Flyers' quandary: What to do at trade deadline?
Flyers general manager Ron Hextall wants to make the playoffs this season, but he is also building the team for the long haul, so he would like to add some more draft picks.
Flyers general manager Ron Hextall wants to make the playoffs this season, but he is also building the team for the long haul, so he would like to add some more draft picks.
That's the quandary he faces with the trade deadline fast approaching Monday at 3 p.m.
"I really don't know," Hextall said the other day when asked about the odds of the Flyers making a deal. "Kind of listening to everything."
Hextall said the Flyers were in a "tough spot" because they are in a playoff race but don't want to trade away youth (or draft picks) for a rental player.
The Flyers are three points out of a wild-card spot with 21 games remaining, and Hextall believes the team has enough depth to make a playoff run. That means if the right deal comes along, veterans like Matt Read, Mark Streit, and Nick Schultz are probably expendable.
It also means he probably won't make a run at 20-year-old Tampa Bay winger Jonathan Drouin or 26-year-old Arizona winger Mikkel Boedker - unless he can get them cheaply.
After this season, Streit, 38, has one more year left on a contract that has a $5.25 million salary-cap hit. He has made it clear he wants to stay.
"I love playing for this team and I believe in this team," Streit said after recording three assists Saturday in a 4-2 win over Arizona. "I want to play here, but sometimes those are the things you can't control. I just focus on Monday's game for now."
Monday's game against visiting Calgary will be played four hours after the trade deadline ends.
"We'll see what happens," said Streit, one of the Flyers' locker room leaders.
Goalie Steve Mason likes the makeup of the team. "We have a good group of guys in here," he said.
After an optional practice Sunday in Voorhees, rookie coach Dave Hakstol was asked how much input he gives Hextall on potential trades.
"We communicate on a lot of things and have really good dialogue," he said. "But my focus is on coaching our team."
The Flyers (28-22-11) have won the first two games on their season-high six-game homestand, getting secondary scoring and excellent goaltending from Michal Neuvirth.
In their last two games - the win over Arizona and Thursday's 3-2 victory over Minnesota - six of the Flyers' seven goals were scored by players who are don't frequently turn on the red light. Sam Gagner and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare have two goals apiece in that span, while Scott Laughton and Streit also have scored.
"We're playing as a team," captain Claude Giroux said.
They will try to continue their playoff push Monday when they host high-scoring Johnny Gaudreau (Gloucester Catholic) and the lowly Flames (26-31-4).
"We've got a lot of work in front of us," Hakstol said.
With Gaudreau setting up the winner, Calgary scored a 2-1 overtime victory over the visiting Flyers on Nov. 5, but the Flames have been making roster changes recently. Last week, they traded Markus Granlund for Hunter Shinkaruk, and on Saturday they dealt veteran winger Jiri Hudler to Florida for a pair of draft picks. Hudler, 32, had been on Calgary's top line with Gaudreau and Sean Monahan.
Will the Flyers, who have about $5.2 million in cap space with Michael Del Zotto on the long-term injured list, also have a different look when Monday's game arrives?
Stay tuned.
@BroadStBull
