June 15, 2026
Lucas Peltier/Imagn Images
Rod Brind'Amour and a group of former Flyers just won the Stanley Cup with the Hurricanes.
The Carolina Hurricanes shut it down in Vegas Sunday night, and after years of being a perennial playoff contender who could never quite take that last step, they finally won the Stanley Cup.
They shut out the Golden Knights, 3-0, in Game 6, closing out the last series and the entire playoff run with a relentless brand of hockey that caused the entire postseason field problems the whole way through – the Flyers, in a second-round sweep, included.
The Canes were the NHL's best, by far, and they won it all with some familiar names for those who kept watching throughout the Delaware Valley.
Here were the Philadelphia ties to the Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes...
• D Shayne Gostisbehere: A breakout rookie for the Flyers during the 2015-16 season – which feels like forever ago now when 👻🐻 emojis used to be flying everywhere– the young defenseman hung around with the Flyers for five more years after, but through injury and several coaches that could just never seem to figure out what to do with him, Gostisbehere was infamously traded to the former Arizona Coyotes in 2021, with picks, for no return by the old front office regime led by Chuck Fletcher.
It was a bad move for the Flyers then, and it only looks worse the further removed it gets. Gostisbehere hung in there, found ways to be productive for the Coyotes and Red Wings, and then in his second stint with the Hurricanes, he finally got the glory.
The pride of Pembroke Pines!
— Kacy Hintz (@KacyHintz) June 15, 2026
Shayne Gostisbehere is a STANLEY CUP CHAMPION!!! Ghost grew up skating at the Panthers facility in Coral Springs and eventually skated with the junior Panthers. pic.twitter.com/ubp8V50s4x
• D Sean Walker: A part of the return for the Flyers from the L.A. Kings in order to get the three-team Ivan Provorov trade done in 2023, Walker ended up being a very solid defenseman for the Flyers, but just one that you always knew they were going to deal at the deadline because of their rebuild status.
That March he was traded to the Colorado Avalanche for a first-round pick (and the Ryan Johansen side saga).
In the summer of 2024, the Hurricanes signed Walker to a five-year deal.
On June 14, 2026, the Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup, with Walker skating as a valuable blueliner in their middle pairing.
• F Nic Deslauriers: An endearing enforcer for the past several years in Philadelphia, but nearing the end of his career, current Flyers GM Danny Brière dealt Deslauriers to Carolina at this past season's trade deadline for a conditional late-round draft pick.
It was a clear move to give Desaluriers a shot at winning the Cup, and it paid off in full when he lifted it Sunday night.
Les Québécois William Carrier et Nicolas Deslauriers soulèvent la coupe Stanley! pic.twitter.com/3gjp1vvUf1
— TVA Sports (@TVASports) June 15, 2026
• F Eric Robinson: A Bellmawr, New Jersey native and a product of South Jersey hockey, the 31-year-old settled into a role on the Hurricanes' bottom line, which helped to keep them as the league's fastest team through its entire lineup.
• HC Rod Brind'Amour: The face of Hurricanes hockey, but a Flyers great through the 1990s as one of the NHL's best shutdown forwards, Brind'Amour brought Carolina its first Stanley Cup title in 2006 as its captain. Now, 20 years later, and after years of trying, he did it again as Carolina's head coach.
Twenty years later. Just as iconic. pic.twitter.com/iruvDa2bHh
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) June 15, 2026
• GM Eric Tulsky: A Philadelphia native, a chemistry grad from Harvard and Cal-Berkeley, and one of the early advocates of hockey analytics, Tulsky took the long and improbable road from a Flyers blogger for Broad Street Hockey to an eventual job in the Hurricanes' front office.
By 2024, his strength in analytics had built up to his promotion as Carolina's full-time GM. Then, two years later, he had built the roster to win the Stanley Cup.
GOAT @EricTulsky pic.twitter.com/exwtMEkPS7
— MoneyPuck.com (@MoneyPuckdotcom) June 15, 2026
Not bad at all.
A couple more thoughts more directly tied to the Flyers...
Last week, it came in that Edmonton Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse had requested a trade, per Sportsnet in Canada.
Around that same time, rumors and speculation started drifting toward a possible fit with the Flyers, mostly sparked by Anthony SanFilippo's findings at OnPattison.
Nurse is 31, and has four years left on his current contract at $9.25 million per. He'll be 35 by the time it ends.
So here's the deal: Nurse is a good defenseman, but the Oilers overpaid and overused him, which has really muddled his perception of what he is among most fans across the league.
Darnell Nurse has requested a trade from the Oilers, per @FriedgeHNIC and @SportsnetSpec. pic.twitter.com/Xv6YfaJN6n
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) June 11, 2026
He's not an albatross. He has the strength and skating to be a solid middle-pairing blueliner, who can probably benefit from having his minutes cut down and more concentrated.
The problem for Nurse and Edmonton now is that he's paid way above that, even with the increasing cap, which is going to make that $9.25 million cap hit a tough sell in a trade unless the Oilers retain a good chunk of it.
Now, does Nurse make sense for the Flyers? Definitely not at the full $9.25 million a year.
But even if the Oilers foot the bill for part of his salary, it'd probably be a lateral move at best.
MORE: Notable free agents for the Flyers in a thin 2026 class
Rasmus Ristolainen already fits the role Nurse would play on the defense, and if the Flyers do end up trading Ristolainen within the next couple of months, the organization seems like it's at a point to let one of its prospects – between Oliver Bonk, Hunter McDonald, and David Jiříček – take a run at any open job anyway.
Travis Sanheim, Nick Seeler, and even Jamie Drysdale and Cam York would be the veteran leaders among that group. Throwing Nurse in there for four years, at whatever the cost would be, frankly, just creates an unnecessary block.
If the Flyers make any outside addition to the blueline this year, signing the also-rumored John Carlson to a 1-2 year deal in free agency is probably the best bet.
He's a still productive veteran, an in-demand right shot, would be a boost to the power play, and would better bridge the gap to a younger name taking over.
Dan Vladar is getting a contract extension. It's not a matter of "if" but "when," with rumors of a deal being "pretty much done" having floated around for more than a couple of weeks now.
The latest came in from ESPN's Kevin Weekes and The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun Monday morning:
Still a bit of work to be done on the extension, but once done it can't be officially signed and announced until July 1 because Vladar has another year on his deal. Told once done, it will be in the 5-6 year range and as @KevinWeekes says, salary/cap hit in the 5's https://t.co/wd27U6YWHD
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) June 15, 2026
Final playoff goalie rankings https://t.co/RtBkDPbkvW pic.twitter.com/pmEWHXD8uK
— MoneyPuck.com (@MoneyPuckdotcom) June 15, 2026
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