It’s not everyday top young right-handed defensemen become available via trade. But ahead of the 2025 trade deadline, there’s two intriguing names that have bubbled up in the trade rumor mill, being LA King Brandt Clarke and New Jersey Devil Simon Nemec. The rebuilding, not rebuilding, totally rebuilding Flyers should be scoping out any former top picks to join the cause.
Though, considering the Flyers ran scared from a David Jiricek trade just a few months ago, the idea that they’d dip their toe back in the water of the disgruntled defenseman pool is unlikely, but maybe the idea that two is better than one could lead to a complete overhaul of the defense.
Simon Nemec
Simon Nemec, the former second overall pick in 2022 who turns 21 years old in mid-February, has spent a bulk of the 2024-25 season in the AHL despite playing 60 NHL games last season. GM Tom Fitzgerald noted that he was demoted to due consistency issues and Nemec has voiced his frustration with the assignment despite the team being focused on his long-term development goals.
It’s a situation that is closely resembling that of Jiricek and could end in the same fashion as well.
Meanwhile, the Devils have turned their attention towards the playoffs and could be looking for more main roster help and using their AHL-level prospects for trade fodder, which Nemec would be their most notable chip.
If the Devils are looking for main roster defense, the Flyers have Rasmus Ristolainen. If they’re looking for depth leadership, the Flyers have Scott Laughton. If they’re looking for potential scoring, the Flyers have Owen Tippett. If they’re looking for a top six center, the Flyers have… well… ya know…. Rodrigo Abols.
Is it more expensive to trade with a division rival? Maybe, but the Flyers should be able to throw enough main roster help at the Devils in exchange for Nemec that it shouldn’t hold them back the way it did with Jiricek.
Brandt Clarke
Brandt Clarke, the 21-year-old who also celebrates a birthday in February, is a former eighth overall pick in 2021. He was playing some heavy minutes with the Kings for most of the season until Drew Doughty, who had missed the whole campaign until late-January, returned to the lineup and re-took the lion’s share of the ice time.
The Flyers and Kings have been loosely connected in trade rumors on and off for the last few years now, and supposedly had interest in picking Clarke up a few years ago when they ate Cal Petersen’s cap hit in Briere’s first trade with the team, before ultimately landing Helge Grans.
Clarke possesses a higher offensive ceiling than most blue liners, which is still a huge area of need for the Flyers since Drysdale hasn’t exactly stepped into that role as originally hoped and they haven’t given Andrae a chance to display his offensive talents that put him on the map in the AHL.
For the Kings, Drew Doughty is 35 and can’t go on forever and Clarke makes a perfect next-man-up in the meantime. But the Kings are on pace to make the playoffs this season, and after three consecutive years of first round exits thanks to the Edmonton Oilers, maybe they’re poised to take this season a bit more seriously by trading one of their young guys for a mix of main roster help and possibly a young player to keep their pipeline full.
Conclusion
The Flyers have more than enough assets at their disposal to acquire both if they really wanted to, particularly if the Devils’ focus was more main roster while the Kings were still invested more in the future.
The Flyers are theoretically rebuilding, but their strange deep desire to some reason make the playoffs is hurting their ability to draft the talent that they need. It means they need to look outside the organization for opportunities like these to arise to fill out their team with young talent even if they’re not drafting them. It’s expensive and not easy to pull off, but it’s the path they chose.
The most notable problem here is if they add both it makes for a very young blue line, and that won’t fly with head coach John Tortorella. Both Jamie Drysdale and Emil Andrae are about to turn 23, while Clarke will be 22 and Nemec will be 21. Tortorella’s blood pressure icing them at the same time might be enough to make his heart explode.
But the idea would be to throw a bunch of young players out there on the ice and see what sticks isn’t necessarily a bad one. They all have some level of NHL experience, so they’re not completely untested, and it would leave Travis Sanheim, Cam York and Nick Seeler as the favored veteran leaders (and maybe an Erik Johnson clone serving as the extra guy to keep Tortorella from ending it) around could be enough to stabilize the new young core.
Plus, with the presence of Brad Shaw and the magic he’s worked with the blue line the last few seasons, there’s reason to believe he can make competent NHLers out of two former top picks.
It’s not the worst thing in the world that they diversify their defensive investments, especially since their in-house options are rather weak behind Oliver Bonk. Ethan Samson, Helge Grans and Hunter McDonald are playing fine in the AHL this season, but don’t exactly scream everyday NHLers, and Spencer Gill is really their only other prospect of note at the junior level.
Even coming off their entry-level contracts, they’d collectively be cheap enough to utilize for a couple seasons then keep the ones that stick and move on from the ones that don’t, and replace them with sturdy vets and voila! A respectable defense corps with plenty of youth infusion to carry them for the next decade.
It’s a big plan, but tell me a lineup of –
Sanheim – Clarke
York – Nemec
Andrae – Drysdale
Seeler – Johnson clone
Doesn’t get your blood flowing at least a little bit?
Is this a grandiose idea? Absolutely! Will the Flyers do it? Absolutely not… but a boy can dream. It really is the kind moves that would draw serious interest back into the Flyers, not only from a hype perspective, but if Clarke and Nemec develop, along with Andrae and York, it could be a menacing modern-day NHL defense, something the Flyers have never really been on the up-and-up about.
If the Flyers front office wants to convince the masses they’re rebuilding while trying to stay competitive, adding two former top draft picks who can feasibly play bigger roles in the NHL right now is the way to do that, and a great sales pitch to pay attention both now and in a year or two when they’re fully acclimated.
Does Danny Briere have not one but two aces up his sleeve? Guess we’ll just have to wait until the trade deadline to find out.
By: Dan Esche (@DanTheFlyeraFan)
brotherlypuck.com 