{"id":529634,"date":"2026-03-17T23:03:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T23:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/529634\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T23:03:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T23:03:07","slug":"which-centers-might-the-flyers-pursue-for-an-offseason-trade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/529634\/","title":{"rendered":"Which center(s) might the Flyers pursue for an offseason trade?"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is no secret the Philadelphia Flyers<\/a> are a team lacking at the center position. Despite a wealth of talent on the wing between Tyson Foerster, Travis Konecny, Matvei Michkov and Owen Tippett (along with 2025 sixth overall pick Porter Martone on the way), there is a glaring hole down the middle of the lineup for GM Danny Briere\u2019s club.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Available pivots are few and far between across the league these days, which is why the Flyers are counting heavily on the likes of prospect centers Jack Berglund, Jett Luchanko and Jack Nesbitt to pan out. But as always, there is no doubt the Flyers are keeping their eyes and ears open for available centers around the NHL for if (and when) one does eventually pop up.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here are three centers the Flyers could pursue this summer if the opportunity were to arise.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dean Letourneau\/Matthew Poitras \u2013 Boston Bruins<\/a><\/p>\n

OK, so this is kind of cheating with a \u201ctwo for one\u201d answer right off the hop. But considering the lack of fathomably available pivots, the rules can be bent in this instance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Flyers do have some level of interest in both Bruins prospect centers Letourneau and Poitras; it sounds like an offer may have been made around the Trade Deadline, too. Neither of the two has established himself as an NHLer to this point \u2013\u00a0Poitras does have 69 NHL games under his belt but has spent the lion\u2019s share of this season in the AHL \u2013 but both have promise to eventually grow into middle-six pivots.<\/p>\n

Why it may not work: the Flyers could be best served to shoot higher rather than add more players to their pipeline with a middle-six ceiling. Letourneau or Poitras could, theoretically, add to a redundant pipeline of Berglund, Luchanko and Nesbitt, to say nothing of the crop of third-line centers the Flyers currently have scattered across their roster.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It is well documented the Kraken were open to moving center Shane Wright leading up to the deadline; ultimately there were no takers. But would they entertain moving top-line center Beniers instead?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Beniers, 23, has yet to recapture the 57-point level from his rookie season that earned him the Calder Trophy and a seven-year, $50-million contract, but he is on pace to register more than 50 points this year for the first time since the 2022-23 campaign. While he isn\u2019t an authentic No. 1 center, Beniers would certainly be the top guy on the Flyers\u2019 roster \u2013 especially if he is playing with the crop of talented wingers the Flyers have at their disposal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Kraken have Chandler Stephenson signed long term and 2025 first-round pick Jake O\u2019Brien on the way; theoretically, moving Beniers for a talented winger would make sense for GM Jason Botterill. Berkly Catton was drafted as a center and the Kraken don\u2019t have to move Wright, so there is some organizational depth.\u00a0Though they\u2019d probably be more comfortable dealing Beniers if they acquired another established veteran pivot first; the Kraken were known to be big-game hunting around the deadline. <\/p>\n

The Flyers have interest in Beniers \u2013 but do they bump on his contract enough that they won\u2019t move off one of their top wingers for him?<\/p>\n

Blues GM Doug Armstrong was front and center during the trade season, ultimately dealing forward Brayden Schenn to the New York Islanders<\/a> and defenseman Justin Faulk to the Detroit Red Wings<\/a>. But the most intriguing player on the block was the one who was not traded, Thomas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The price for Thomas (under contract until 2031 at an AAV of $8.125 million) was the equivalent of four first-round picks, I was told, so that in and of itself may scare off the Flyers. Theorizing a potential package that Briere could put together to appease Armstrong (and by extension GM in waiting Alex Steen), it would have to include one of Martone and Michkov, Luchanko, an additional prospect and a first-round pick. If that is the case, I don\u2019t see the Flyers stepping up to pay the piper \u2013 especially for a player that some executives view as a second-line center.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But if the price were to come down even a little bit, I would fully expect the Flyers to be at the front of the line in the Thomas sweepstakes. After all, he is exactly what they need, in his mid-20s and on an excellent contract. But for all those same reasons, it\u2019s reasonable to expect the price not to drop and\/or the Blues to elect hang onto to Thomas.<\/p>\n

_____<\/p>\n

Recently by Anthony Di Marco<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It is no secret the Philadelphia Flyers are a team lacking at the center position. Despite a wealth…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":529635,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-529634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=529634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529634\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/529635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=529634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=529634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=529634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}