June 25, 2023
The Flyers had everyone on their toes Saturday, first with reports of a multi-player trade involving the Blues that was headlined by moving out Kevin Hayes and then with word that they also had the framework in place to send Tony DeAngelo back to the Hurricanes after only a year.
Nothing was made official yet, and still hasn't been as of around 10 a.m. Sunday morning, but all indications are that Danny Brière and co. are busy right now and that Sunday stands to be a pretty eventful one for the Flyers heading into draft week.
A rundown of what's known so far...
• After the rumors and reports originally circulated Saturday of a massive trade in the works between the Flyers and Blues, the scope has since narrowed down to the Flyers shipping out Hayes and Travis Sanheim, with the former expected to have a significant chunk of his remaining salary over the next three years retained by Philly and the latter having just signed an eight-year, $50 million contract extension ahead of this past season.
The first four years of Sanheim's extension include a full no-trade clause, per CapFriendly, but the kicker there is that it won't go into effect until July 1 as he played this past season on his pre-existing two-year contract.
As a once-promising defenseman in the Flyers' prospect pipeline, the 27-year old Sanheim struggled mightily for much of last under head coach John Tortorella, and with the organization now fully into a rebuild, it makes sense to try and move on before both sides are locked into that long-term commitment.
And as for the 31-year old Hayes, well, the writing's been on the wall for him for a while now.
Holding up a deal, however, appears to be a problem on St. Louis' end. Per The Athletic's Jeremy Rutherford, the Blues were supposed to send a first-rounder (likely No. 25 or 29) and one of their defensemen to the Flyers in exchange, but the defenseman in question invoked his no-trade clause. The belief is that it's Torey Krug – after The Athletic verified that it wasn't one of Colton Parayko, Nick Leddy, Justin Faulk, or Marco Scandella, who all either have full no-trade clauses or modified no-trade clauses.
Krug, 32, has four years remaining on a seven-year deal at $6.5 million per, but originally signed with St. Louis to play for a contender and the Flyers just aren't that right now.
The latest, per Sportsnet insider Elliotte Friedman late Sunday morning, is that Krug isn't likely to budge.
We will see how this develops throughout the next day or so, but hearing this morning that Torey Krug is leaning towards not waiving his no-trade clause.
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) June 25, 2023
• Out of the delayed trade with St. Louis also came word, via Friedman, that the Flyers were working to send DeAngelo back to Carolina a year after trading three picks for him – though that was back when Chuck Fletcher was still in charge and flailing to keep the team competitive.
TSN/The Athletic insider Pierre LeBrun corroborated the report, adding that the Flyers were expected to retain 50 percent on the remaining $5 million owed to DeAngelo and would be getting a prospect back in return.
The trade hit a snag, per LeBrun Sunday morning, but Crossing Broad's Anthony SanFilippo is saying it's since been ironed out.
Told this snag has been ironed out. https://t.co/n3hq352vV0
— Anthony SanFilippo (@AntSanPhilly) June 25, 2023
DeAngelo was originally acquired at the draft last summer as an insurance policy to play with Ivan Provorov on the top defensive pairing in the event that Ryan Ellis couldn't. He never did, and Provorov and DeAngelo never really worked out either.
They were broken up, and DeAngelo was shuffled up and down the lineup, but never found a steady fit. His deficiencies as an offensive-minded, puck-moving defenseman couldn't be masked in Philadelphia like they were in Carolina, and he was a healthy scratch for the last handful of games without any explanation, which didn't bode well for his future with the team heading into the offseason.
Provorov was shipped out a few weeks ago and now DeAngelo might not be much further behind, along with the other aforementioned names, provided a deal can get done.
But we're not there yet, so stay tuned.
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