As Danny Briere approaches his second anniversary at the helm of the Philadelphia Flyers, the natives are already beginning to grow restless thanks his hands-off approach to the 2024 offseason and the resulting similar good-but-not-great results during the 2024-25 season.
The next challenge for the Flyers will be the trade deadline approaching in early March. Recent history shows this isn’t a date that’s gone particularly well for the Flyers, and some of the early rumors indicate that 2025 may be no different.
The Flyers seem hellbent on making the playoffs, but currently aren’t on pace to do so. That once again means they’re stuck in no man’s land between selling and buying.
It’s hard for the Flyers to even be “sellers” by the classic definition of the word. There’s only one pending unrestricted free agent on the entire roster and that’s Erik Johnson. They only have four other pending restricted free agents in Morgan Frost, Noah Cates, Tyson Foerster and Cam York. The last two are likely to be re-signed, but the first two remain in a bit of limbo regarding their status on the team. Either way, they’re not exactly hot commodities regardless.
That leaves players like Rasmus Ristolainen and Joel Farabee as the next two up on the trade block, mostly in the name of clearing their cap. But Ristolainen has two years left at $5.1 million and Farabee has three years left at $5 million. Historically, moving players with term is not a trade deadline move, particularly with salaries as large as these players.
Ristolainen has drawn the most attention, but all the rumors bubbling up indicate the Flyers aren’t in a hurry to deal their veteran righty, despite growing interest from around the league.
So if they’re not selling should they be buying? The answer is yes, but at this point there’s probably a better chance of a meteor hitting Earth and wiping out all life on the planet than there is the chance the Flyers make a notable (let alone blockbuster) main roster addition via trade, particularly at the deadline. The desperately need center depth, the need to at least be scoping out the goaltending market, and the need for power play specific help regardless of position should all be areas of need forcing Briere to get to work.
If they’re not going to sell because they think they can make the playoffs, but refuse to make a notable addition because they’re not a real playoff team and don’t want to waste assets, keeping things completely status quo and then just missing the playoffs anyway, it’s going to be a pretty hard message of continued stagnation to square to the fans.
And no, this is not an argument for “trading all three of their first round picks for a 35-year-old rental” or whatever the doomsday extreme scenario is. It’s an argument for selling their players of value like Ristolainen and Scott Laughton for assets OR adding players in key positions of need under team control, or even crazier yet, a little bit of both.
Think of it like the Devils acquiring Timo Meier at the deadline a few years back. A young top restricted free agent that helped them not only make the playoffs for the first time in five years but they locked him up to a long-term extension where he’s been a key member since. With rumors surrounding Elias Pettersson, Dylan Cozens and Quinton Byfield, there’s plenty of opportunity for the Flyers to have their moment in the sun, and making that kind of addition, even if they ultimately miss the postseason in 2025, goes a long way to convince the masses they’re at least willing to try.
The Briere regime had all the support in the world 12 months ago, but they’ve fumbled opportunity after opportunity during their supposed rebuild which has left a weary fanbase having ‘Nam flashbacks to the two previous general managers. If they choose to sit on their hands yet again and miss the playoffs anyway, it’s may be the straw that breaks the camels back for an even larger percentage of the fanbase that hasn’t already checked out.
They’ve done this to themselves, and only Briere can get them out of the corner they’re painted into. Can he change his entire image and philosophy in the next month-and-a-half? Guess we’ll just have to wait until March 7 to find out.
By: Dan Esche (@DanTheFlyeraFan)
photo credit:
brotherlypuck.com 