In his pre-draft availability on Thursday, Flyers GM Danny Briere noted that activity was increasing with the draft getting closer. Two days later, it appears that the Flyers have multiple trades on the table and are nearing completion.
Kevin Hayes to Blues?
On Saturday afternoon, reports surfaced that the Flyers and St. Louis Blues were working on a potential blockbuster deal. The potential trade would involve Kevin Hayes going to St. Louis with salary being retained. Andy Strickland of Bally Sports Midwest and Anthony DiMarco of The Fourth Period were first to report.
In addition, Anthony SanFilippo of Crossing Broad broke down the potential parameters of the deal as we know it so far and what could be included in the deal. It appears that Travis Sanheim is also included in the deal to St. Louis and the Flyers would be receiving a late first-round pick from St. Louis – they have picks 10, 25, and 29 in the first round – as well as defenseman Torey Krug, who would have to waive a no-movement clause in his contract to complete the deal. As of Saturday night, it was reported that this was the hold-up in the deal.
The Blues have five defensemen with no-move clauses in their contract. Colton Parayko, Nick Leddy, and Justin Faulk were all reported to not have been asked to waive the no-move clauses, meaning they would not be included. Marco Scandella has a modified no-movement clause in his contract and the Flyers are not on his list, so he could also be moved in the deal potentially. That would leave Krug as the last defenseman with a no-move clause that needs to waive for the deal to be completed.
There were rumblings that the Flyers could look to flip Krug to another team to get him to waive the no-move clause and complete the trade. Jeremy Rutherford of the Athletic also added that there is potential for the trade between the Flyers and Blues to be completed around Hayes and the late first-round pick, without Sanheim or Krug being part of that deal.
By Saturday evening, it was reported that any deal would likely be completed on Sunday.
DeAngelo Returning to Carolina?
In addition, there were reports that Tony DeAngelo and Scott Laughton could also be part of the trade to St. Louis. While both names were eventually out of that deal, at least based on the information reported by Saturday night, there were also reports that a trade between the Flyers and Carolina Hurricanes was in the works that would reunite DeAngelo with his former team.
Just one year ago, the Flyers acquired the rights to DeAngelo for three draft picks and signed him to a two-year deal with a $5 million. According to Pierre LeBrun of TSN, the deal with Carolina would bring a prospect in return and the Flyers would be retaining half of DeAngelo’s salary, essentially making this trade more of a salary dump.
Similar to the trade with St. Louis, nothing was finalized on Saturday. As of Sunday morning, LeBrun reported that the deal had hit a snag and was in jeopardy of reaching the finish line.
With these two trades potentially taking place in a matter of hours, this would become the second and third trades completed by Briere, in addition to the trade involving Ivan Provorov on June 6. It is increasingly possible that Provorov, Sanheim, and DeAngelo, half of the Flyers blue line from last season, could be playing elsewhere.
Stay tuned, as this story develops throughout the coming hours.
