With the trade deadline fast approaching and the Philadelphia Flyers hanging in purgatory right now, it’s somewhat shocking that trade rumours and the chatter around their expiring contracts have been quiet.
We’ve heard non-stop rumours about players like Bo Horvat, who was eventually traded to the Islanders, Timo Meier, Jake McCabe, Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, and Jakob Chychrun. However, not much has been talked about the few Flyers that could and should generate interest. Last year, it was a totally different story for a variety of reasons, none bigger than the fact that franchise icon, Claude Giroux, was going to be dealt. Another reason was that the front office was trying to quell the fanbase by telling us that they were going to right the ship in short order and the trade deadline was step one in their aggressive retool.
Fast forward a year and that same front office has been radio silent, so much so that John Tortorella has essentially become the voice of reason and direction. Everyone has chimed in that James van Riemsdyk should be traded, is most likely going to be traded, and will be traded, but it’s rather odd that there aren’t pressing or concrete rumours surrounding a goal-scoring veteran with playoff experience and size. He doesn’t hold the same cache as a Timo Meier, Patrick Kane, or Jakob Chychrun, but van Riemsdyk does have 914 games under his belt, has scored 297 goals and 584 points, and has 71 games of playoff experience under his belt.
Once the market shifts away from the bigger names than of course all eyes will begin to shift towards the 6’3” left winger. van Riemsdyk just played his 500th game for the Flyers on Saturday against the Predators, and he has had a quiet season with 9 goals and 22 points through 35 games, but he missed 6 weeks due to a broken finger that he suffered on October 23rd. Upon his return from injured reserve, he scored 5 goals and 14 points in 19 games, but has gone through a dry spell in his last 9 games, where he’s been held off the scoresheet in 8 of them before scoring on Sunday.
He has been a key cog in the revitalization of the Flyers after their horrid stretch of 20 games where they only won 3 times. He formed a rather formidable trio with Owen Tippett and Morgan Frost, that helped the 2 youngsters round back into form and lead the offensive charge. He scored 24 goals last year in a downtrodden season, has scored over 21+ goals 7 times in his career, has reached the 30 goal plateau twice, and was on pace for 24+ goals in back-to-back seasons that were cut short due to COVID-19.
His possession numbers are also sneaky good as his CF% over his career is 55.3%. His last 4 seasons he has produced a 57.3 CF%, followed by 61.4%, 54.3%, and this year at 57.7%. His Fenwick is eerily similar to his Corsi, which is a pretty good indication of his possession numbers when on the ice. At this stage of his career, van Riemsdyk will rummage around 20-25 goals, depending on the situation and his linemates. He’s not necessarily a play-driver himself but when placed on a decent-to-good line, his offensive prowess comes full circle as we witnessed this season with Frost and Tippett. Even in previous years, he formed an even more formidable trio with Joel Farabee and Sean Couturier at the beginning of the 2020-21 season.
Any team interested in his services is going to fill out their top-6 or top-9 with a very good leader on and off the ice and he will help anyone’s power play as the net front presence on either unit. The Flyers will more than likely retain 50% of his salary to facilitate the trade and recoup further assets. His current $7 million AAV would scare off most teams, but receiving van Riemsdyk at $3.5 million for the stretch run could be a sneaky move for any contending team.
Teams like the Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild, and New Jersey Devils have reportedly expressed their interest in the soon-to-be 34-year-old, but it seems that once the bigger fish are dealt with, especially Timo Meier, teams will then turn their attention towards van Riemsdyk and the Flyers. Other players that have generated interest this season include Zack MacEwen, who was reportedly on the Edmonton Oilers’ radar before his injury, and Nick Seeler with his stellar play in the last 20+ games.
It remains to be seen what the Flyers are going to do, they have a lot of love and praise for van Riemsdyk as the glue-guy of the team and locker room, but they also understand that recouping assets is the most important thing right now. Seeler has also impressed mightily, so much so that contending teams are soon to be lining up for the defensive, shot-blocking, rugged defender, but he’s another player the Flyers absolutely love. Justin Braun is another name that some teams might consider as a depth addition to their blue-line, similar to last season when he was traded at the deadline to the New York Rangers.
