During their snooze-fest of a loss against the New York Islanders, the Philadelphia Flyers struck a deal with the Calgary Flames for forwards Andrei Kuzmenko and Jakob Pelletier.
General Manager Daniel Brière recently held a press conference that revolved around the Flyers at the midway point of the season and covered topics ranging from their prospects to trade deadline plans. He preached patience but also mentioned that he had plenty of conversations regarding different kinds of moves and it seems like we’re witnessing one of them.
On the surface, the Flyers looked to have made a cap-saving move as they shedded Joel Farabee’s remaining 3 years at $5 million for Kuzmenko’s expiring deal. A third extension for Morgan Frost just never seemed to be in the cards and acquiring a younger Pelletier fits their U25 core.
Kuzmenko and Pelletier are two very different forwards but both bring elements that the Flyers need. In Kuzmenko you get a goal scoring winger that has rapport with Matvei Michkov from their days in the KHL, while with Pelletier you have a hard-working, forechecking forward with a motor that fits perfectly in John Tortorella’s system.
ANDREI KUZMENKO
Kuzmenko has had a bumpier road as he will now be joining his third team in 2 years after having been traded by the Vancouver Canucks ahead of the trade deadline last year in a blockbuster deal involving Elias Lindholm.
The Russian winger set the league ablaze in his first campaign as he notched 39 goals and 74 points in 81 games. It wasn’t recorded as a Calder Trophy eligible rookie season due to his age but he showed some real chops in first season as he scored at an incredible clip of 27.3%, added 14 power play tallies, 4 game-winning goals, and also showed good discipline with just 8 PIM.
2023-24 wasn’t as storied as many had hoped and his struggles with the Canucks continued as he had just 8 goals and 21 points in 43 games before the trade. His ice-time dropped a little bit, his shooting percentage returned to a normal 12.7% but more importantly was the fact that he wasn’t fitting into Rick Tocchet’s system.
With the Flames, the Kuzmenko of old turned up as he scored 14 goals and 25 points in just 29 contests, had a healthy 24.1 shooting percentage, 5 power play goals, and a lot of his flair back. Unfortunately that didn’t translate over to 2024-25 as the forward finished out his tenure with 4 goals and 15 points in 37 games.
He was made a healthy scratch several times, his ice-time was wavering, and his style of play didn’t seem to mesh too well with Flames head coach Ryan Huska. It will be interesting to see if Kuzmenko can find his stride with another hard-nosed, old-school head coach in John Tortorella.
What works in his favour is that the Flyers have remained quiet on the Owen Tippett front but if he were to miss an extended period of time due to his undisclosed injury, that would allow the organization to evaluate what they have in Kuzmenko in the final months of the season.
What can be forgotten in a trade like this is that the Flyers nearly did the impossible by moving on from Farabee’s deal without retaining any salary. As Anthony Di Marco notes, his trade value was shot and it seemed like an impossibility to get away from the deal without retention.
Whether or not Kuzmenko is a piece for the future has yet to be determined but at this rate it’s hard to see them extending him unless he turns back the clock to 2022-23. Another factor that works in their favour is that the 28-year-old will not come too close to his $5.5 million AAV that he signed in Vancouver.
All of that hinges on the how the coaching staff utilizes his skillset because his forechecking and defensive play, or lack thereof, has gotten him into trouble in the past and as we’ve seen with Tortorella, his leash is relatively short.
Kuzmenko’s past with Michkov could help the youngster acclimate to the NHL game a little more as well. After a fantastic start to his career, Michkov has just 3 goals and 7 points over his last 24 games and while his ATOI is hovering near 15 minutes during that span, he has been benched a lot more often and just last night he looked to have gotten into a heated argument with Tortorella.
At the very least, the Flyers have acquired another goal scorer who should help with their putrid offense, abysmal power play, and could be a spark for Michkov down the stretch. However, his acquisition seems to have more implications towards the cap than the future.
JAKOB PELLETIER
As for Pelletier, there’s not a lot known about his NHL game due to lack of experience as he has suited up for just 60 games across the last 3 seasons. He has collected 8 goals and 21 points during that time, averaged 12:39 TOI, and holds a plus-6 rating but most of his damage has been done in the AHL.
