Danny Briere and the Philadelphia Flyers should be scoping out all avenues for improvement this season, whether that comes in the form of a main roster upgrade, rehab project or adding a few assets for their continued rebuild, and the Winnipeg Jets have emerged as a team who may be on the verge of having a fire sale.
According to all the rumors, the Jets are taking a Chuck Fletcher approach to the summer where they’re hellbent on staying competitive despite the obvious struggles the team is facing. They want to get main roster help for any trade they make and considering the Flyers may be looking to sell a few veterans as part of their rebuild, Winnipeg may be a potential dance partner.
The major problem when it comes to looking toward the Jets as a potential trade partner is the age of most of the valuable players on their roster. Winnipeg was the eighth oldest team in the league in 2022-23 with an average age of 28.3 years old. Blake Wheeler is 36, Mark Scheifele is 30, Josh Morrissey is 28 and even players that get associated with youth like Kyle Connor and Nikolaj Ehlers are already 26 and 27 years old respectively.
Connor has three years left at a $7.1 million cap hit. He has posted 424 points in 466 career NHL games, has hit the 30-goal plateau in five of the last six seasons, eclipsing 40 goals once in 2021-22. The Flyers should absolutely be looking for a major offensive contributor to light a fire under the rest of the forwards, but paying a premium for someone whose contract will end before the Flyers make the playoffs again may not be the smartest play for the rebuild organization.
The Flyers would probably love to add 25-year-old pending restricted free agent center Pierre-Luc Dubois, but there’s a major catch- there’s no way this guy signs in Philly with John Tortorella at the helm. If you remember, Torts was the coach in Columbus when Dubois had that famous shift where he completely gave up and would ultimately be traded to Winnipeg in exchange for Patrik Laine a short time later.
Dylan DeMelo (30) or Neal Pionk (27) are right-handed defensemen whom the Flyers could utilize to help out their severely lacking right side. Though Pionk has two years left at a $5.8 million cap hit, meanwhile DeMelo only has one year left at his deal at a $3 million cap hit. Both players have been under-the-radar solid defensemen for most of their careers. Neither make much sense for the Flyers given their short term contracts going against the current rebuilding initiative and tight cap space.
The left-handed defenseman Logan Stanley is a potential rehab project the Flyers may have interest in. The 25-year-old 6’7, 242lb defenseman has struggled to live up to the hype as a former 18th overall pick back in 2016. He’s played just 114 NHL games since making the professional jump during the 2018-19 season. Considering the fact that the Flyers already have an abundance of left-handed defenseman who are struggling to get NHL ice time due to overcrowding on the main roster, it really shouldn’t interest them to bring in another, especially considering there doesn’t seem to be much upside to unlock with Stanley.
Any open defenseman slot on either side on the roster should be going to the in-house youth that need those minutes unless a bonafide upgrade can be had, which Winnipeg doesn’t offer.
They do have 28-year-old Josh Morrissey, their top left-handed defenseman, who posted a career best 16 goals and 76 points in 2022-23, a severe outlier from his typical 10-ish goals and 30-ish points. He does have five years left on his contract with a $6.2 million cap hit. If the Flyers could ditch Travis Sanheim (which is highly unlikely) there may be some reason to bring him in, but otherwise, there just isn’t a logical spot for him on the current roster.
There are a pair of young centers in 21-year-old center Cole Perfetti and 20-year-old Chaz Lucius that highlight their rather underwhelming prospect pool. It’s highly unlikely either get traded, but if the Jets double down and look to add, maybe an Ivan Provorov or Travis Konecny deal (or both) could interest them enough to pry away one of their young up-and-comers.
Any time a team hangs a “for sale” sign on a roster, it’s always worth checking out, but the Flyers just aren’t in a scenario where crafting deals for a bulk of Winnipeg’s worthwhile assets make sense.
The rehab projects have relatively low ceilings and aren’t better than any of the current Flyers’ prospects, the star players are either older or on contracts that just don’t fir the timeline, and it’s also worth noting the questionable leadership within the Jets locker room. Considering the Flyers are currently fighting to regain control of a rogue, disgruntled group of players, voluntarily adding another bad apple or two to the bunch may not be the smartest idea.
Though snagging a young, NHL-ready forward like Cole Perfetti in exchange for Ivan Provorov or Travis Konecny would be the dream, and very much the goal for Danny Briere. It’s a situation the Flyers can capitalize on if the Jets are desperate enough to attempt to stay competitive. A 20-year-old center with 37 points in 69 NHL contests and a tremendous amount of upside is exactly what the doctor ordered for the Flyers.
Do the Flyers and Jets negotiate a trade during the 2023 offseason? If their young guys are off the table, then there’s really no reason for the Flyers to do so. It’s not the worst thing in the world for the Flyers to look into adding a talented player or two, but the Jets just don’t provide a perfect fit in the age or monetary range the Flyers are looking for. It’s best for Briere to avoid this one entirely.
By: Dan Esche (@DanTheFlyeraFan)
photo credit: nhl.com
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