadelphia can’t necessarily be mad at themselves for letting him go as he didn’t fit their rebuild plan. Regardless, it’s good to see him find success on a competitive team.
Tony DeAngelo
Ending off with Tony DeAngelo, he was a player the Flyers had to shed if they wanted to improve their defensive numbers. He scored 42 points in just 70 games, but Philadelphia struggled so much in their zone when he was on the ice that this almost became irrelevant. Playing 22:04 of average ice time, that’s been the only time in his career that he went over 20 minutes. Bought out by the club in the last season of his contract, he returned to the Carolina Hurricanes where the Flyers acquired him in the first place. How has he played?
DeAngelo is undoubtedly a talented offensive player, but this season has been rough for him. Getting nine points in 21 games with depth ice time is solid, but he hasn’t been a staple in their lineup. It doesn’t really come as a shock that he’s been the odd man out of the Hurricanes’ lineup with how strong they are on defense. It was between him and Jalen Chatfield early in the season fighting for the final defense spot, but the latter has taken it over quite easily. He was fantastic for Carolina in 2022-23 and has only gotten better this season — this has left DeAngelo on the outside looking in.
Since the Flyers made moves specifically to help their rebuild, it would be hard to fault them for any of their decisions. In the end, each and every one of general manager (GM) Daniel Briere’s deals made sense. When losing someone like a 34-year-old van Riemsdyk who is playing bottom-six minutes is your worst move, chances are your offseason was nearly flawless. For his first offseason, it wasn’t too shabby.
