NHL rumors: Philadelphia Flyers open to trading No. 11 pick
Philadelphia Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher has promised an aggressive offseason, and that now seems to include being open to trading the No. 11 pick in the draft.
Chuck Fletcher replaced Ron Hextall on Dec. 3, so there wasn’t much he could do to reshape the Philadelphia Flyers’ roster in the short-term. But heading into the offseason, ahead of his first full season as general manager, he has already promised aggressiveness on the trade and free agent markets.
The Flyers finished well out of the playoffs this past season, with holes to fill across the board. But they have $33.4 million in projected salary cap space (fourth-most in the league, according to CapFriendly), so they are well-equipped to address their needs with plenty of options to consider.
Among that breadth of options, according to Fletcher during a press conference on Monday, is a deal involving the No. 11 pick in the draft later this month. At the very least, Fletcher has made it known he’s open to trading a first-round pick.
Fletcher on possibility of trading the No.11 pick: "It's early. I've mentioned to teams that we're in play but there hasn't been a big push for the pick yet. If we keep it & stay at 11, we're going to get a good player...It's certainly a good chip that if moved, it could help."
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) June 10, 2019
The Flyers have had a pair of first-round picks in each of the last two drafts. That has bolstered their pipeline of forward prospects, to go with a deep group of young defenseman and a couple of promising goaltender prospects in the system behind 20-year old presumptive starter Carter Hart.
Philadelphia has nine picks in this year’s draft, so dealing one for a premium veteran upgrade somewhere is certainly on the table. The hiring of Alain Vigneault, with his placing of the Flyers in win-now mode, also has to be putting Fletcher into an aggressive pose this offseason.
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Trading a fairly premium first-round pick would be a bold move. Fletcher can thank Hextall and the previous front office regime for the ability to deal from a position of relative strength knowing there isn’t desperation to add a top-level prospect to the Flyers’ system. Minnesota Wild fans know how aggressiveness generally went when Fletcher was that team’s general manager, and Flyers’ fans have to hope he’s not doomed to repeat those mistakes.
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