There were plenty of deals to go around on deadline day, and the Flyers certainly kicked off the festivities with an overnight deal sending Braydon Coburn to Tampa Bay for Radko Gudas and two draft picks.
But following that deal, and their Friday night deal involving Kimmo Timonen, Ron Hextall and the Flyers remained quiet at the deadline.
In all, the Flyers received four draft picks – including three in the upcoming draft – and a depth defenseman while trading away two veteran defenseman and freeing up a sizable amount of cap space.
"I think we accomplished part of what we wanted to," Hextall said. "We've got a lot of work to do between now and the next two or three years and we know it. There's nothing wrong with that.
"To build a top team, you want to stay there and want to win. I like the moves we made. I think we left our team in a spot where we can continue to battle for the playoffs."
The trades of Coburn and Timonen may look like huge losses on the Flyers current roster. But with the Flyers six points out of a playoff spot, they still intent to make every attempt to be playing in the playoffs.
"We had no intention of packing it in," Hextall said. "If something made sense for today and the future, we're going to look at it. But we're not just going to throw away today for a small piece or a secondary piece. We were kind of focused on what we wanted to do and we did some of those things."
There were constant rumblings involving other Flyers defensemen. Nicklas Grossmann was on the block for the last week, but his injury on Saturday, though not believed to be serious, may have held up any deal.
Additionally, the Flyers were believed to be trying to deal Vincent Lecavalier. There were no reports of any takers for the 34-year-old forward.
Two other names in the mix were Brayden Schenn and Luke Schenn. It was rumored the Flyers may package the brothers together in a deal, but ultimately, nothing came to fruition.
In return, the Flyers get some security on defense with Gudas. He won't play for the remainder of the season due to knee surgery in January, but he could relieve the pressure of bringing up prospects too soon, something Hextall doesn't want to do. At 24, Gudas is a cheap and durable fit to the Flyers third defensive pair.
The big accomplishment is the Flyers four new draft picks. They managed to get two draft picks for Timonen, who hasn't played this season. The Flyers did not have a second-round pick in the 2015 Draft prior to the trade.
"We've got a lot of young prospects and a lot of picks," Hextall said. "Now, we've got to make these picks count."
In addition, getting a second first-round pick in this year's draft is extremely important. It is expected to be a deep draft and the Flyers will be one of six teams with multiple picks in the first round. The package for Coburn was substantial, and credit Hextall for putting together an excellent deal.
"I think most teams recognize that this year's a high-end draft, but it’s also deep," Hextall said. "We didn't have a second, I don't think last summer we had a third. We wanted to fill the holes in and that's what we did."
The Flyers return to action on Tuesday night when they host the Calgary Flames at 7 p.m.
Kevin Durso is managing editor for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on Twitter @Kevin_Durso.
