Flyers Look To ‘Finish Strong’ After Trade Deadline Sell-Off

The Flyers trade deadline sell-off saw Claude Giroux, Justin Braun, and Derick Brassard move on while the team looks to integrate Owen Tippett.

For the Philadelphia Flyers, the stretch run is about setting the table for next season.

“We want to finish strong,” general manager Chuck Fletcher told the media after the trade deadline wrapped up on Monday. “We want to see a little bit more of what we may have going into next season by how players play the rest of the year.”

The Tippett Train

Front and center will be Owen Tippett, the 23-year-old right winger who was the centerpiece of the Flyers’ return for captain Claude Giroux.

Looking every bit the Flyer with his mop of red hair sticking out from under his helmet in his Philadelphia debut on Sunday, Tippett skated on the third line with Oskar Lindblom and Morgan Frost. He logged 14:38 in a 2-1 win over the New York Islanders.

“He looks like a hockey player to me,” said interim coach Mike Yeo after Sunday’s game. “Loved parts of his game, obviously a heavy shot, scoring chances in the second period. Got off his stick in a hurry.

“I liked him shooting off the flank on the power play to set up Hayes’ power-play goal. Liked his wall play in a lot of areas and like I said in the coaches room there, for a guy who when I talked to him this morning said he was working on his 200-foot game, which means he’s trying to improve defensively, I didn’t have anything to point out or say to him today. So obviously a great start for him.”

Tippett and Morgan Frost were teammates on Canada’s 2019 World Junior Championship squad. Fletcher believes Sunday’s reunion sparked Frost’s “best game in a long while.”

“It looked like (Frost) had fun playing with Tippett,” Fletcher said. “They move the puck. They had some energy. For young players like that to maybe get an opportunity to have a bigger role because (Derick) Brassard’s not here, or young defensemen that play a little bit more because (Justin) Braun isn’t here, those are the opportunities that are hard to get sometimes in the regular season. These opportunities are presenting themselves to many players.”

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Bye-Bye, Braun and Brassard

As expected, impending free agents Braun and Brassard were both moved on Monday. Braun, 35, joins the New York Rangers, with a third-round pick in 2023 coming back in return. Brassard, 34, will suit up for his 10th NHL team when he joins the Edmonton Oilers, bringing 117 games of playoff experience in exchange for a fourth-rounder in 2023.

Defenseman Ryan Ellis was also officially ruled out for the rest of the year on Monday.

Giroux, of course, landed with the Florida Panthers on Saturday. The deal also saw forwards Connor Bunnaman and German Rubtsov shipped to the Sunshine State, along with a fifth-round pick in 2024. In return, the Flyers received a first-rounder in 2024 and a third-round pick in 2023.

At first glance, it wouldn’t seem unreasonable to expect more in exchange for a player of Giroux’s stature. But when you combine his $8.275 million cap hit (the Flyers retain 50%, per CapFriendly) with his rental status and his no-movement clause — where he reportedly said he’d only accept a trade to Florida — a general manager has to take what he can get.

Letting his emotions show as his 1,000th career game in Philadelphia turned out to be his swan song last Thursday, Giroux was a Flyer to the end. But if a move has to happen, what better landing spot than on a hungry contender, playing on the wing of Aleksander Barkov, a Selke-winning stud whose two-way play is on par with Sean Couturier?

In Florida, Giroux is also reunited with a trio of former teammates — Sergei Bobrovsky, Radko Gudas, and Robert Hagg.

Hanging Onto Martin Jones

Another impending free agent, goaltender Martin Jones, remains in Philadelphia.

“If there was something meaningful, we would’ve looked at it,” Fletcher said. “Nothing really materialized.”

The Flyers’ current organizational depth in net also makes Jones valuable to the team for the rest of the year. Injuries at the minor-league level have been an issue.

“(Samuel) Ersson is out for the season. (Kirill) Ustimenko is still battling injuries. (Felix) Sandstrom is healthy now but has been battling injuries,” Fletcher reported.

“We wanted to be a little bit careful here when we have 20 games to go and Lehigh Valley is battling for a playoff spot.”

The Road Ahead

With the trade deadline complete, the Flyers sit 21 points out of a wild-card position in the Eastern Conference. With a record of 20-31-11 for 51 points, they sit 27th overall in the NHL standings, which would give them the sixth-best odds at the No. 1 pick and the chance to draft Shane Wright in the 2022 draft lottery.

As opportunities expand for young players, the team’s focus is still on winning games and playing the right way.

They’ll face a big challenge immediately, as they embark on a five-game road trip. It starts Tuesday against the Detroit Red Wings, who are 2-0-0 against the Flyers this season. Then, the trip rolls through a tough four-game gauntlet of playoff teams in the Central Division — St. Louis, Colorado, Nashville and Minnesota.

The Flyers will be looking to build off its win on Sunday over the Islanders, and finally earn their first road victory in the 2022 calendar year.