Flyers Stay or Trade: NHL Trade Deadline Edition

The March 7th NHL trade deadline is fast approaching. Unlike last year, the Philadelphia Flyers find themselves nowhere near as close to a playoff spot. Even in a weak Eastern Conference, the Flyers find themselves six points out of a Wild Card berth while also only being seven points ahead from being dead last in the East. They also have six teams ahead of them in the standings all gunning for Wild Card spots in the East.

Now last season’s deadline was strange. The Flyers did end up trading away their most productive defenseman in 2023-2024 in Sean Walker; however, they did not trade pieces like Morgan Frost, Scott Laughton, and Rasmus Ristolainen. I understand last season holding onto guys like Frost, Laughton, and Ristolainen, as they were holding on to the third spot in the Metropolitan Division. This year, not so much.

With a lot of ammo in the 2025 Draft already (three first round picks and four second round picks) the Flyers are in a position to get weird at the deadline this year. They already made one interesting move by dealing Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost to Calgary for Andrei Kuzmenko, Jakob Pelletier, a 2025 second-round pick and a 2028 seventh-round pick. Since the Flyers have more flexibility this year than last year, they can look to add in the 2026 Draft, or take low risk, high reward shots.

The real question everyone wants to know is which players will be here on March 8th, and which players will be playing for another NHL franchise.

This is Flyers Stay or Trade: NHL Trade Deadline Edition.

(Note: The players will be in order of cap hit for the 2024-2025 NHL season)

Sean Couturier – C: Stay

Couturier has a full No-Movement Clause in his contract. The only way he ever leaves is if he retires or wants out.

Ryan Ellis – D: Stay

Yes, Ellis is still here. However, shockingly, he hasn’t been placed on LTIR this season. Look for the Flyers to use his contract for flexibility in the future (whether it be a trade or an LTIR placement to open up cap space for a big contract).

Travis Sanheim – D: Stay

First of all, congrats on the 4 Nations win… I guess…

Anyways, Sanheim has been pretty good this season. He does have a full No-Trade Clause in his contract, so he won’t be going anywhere if he doesn’t want to. His best friend (Travis Konecny) just signed an eight-year extension in Philly this past summer. Sanheim’s not leaving anytime soon.

Owen Tippett – W: Stay (for now …)

Ok, I think Tippett is a very good hockey player. He’s fast, big, and has a rocket of a shot. I also think he can be a major piece in a “hockey trade” for a true first line center. Right now it looks like Elias Pettersson, the only true first line center that was available, has been taken off the market after the J.T. Miller trade to New York. Unless something comes to light before the March 7th deadline, Tippett should stay. Watch for his name to fly around a lot next season though, he has a Modified No-Trade Clause starting in 2026-2027.

Travis Konecny – W: Stay

You do not trade Travis Konecny.

Andrei Kuzmenko – W: Trade

I know Kuzmenko just got here, and he’s good buddies with Michkov, but if Danny Brière can pull of a Sean Walker-level flip to a playoff team desperate for scoring and power play production, you do it without a second thought.

Rasmus Ristolainen – D: Trade

There were two things Chuck Fletcher got right in his tenure in Philadelphia. He got Owen Tippett in the Claude Giroux trade, and … he somehow got Ristolainen for a good price? Looking back on that trade, nothing in that deal has been better than the product Ristolainen has put on the ice for the Flyers. John Tortorella and Brad Shaw deserve a lot of credit for “fixing” Ristolainen.

With that being the case, Ristolainen should be traded. His value will probably never be higher than it is right now. He’s not a point producer so a big year of points won’t help, and his defensive ability is probably as good as it’s going to get. Trade him now while the time is right.

Ivan Fedotov – G: Keep … I guess

The Flyers have a goalie problem. There are three of them. One is good and is the starter for the foreseeable future (Sam Ersson), one is paid a lot of money and is an ok backup (Ivan Fedotov), and one is not ready for the NHL yet, but the team won’t keep him in the AHL because they’re worried he’s going to run away back to Belarus again (Aleksei Kolosov).

Keep Ivan I guess.

Scott Laughton – C/W: Trade

This one is going to not only hurt the fanbase a lot, but if you thought the Farabee-Frost trade hurt the guys in the locker room, this one will be so much worse. Laughton has been a powerful voice in that locker room for years now. He never really hit his absolute maximum potential here in Philly, but he was a guy who just got the Flyers and the city of Philadelphia. He did work in the community, he worked his ass off in practice, he worked his ass off in games, he fought for his guys, he was a vocal leader for years, and finally got a letter on his sweater last season (the only one to have one most of the year, if I might add).

