Why it’s fine if the Flyers don’t do anything at the trade deadline

1 week ago  /  Broad Street Hockey  /  Read Time: 3 minutes 46 seconds

We are just days away from Friday’s NHL trade deadline. As soon as 3:00 p.m. hits on March 7, no trades can be made and every National Hockey League general manager is forced to be content with their team for the rest of the regular season. When it comes to Danny Briere and his Philadelphia Flyers, there are a couple of balls up in the air.



Unless you live under a rock or just woke up from a year-long coma, both forward Scott Laughton and defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen could find themselves on other teams soon. Their names have been on trade boards throughout the whole season and especially when it comes to Laughton, the noise and the rumblings are getting louder and louder as we edge closer to Friday.



But, what if the Flyers don’t make any more trades? What if the season finished with Briere trading Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee to the Calgary Flames as the only trade of note? We don’t think it would be a disaster, and there are substantial reasons why.



Time is on their side



While some other general managers are in more of a panic to trade their pending unrestricted free agents — to get anything of value back for a player who will not be on the team next season — Briere can relax. Laughton is under contract for one more season and Ristolainen is under contract for two. There is no rush to get these players out the door for as high of a draft pick that some playoff team is willing to give up.



To dumb it all down: The Flyers will get this opportunity once again. Whether that is during this upcoming offseason or even at the 2026 trade deadline, they will get another kick at the can to get what they want for both of these players.



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Briere sticking to his guns



Now this is more of a point for the long-term future of Briere as the Flyers’ general manager, but considering that he is just really starting his own journey as an executive in the NHL, there should be no settling on a trade. Maybe the worst thing to do could be Briere being just fine with trading Laughton for a second-round pick, for example, and come down from his ask of at least a first-round pick.



It would spell out a future of being taken advantage of in future negotiations and that is something no Flyers fan should want. Briere sticking to his ask for a player who holds immense value to his team, and being fine with not moving him at this time, is the right thing to do for now and the future.



Laughton’s and Ristolainen’s value should not significantly decrease



If the Flyers wait out to make this trade, you have to think that both Laughton’s and Ristolainen’s trade value are not going to decrease by a large amount. Sure, one fewer potential playoff run with these players — down to just one year of Laughton and two for Ristolainen — would still result in a lower potential return.



But it should not be by that much. It is not crazy at all to imagine that the Flyers would still be able to get a first-round pick for Ristolainen, and then maybe something like a decent prospect and a second-round pick for just one season of Laughton. If the Flyers decide to hold firm and not trade either, they are not missing a significant opportunity that they would never be able to recover from. Some team is still going to want either of these players, and maybe more will pop up.



The potential of the summer



The offseason is full of possibilities. It is a time where teams reimagine what their team can do for the upcoming campaign, contracts expire and cap space is opened up, and there is generally more active involvement around transactions.



It’s not impossible to think that a team who is currently not in the playoff picture whatsoever, would give Briere a call and inquire about either of these players. Someone like the Montreal Canadiens could sure use some veteran forward depth as more and more young players graduate into the NHL. Maybe the Chicago Blackhawks don’t want to make Connor Bedard fall out of love with hockey and want to solidify their blue line for a couple years and all it would take is to hand over one of their billions of high-end prospects.



More teams should want to actually improve from their previous year and solidifying their foundation is a way to do this. But even for current playoff teams, if they have the cap space opening up, they can re-shape their roster to fit one of these players where they might not be able to make it work financially before Friday’s trade deadline.



While it might not be for the same desired return as right now for the Flyers, the market opening up for both of these players in the offseason could potentially get them close enough to pull the trigger.



Throw in all the good-feeling motives of no player really able to replace Rasmus Ristolainen right now on the blue line and without him the defense beyond the top pairing could collapse; and Laughton being the heartbeat of this entire team and if anyone in that locker room had their way, he would be a Flyer forever. It’s not the absolute worst thing to happen if the Flyers keep the status quo beyond Friday’s trade deadline.







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