Trade season has apparently started early. The Edmonton Oilers and Pittsburgh Penguins swapped goalies as part of one deal on Friday, while, of course, the Minnesota Wild and Vancouver Canucks paired up on a Quinn Hughes blockbuster.
From a Philadelphia Flyers standpoint, it’s highly unlikely that there’s anything of that magnitude on the immediate horizon. But they’re still bound to make at least a few deals before the March 6 trade deadline.
The focus, much as it’s been since the day general manager Daniel Briere took over, is on what they’re going to do down the middle.
It’s simple math, really. Over the past 11 months, the Flyers have traded away three centers: Morgan Frost, Scott Laughton and Ryan Poehling. They’ve added Trevor Zegras, who got a quick hook from the center position and instead is skating primarily on the wing (which seems like the correct decision, considering his production), and center Christian Dvorak, currently between Zegras and Travis Konecny on the top line.
So it’s no surprise that the Flyers are actively seeking another center, something that’s been confirmed to The Athletic by multiple team sources, and as initially reported on Friday.
The focus is adding to their depth at that position, and more specifically the fourth line. While the Flyers have finally gotten some production from that group in the form of a pair of goals last week from Carl Grundstrom, it’s still a line that has struggled to get on the scoresheet or have a consistent impact. What I wonder is if bringing in another center will push Rodrigo Abols to the wing in place of Garnet Hathaway, who suffered a concussion last February that kept him out for a month and who just hasn’t seemed like himself this season. There are no players in the NHL that have played as many games as Hathaway’s 31 without recording a single point.
Since Tyson Foerster went out with a shoulder injury, though, another issue has cropped up: the Noah Cates line, with Bobby Brink and Nikita Grebenkin, has suddenly become much less effective. While they’ve managed to outscore their opponents 2-1 at five-on-five over the last six games, they’ve been outshot 24-16. Their underlying numbers are lousy, too — according to Natural Stat Trick, they have just a 30.0 percent expected-goals share. Grebenkin, in particular, has been disappointing, with just one goal and three assists for four points in 22 games. In six games since he was bumped up in the lineup to replace Foerster, Grebenkin has just one assist and three shots on goal. It’s not a surprise that the Flyers miss Foerster, but the drop-off from Foerster to Grebenkin has been significant.
Considering Cates’ struggles in the faceoff circle, where he has just a 42.2 percent success rate, moving him to the wing might make some sense if the Flyers can find another middle-six center, particularly while Foerster remains out (he’ll likely return after the Olympic break, at the earliest).
But what I wonder about that position, too, is how Dvorak’s future impacts what they ultimately do.
While there’s little question now that the Flyers will need to keep Dvorak, their third-leading scorer, around if they’re going to make a playoff push, there are no guarantees that they’re going to re-sign the pending unrestricted free agent (or even any indications yet that they want to). Considering his production so far — seven goals and 15 assists for 22 points — and the fact that the 2026 free-agent market already looks pretty thin, Dvorak could end up commanding a significant next contract if he keeps rolling. I have a hard time seeing the Flyers committing to Dvorak for longer than two or three more seasons. If it’s a five-year extension that the 29-year-old is seeking, for example, that probably doesn’t make sense for the Flyers, particularly considering Cates and Sean Couturier are both signed for the foreseeable future, too.
So then the question becomes, if the Flyers figure at some point that they’re simply going to lose Dvorak in the offseason, do they get more aggressive this season and try to find a higher-end center — one still with modest term — who could really give them a boost? Does someone such as, say, Brayden Schenn make sense, at a $6.5 million cap hit through 2027-28? Or what about Nashville’s Ryan O’Reilly, signed through next season at a $4.5 million cap hit? While both of those 34-year-olds are past their primes, there’s no question they would improve the forward group for the stretch run and give coach Rick Tocchet more options.
I’ve seen some speculation that because Jett Luchanko will be turning pro next season, he should be penciled into the NHL lineup right away, taking up at least one of those center spots. I think that’s premature. Not even Claude Giroux started in the NHL when he was 20 years old, as he played 33 games with the Phantoms in his rookie year of 2008-09. The Flyers still like Luchanko, but they’re not going to rush him if they don’t have to.
As for other prospects, Jack Nesbitt, the No. 12 pick in the 2025 draft, is a longshot to be NHL-ready next season. Denver Barkey has potential, but there are still no assurances he’ll ever become an NHL-level center either.
Someone we probably can pencil into the 2026-27 opening-night lineup, though, is winger Porter Martone. It stands to reason that the Flyers will want to make sure that the No. 6 pick in the 2025 draft is playing with a strong two-way center to begin his NHL career. If Dvorak isn’t in the Flyers’ plans for next season, they’re going to have to find at least one more guy like him between now and then. Waiting for free agency to do that seems like a risk.
As far as the other positions, the Flyers could be set already. Rasmus Ristolainen’s inevitable return this week will give the Flyers a pretty strong top six. While Ristolainen was a player the Flyers were hoping to move last season, they need him now both for his size and physicality. Tocchet has even hinted that he might also get a chance on one of the power-play units. The only moving part here could be Egor Zamula. It’s become evident Zamula isn’t in their plans, either now or in the future, after call-up Ty Murchison played in the last three games while Zamula was a healthy scratch.
The goaltending tandem isn’t likely to change, with Dan Vladar excelling and Sam Ersson also settling in.
If there’s one thing we learned from the Hughes trade, it’s that the Flyers aren’t interested in dangling their high-end young players or top prospects in trades. Now isn’t the time for that, in their minds.
But that doesn’t mean they’re not going to be willing to part with some of their future assets for a player that can help them make a playoff push, which they’ve made quite clear is something they’d like to do. Considering the state of their roster down the middle, that might be a requirement.