With the Stockton Heat, Pelletier has accumulated 51 goals and 130 points in 139 games across the last 4 seasons. He bursted onto the scene with 27 goals and 62 points in 65 games during his rookie season, finished the 2022-23 season at more than a point-per-game pace in 35 games, and has 19 points in 20 games this season. He’s also collected 20 points in 28 post-season games.
Heading into his draft year, Pelletier was tabbed as an extremely gifted offensive player with good vision, IQ, and a great shot to go along with his playmaking ability. He has a never-ending motor, forechecks very well, and isn’t afraid to throw his body around despite his 5’11/180 lbs frame.
The 23-year-old will assuredly want to avoid the same fate as Frost as they carry themselves very similarly. They both did very well in their junior years, were drafted at the back-end of the first round, tore up the AHL, but found it hard to get consistent playing time in the NHL at the start of their careers.
While it’s been mentioned that Kuzmenko has played with Michkov in the past, Pelletier has also played a little bit with Jamie Drysdale when they both represented Team Canada at the World Junior Championships in 2021.
The Flames placed the forward on waivers back in October so for them it was about collecting pieces with control for their future. They let go of two players that were not going to be in the picture next season for two – for lack of a better term – reclamation projects with a lot of upside.
The Lay of the Land and What to Expect Moving Forward
Both Pelletier and Kuzmenko should get a lot of run with the Flyers with the season winding down. Philadelphia is now short a centre with Frost out of the picture, which will make for interesting combinations when they play the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday.
Sean Couturier, Noah Cates, and Scott Laughton represent their best options down the middle but something will have to give with their most offensively-minded centre now off the team.
There’s been a lot of rumours over the last few weeks regarding the salary cap for the 2025-26 season and some have reported that it could rise to $95 million-$97 million, which would be an increase of $7 million-$9 million – or $3 million-$5 million more than what was originally projected.
With Farabee’s contract off the books and Kuzmenko playing on an expiring deal, the Flyers now sit with anywhere between $24 million-$26 million in projected cap space – factoring in a $95 million-$97 million cap. That would allow them to extend Cam York, Noah Cates, and Tyson Foerster while also having a little more freed up to pursue any one on either the open market or trade block should they see a need.
Pelletier is playing in the final year of his entry-level contract so an extension shouldn’t cost the Flyers any more than $2 million at the highest. Frost would have more than likely cost the Flyers anywhere between $2.5 million-$4 million on extended term so in a way they shaved off a few bucks there as well.
For the “tank now” crowd, this trade helps in the sense that the Flyers got slightly worse as of right now. While Frost and Farabee weren’t tearing it up, they did represent solid offensive and with the former being a centre, the Flyers have become rail thin at a position that was already a weakness.
It won’t help an insurmountable amount, considering how bad San Jose, Chicago, and Buffalo have been playing but it could see them lose a few more games, which would help in the standings where 26th place and 12th place are separated by just 8 points.
They also acquired a 2025 second round pick and a 2028 seventh round pick, which now gives them 7 picks in the first two rounds of the 2025 NHL Entry Draft, and as of today those are picks 10, 22, 29, 38, 42, 49, and 50.
With the extra cap space and picks, the Flyers can now weaponize these assets on the trade market should players like Dylan Cozens or Elias Pettersson become available. Buffalo is still mum on the former but it’s been reported that should they make it him completely available, the Flyers will be in on his services. As for the latter, Vancouver has to make a decision shortly and the Flyers have better positioned themselves in case they see a fit.
What this means for Sunday’s game and beyond remains to be seen but the Flyers made a decision to finally move on from their decrepit core that has led them into a tailspin. It should be noted that both players were not mentioned in Dan Hilferty’s letter to season ticket holders when talking about the future but he did name drop players like Laughton, Cates, Foerster, and York.
We’ve been waiting for Brière to make a move and while this wasn’t exactly what we were expecting, it does set the stage for the very near future and shows their willingness to rip off the bandaid if need be and move on from locker room favourites.
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