In this edition of our Philadelphia Flyers news and rumors report, we take a look at the signing of forward Rodrigo Abols, revisit some old rumors on prospect Matvei Michkov, and look at some ways that the Flyers can get another first-round pick. With less than two weeks to go until the 2024 NHL Draft on June 28, the big moves across the league are likely ready to ramp up soon.
Flyers Sign Rodrigo Abols
On June 15, the Flyers announced the signing of Abols, a 6-foot-4, 205-pound center who played in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL) for the 2023-24 season. He scored 14 goals and 12 assists for 26 points in 50 games, tying him for 53rd in the league for scoring out of 266 total forwards (80th percentile). He signed a one-year, two-way contract worth $0.775 million—the 28-year-old is likely to serve all of his time in the American Hockey League (AHL) with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
Down the middle, Abols has some names to beat out. Rhett Gardner and Elliot Desnoyers are both under contract for one more season, Tanner Laczynski is an unrestricted free agent (UFA) but could come back, and 23-year-old Massimo Rizzo could be a regular roster player for the Phantoms—that could be their depth chart at center based on their last lineup of the season. It could get crowded down in the AHL in 2024-25, but head coach Ian Laperriere will have to make it work.
If the situation in the NHL gets dire enough, Abols could play for the Flyers. He was drafted in the seventh round by the Vancouver Canucks in 2016 and also has some AHL experience to his name. As a fill-in veteran, this signing isn’t too noteworthy but is nonetheless an interesting move.
Still No Update on Michkov
The possibility of Michkov coming over to the Flyers for the 2024-25 season was mocked by his Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) club on April 30, 2024. Alexander Medvedev, the Chairman of the 19-year-old’s team, said “I think that the decision on Michkov will be made no later than the end of June,” referring to whether or not the young phenom could be with the Flyers next season.
His KHL contract doesn’t expire until April 30, 2026, meaning that Michkov will stay over in Russia unless his team thinks that it’s best for his career to move on to the NHL before that point. There hasn’t really been any news on the youngster since then, but it is also not the end of June yet—the timeline for Michkov’s arrival is still ongoing.
Getting Michkov would do wonders for the Flyers almost immediately, but time is winding down for that to happen. In the event that he stays in the KHL, it wouldn’t be bad for his development to stay there. He was loaned from his SKA St. Petersburg club to a lower-end team without as much talent, so actually getting a shot with some better linemates should help him grow.
Can the Flyers Get Two High Draft Picks?
The Flyers are sitting at 12th overall in the 2024 NHL Draft, but that might not be enough. It’s easy to get excited about players who could fall to them, such as Konsta Helenius, Berkly Catton, and Cole Eiserman, but only having the choice between one of these players is a hard pill to swallow—the Flyers should want multiple top-end prospects from this class.
With how stacked the draft is defensively, multiple of those three forwards could slip outside the top 10. Could the Flyers seriously land both of them? Well, there are a few teams who are reportedly shopping their picks.
Related: Philadelphia Flyers’ Path to Trading Up in the 2024 NHL Draft
The Buffalo Sabres caught my eye with the 11th overall pick a few weeks ago, seeing as they have a team that has not made the playoffs since 2011 and has a lot of good prospects already. They could use an immediate impact player for their roster rather than a draft pick, and that sort of thinking was touched upon by Elliotte Friedman of 32 Thoughts: The Podcast.
“I don’t think they’re just going to [trade the 11th pick] to do it, but they’ve got it out there and they’re saying ‘if you’re really interested in that pick, and it’s something that’ll help us, we’ll do it,'” Friedman said. This paints a clear picture that the Sabres are listening to teams and what they have to offer. If the Flyers are willing to part ways with a good roster player and perhaps a little bit more, the dream of landing two players like Helenius and Eiserman in the same draft is a very real one.
In addition, the Ottawa Senators could be listening in on their seventh overall selection for the same reasons. The last time they were in the postseason was in 2017, and they have a lot of young players on their team that are entering their prime. The Senior Vice President of Hockey Operations for Ottawa, former Flyer captain Dave Poulin, said his team is at least open to trading the selection.
Just because the Senators are doing their due diligence with the pick and seeing if any offers arise doesn’t mean that they are actively shopping, but this opens the door for the Orange and Black to make an offer that Ottawa will have to really think about. Whether or not that will actually be beneficial to Philadelphia is a discussion for another time, but they can at least toy with these sorts of possibilities.
The biggest stage of the offseason awaits the Flyers. Over the next two weeks, there could be some big changes for them.
