The 2024 NHL trade deadline is just a few weeks away and somehow the Philadelphia Flyers have walked a perfect line between buyers and sellers, and it has led to some rather interesting rumors to emerge as far as their battle plans go, and the defense especially has been put under the microscope.
The Flyers acquired 29-year-old right-handed defenseman Sean Walker during the 2023 offseason as part of the three-team Ivan Provorov trade. He was basically a throw-in along with Cal Petersen from the LA Kings. But the Flyers have rehabbed his value substantially and now are searching the market for a team willing to give up a first round pick for the player.
The Flyers have championed culture beyond all else, and for what it’s worth, it has seemingly carried them from a flaming turd at the bottom of the standings to a hard working playoff bubble team. But they have a growing concern on their hands when it comes to their “rebuild” and that’s the fact that 18 of their 23 players are already under contract for next season. And that’s before either of Walker or Nick Seeler ink new deals. Committing to the exact same group of players before the team even secures a playoff spot is bold. Running nearly the entire roster back based on nothing more than vibes is just not a feasible building strategy for future progress.
At the end of the day, the Flyers still need to be focused on the long-term success, even if that means leaving themselves a bit shorthanded if they do indeed make the playoffs this season. Retaining everybody for a first round exit this season instead of planning on making upgrades to make a legitimate deep Cup run in the next few seasons is short-sighted by the organization and hurts their own ability to grow by limiting trade assets and committing more money and term to otherwise random players.
The Flyers want to keep Walker because he’s a solid depth piece that is over-performing, but it’s also the exact reason a legitimate playoff team may pay up in a big way for his services at the deadline. Briere has apparently set the bar at a first round pick, and whether or not they can get that mythical return is apparently going to be the decision factor whether he stays or goes.
But that’s where a “classic Flyer” moment bubbles up. Retaining his rights for a few more seasons, squeezing all the blood from his stone, then trying to ditch a massively devalued player a few years from now.
Even if Walker returns to the team on a team-friendly one-year deal, the Flyers would still have to hope he can keep his value at the elevated status it is right now. If he goes from above-average this season but stumbles back to depth irrelevancy during the 204-25 campaign, It could very well be the difference from a first round pick as compensation at this year’s trade deadline and a random fifth round pick down the road.
At this point, is the rumor of Walker re-signing just that, a rumor? Yes.
But does it feel like the kind of on-brand counterproductive (and quite frankly dumb) decisions the franchise has become known for? Also yes.
The Flyers and asset management go together like oil and water, seemingly no matter who is running the team, and fate of Sean Walker will put the Danny Briere-led front office to the test to see whether or not they are actually going to continue to loosely follow a rebuild or not. And if the deadline comes and goes and Walker, along with guys like Laughton and Seeler, are still here, the facade of a “rebuild” should be put to rest and the word better not be reiterated by the front office any time soon.
By: Dan Esche (@DanTheFlyeraFan)
photo credit: Getty Images
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