The Philadelphia Flyers were not one of the busiest teams at the trade deadline this year, but they reportedly were calling the Montreal Canadiens about a goal-scoring winger that they probably could’ve had for very cheap.

Instead of adding a whole lot, the Flyers paid more attention to addressing some problems at the trade deadline. They moved from their winger surplus and got a very high-potential defenseman in the Bobby Brink-David Jiricek deal with the Minnesota Wild. They were able to send Nic Deslauriers off to spend the rest of his year (and potentially career) on a good team in the Carolina Hurricanes for nothing in return — a good gesture, if you will. But nothing really to try and push for the playoffs or sink to the bottom in hopes for a high draft pick.

But, there were plenty of conversations and one of them reportedly was with the Montreal Canadiens and involved an incredibly interesting name.

Patrik Laine was almost traded to Flyers at the deadline

In his latest 32 Thoughts blog on Thursday, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman touched on a whole lot of the fallout in the weeks after the trade deadline. Despite it happening two weeks ago, little tidbits of interesting information have been oozing out for us to nibble on and be curious about what it exactly means.

Well, the Flyers are involved in one of those interesting tidbits. According to Friedman, the Flyers were potentially a landing spot for former No. 2 pick, winger Patrik Laine.

“The Canadiens have done a nice job of shielding their true intentions. There were rumours of a defenceman, of Knies, and even something else they might wish to revisit,” Friedman wrote. “They definitely explored moving money. There were discussions about Patrik Laine ending up either in Philadelphia or Toronto, but it obviously didn’t work out.”

Laine’s saga in Montreal (and in the NHL) deserves a deep dive video on YouTube that is unfortunately way too long. Once the player to bring Finland back up on the level of the national powerhouses and potentially rival Alex Ovechkin as the league’s best goalscorer, the 27-year-old has stumbled and is now battling severe injuries and off-ice issues on his third team in the league.

He hasn’t played since Oct. 16 after undergoing a core muscle surgery and has now been day-to-day for about a month. It’s a big mystery if Laine will return before the season is over, but it certainly seems like he wouldn’t have been part of any trade deadline move for a team who desperately needs to make noise in the playoffs.

Laine is going to be an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career this summer, as he is in the final year of his four-year, $34.8-million contract. So, why would the Flyers have been a landing spot?

What Flyers’ trade with Canadiens could have looked like

It isn’t obvious, but it doesn’t seem like Friedman was stating that the Flyers were looking to acquire Laine as the main piece of a trade. It was most likely that he was just a player that was named in trade conversations around the deadline and considering his very large contract and high profile, it was something of note before he headed into free agency.

The Flyers were reportedly holding trade talks with the Canadiens regarding defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen before the deadline, so if we want to do some easy math, Laine certainly could have been a roster player Montreal would’ve sent to Philadelphia to make the deal work.

Considering the Canadiens currently have just $980,332 in cap space — although with 24 players on their roster, since the 23-man limit does not exist after the deadline — they would’ve been strapped for cap space to acquire Ristolainen if Laine and his $8.7-million AAV cap hit was not going the other way. It wouldn’t have been as some sort of sweetener, like Ryan Johansen’s contract was as the Flyers got a first-round pick from the Colorado Avalanche for Sean Walker two years ago, but just some bookkeeping.

And, it wouldn’t have been the end of the world.

If Laine didn’t play again this season, the Flyers could’ve just kept him on Injured Reserve and not really notice him, considering they currently have over $47 million in cap space. If Laine did actually return and wanted to show teams that he can actually play before he went to free agency, the the Flyers got a free weapon on the power play that as defensively inept as he is, would immediately have the best shot on the team.

Another reason for a potential deal would’ve been the Flyers acquiring Laine attached with a nice little draft pick and give up nothing in return, for the Canadiens to then make another move elsewhere before their run in the playoffs. Using their overwhelming amount of cap space to get a good future asset (and maybe a dude to play a few games) could have been nice to see the Flyers pull off.

But that didn’t happen. Now we’re just left wondering what exactly else the Canadiens were willing to give up to get Ristolainen and if coaching Laine would’ve caused Rick Tocchet to quit coaching before the season was over.