Unlike Ristolainen, the Flyers have waited too long to trade Laughton away. There were reports in 2023 about him a team offering a first-round pick for him. Last season he had probably the worst year of his career, and they held onto him through the deadline. This year there are reports of teams offering at least a second-round pick for him while the Flyers are holding out for a first. Unfortunately I don’t know if Laughton’s value will ever reach where it was around the draft in 2023, but at this point you try your hardest to get assets for the future, even if it does mean finally letting him go.

Nick Seeler – D: Keep

Seeler is on the perfect contract for the type of player he is. Unless they get an offer out of nowhere that blows them out of the water, the Flyers should and will keep him.

Noah Cates – C: Keep

The Flyers need all the center help they can get right now. Trading their second line center (who has arguably been their best center this year) would be silly.

Garnet Hathaway – W: Keep

The Flyers just extended Hathaway for two more years after this one. He’s a great vet to have in the locker room and is a good fourth liner.

Jamie Drysdale – D: Keep

Drysdale has gotten a lot better as the season has gone along. The Flyers traded away Cutter Gauthier for him, they’re not going to give up on his development this quickly.

Ryan Poehling – C: Keep

The Flyers need all the center help they can get right now. Trading their third line center (who has arguably been their second best center this year) would be silly.

Nicolas Deslauriers – W: Keep

Deslauriers no longer has his Modified No-Trade Clause. However his contract is way too big to move for the level of player he is. Plus watching him rock people on the ice is fun even though the Flyers aren’t great.

Egor Zamula – D: Keep

Look, I think the Zamula experiment should be over by now. I had a lot of hope for him but he’s just not seemingly putting it together. The only reason you keep him is because he’s one of the few guys that can help translate for Matvei Michkov. One Michkov learns English well enough, I think Zamula is gone.

Cam York – D: Keep

York has been the Flyers best defenseman this year. He is going to be a part of this team for a long time.

Bobby Brink – W: Toss Up

This is not cheating. This is basically the Tippett reasoning, but more so since Brink is the PERFECT piece for a big-time player. He is young, he has a lot of potential, and he’s on a reasonable contract and will be a restricted free agent after this season so a team could flip him or sign him. I want him to stay unless the Flyers can put him in a bigger package for a game changer.

Sam Ersson – G: Stay

I’m going to take you behind the curtain for a second and tell you a story.

I was visiting friends from college recently (go Quinnipiac Bobcats) and we were talking hockey like we normally do. The 4 Nations Face-Off came up, and since I’m the only Flyers fan in my friend group, I got asked about Sam Ersson since he was awesome for Sweden against the USA. One of my friends told me they’ve only seen Ersson play two types of games. The first type of game is one where he lets in one bad goal early, and then just doesn’t lets another one in for the rest of the game. The second type of game is one where he looks good to start but as the game goes on he starts losing it in the second period and the Flyers end up losing.

They pretty much got Ersson down to a T, haha. Overall though, Ersson has developed well the past two seasons. I think if the Flyers didn’t have to run him into the ground last season causing him to let in everything and anything at the end of the year, he’d been seen better in the fanbase’s eyes.

Anyways that was a lot of babbling from me just to say he should stay.

Erik Johnson – D: Trade

Johnson hasn’t played much this year. I know he’s technically “insurance” and a great vet to have, but Emil Andrae can easily be “insurance.” Go let him get another Stanley Cup before he retires.

Matvei Michkov – W: Keep

LOL. Next player.

Aleksei Kolosov – G: I don’t care anymore. I guess trade?

At this point if he was traded, stayed, or ran away back to Belarus, I would not care less. Ersson and Fedotov are fine, and Egor Zavragin will be here within the next couple years. I’m done hearing about Kolosov unless he’s playing in an NHL game.

I guess this means trade him since the Flyers can at least get something for him.

Tyson Foerster – W: Keep

My ceiling for Foerster has always been Mark Stone. Great defense, great hockey IQ, can score goals and get into the dirty areas, but not the best skater. I still believe that is his ceiling. Keep him here as long as you can.

Jakob Pelletier – W: Keep

I know that, like Kuzmenko, Pelletier just got here. However, they shouldn’t flip him like they should Kuzmenko. Pelletier is young and was very underrated on Calgary, He can be a good third liner, and maybe a second liner, for a long time.

Final Tally

Keep: 16 players
Trade: 4 players
Keep (for now …): 1 player
Keep … I guess: 1 player
I don’t care anymore. I guess trade?: 1 player
Toss Up: 1 player

How many guys will be leaving? We don’t know. But what we do know is that this year will not be like last year at the trade deadline.