The Philadelphia Flyers are well out of the Eastern Conference playoff picture at the NHL trade deadline. They have two assets that are among the best on the market they could deal. But general manager Daniel Briere is driving a hard bargain. The Flyers are asking for a lot in exchange for Scott Laughton and Rasmus Ristolainen, per TSN’s Darren Dreger.
“Flyers update. Big ask on Ristolainen. 1st, prospect and player. Decent chance he stays in Philly. Hard to replace. Teams that missed on Nelson are circling on Laughton and the price is a haul,” Dreger reported.
Ristolainen came to the Flyers from the Buffalo Sabres in 2021 for a first and second-round pick. While that was before Briere’s time in Philly, he should be trying to get that back for him, at least. The market for defensemen is not full of players and a competing team who needs one should be calling Philadelphia.
Ristolainen, however, is not a pending free agent. He has two years left after this one at $5.1 million. That does make his trade market smaller and could lead to a summer deal.
Laughton, on the other hand, has just one year left at $3 million. He can fit on any team that missed out on Brock Nelson.
The Flyers must deal Scott Laughton before trade deadline
The New York Islanders got a first and third-round pick and a prospect for Nelson late Thursday night. While he is a much better goal scorer than Laughton, the Flyer could fill someone else’s need at center. The Western Conference has a ton of contenders who have not made a deal yet. If the Winnipeg Jets or Dallas Stars come calling, Philly should send Laughton off.
The only problem with the Flyers trading Laughton at this trade deadline is that they do not have any salary retention spots left. Teams are only allowed to retain salary on three contracts at a time, which Philly has done. It is quite the list of players, as Tony DeAngelo, Cam Atkinson, and Ilya Bryzgolov are still getting paid by the team.
If the Flyers could retain salary, they would be able to cut Laughton’s cap hit to just $1.5 million for this season and next. They could trade him to a third team and pay a pick to do it, but it is not with the extra capital. Briere is known to drive a hard bargain, not taking Ryan Johansen from the Avalanche until he got a first-rounder. But he must make this deal soon.
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