Being fairly aggressive in the summer before the 2021-22 season, the Philadelphia Flyers did everything they could to return to contender status after missing the playoffs in 2020-21. Injuries and general poor roster construction led to them being one of the worst teams in the NHL despite their efforts to be more competitive, and it forced them to sell at the trade deadline on March 21.
That was just under two calendar years ago, but it’s looking like a massive win for the Flyers overall. What did they trade, who did they get, and how might that help shape their future?
Giroux Trade Pays Huge Dividends
The deal that sent long-time Flyer Claude Giroux to the Florida Panthers has been making its rounds recently thanks to a huge extension for one of the players involved. The 34-year-old had 1000 games and 900 points flat in his career at the time of the trade, accomplishing all of that with the Orange and Black. Florida also got Connor Bunnaman, German Rubtsov, and a 2024 fifth-round pick forwards, but those served as throw-ins more than anything.
Getting back to Giroux, he was a pending unrestricted free agent (UFA) that offseason, and the Flyers had no intentions of keeping him around despite his 60-point pace being better than anyone on the team that season. Their cap space was low, and they were entering a rebuild, so this was the natural course of action.
In what served as the main return for that deal, the Flyers got forward Owen Tippett from the Panthers even though he wasn’t very valuable for them at that time despite being taken with the 10th-overall pick in the 2017 NHL Draft. He never got a real look for them and was not the prospect he was taken to be. But that changed once he arrived in Philadephia, now one of the team’s better pure offensive players.
Judging from Tippett’s stats over the last two seasons, it wouldn’t be surprising if he was a yearly 30-goal scorer when healthy — much better than his 14 total goals in 94 contests for Florida. For that reason, he was signed to an eight-year deal worth a pretty friendly $6.2 million on the salary cap annually. That alone makes the deal worth it, especially considering Florida won just four playoff games under Giroux’s guidance despite being one of their better point scorers there. However, the deal only gets better from there for the Orange and Black.
A third-round pick in 2023 was included, and the Flyers chose center Denver Barkey with it. He has been tearing it up in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) for the London Knights. He’s third in the league in points as of his 47th game, scoring 76 points in that span. For years to come, he could easily be a useful player in the NHL, further cementing the Flyers’ win in this deal. There’s potential that he is one of the team’s premier playmakers in the future.
And, if that wasn’t already enough, the Flyers will get Florida’s first-round pick this season, barring a disastrous collapse that would have to see them go from one of the top teams in the NHL now to having a top-10 pick in the 2024 NHL Draft — if that were to happen, the pick would transfer to next season. With it all but guaranteed to be in 2024, the Flyers could trade up with it or use their likely late first-round pick and try to find a steal. Overall, this could end up being one of the best trades in team history if all goes right.
Braun Potentially Shaping Future in Goal
Justin Braun was a 35-year-old third-pairing defender for the Flyers at the time of the deadline, but he garnered some good interest. The New York Rangers parted ways with a 2023 third-round pick to acquire him. His 19 games played in the postseason were somewhat valuable for them in their run to the Eastern Conference Final, but it pales in comparison to what the Flyers could be getting back. With the selection in last season’s draft, the Flyers chose netminder Yegor Zavragin.
Zavragin is looking like another steal for the Flyers in the third round in 2023, putting up video game numbers in arguably Russia’s second-best hockey league (VHL). In 13 contests, he has a 12-1-0 record with a .942 save percentage (SV%), a 1.64 goals-against average (GAA), and three shutouts. Doing this against men, he could become a very good goaltender in the NHL somewhere down the line.
The Flyers have a few great young goaltenders in Sam Ersson, Alexei Kolosov, and Carson Bjarnason, so it’ll be challenging for Zavragin to earn that “future of the franchise” label. However, that doesn’t mean his accomplishments shouldn’t be recognized. For a rental that Philadelphia re-signed during the offseason, this was a huge win for them.
Brassard Caps Off Nearly Perfect Deadline
Derick Brassard, despite injury, had a fairly solid season for the Flyers after signing for just $0.825 million that offseason as a UFA in his age 34 season. With center Kevin Hayes being injured to start the season, Brassard was able to take the role of one of the middle-six centers on the team for a while. With six goals and 10 assists for 16 points in just 31 games on a team that’s leading point-getter finished the season with just 52, that’s pretty impressive, all things considered.
As a result, the Flyers got a 2023 fourth-round draft pick in the deal. It wasn’t much, but it was still something for what wasn’t supposed to be that impactful of a signing. Though a mid-round draft pick, that selection could end up being a staple to the Flyers’ roster for years to come, forward Alex Ciernik.
There wasn’t a good reason for Ciernik falling to the Flyers other than the fact that he was a bit undersized at 5-foot-10. He was a fairly decent point producer in HockeyAllsvenskan with 12 points in 25 games, which is especially impressive due to it being a professional league. In the same league this time around, he’s matched that total in just 19 contests.
Related: Flyers’ Alex Ciernik Developing Into a Draft Steal
Ciernik has the potential to be a middle-six staple for the Flyers for years to come, so that’s a massive hit. He has the speed to be a pretty phenomenal player, making him a massive hit for what was supposed to more or less be a nothing trade. In 16 total contests with the Oilers, including their run to the Western Conference Final, he scored just three points. Though general manager (GM) Chuck Fletcher wasn’t the one who made the draft selection, it was a great job by him to land something in what should have more or less been a nothing deal.
This deadline might have to be revisited again several years down the line to see what players like Barkey, Ciernik, Zavragin, and the first-round pick become, but the Flyers probably couldn’t have done much better. Before their rebuild even truly started, they were already building up something nice.