97.5 The Fanatic Flyers Roundup: Sean Walker Leads List of Trade Candidates

The Philadelphia Flyers lost consecutive home games after a brilliant shutout performance by Sam Ersson on Long Island Saturday night. They slipped to seventh in the Metropolitan Division in point percentage after an overtime loss at the Wells Fargo Center on Thursday. However, Sean Walker and other potential trade candidates have dominated Flyers conversations this week. 

The Flyers are an admitted rebuilding team that will most likely look to move veterans before the NHL Trade Deadline. Who are the early candidates to pack their bags?

The Athletic listed Flyers skaters Sean Walker (5), Morgan Frost (9), and Nick Seeler (22) on the early list of top NHL Trade Deadline targets. Cam Atkinson might also bring some interest if he stays healthy leading up to the March 8 deadline.

Danny Briere acquired Walker as part of the Ivan Provorov trade in what looked like a simple salary dump. The 29-year-old defenseman has played well with four goals and 10 assists in a second-pair role for John Tortorella early this season. Elliotte Friedman of SportsNet reported that Walker’s name is starting to circulate in conversations around the NHL.

The price for right-handed defensemen who can play toward the top of an NHL lineup is typically high. If Walker continues to perform well, the demand will rise, and a first-round pick wouldn’t be out of the question.

However, the Flyers have made it clear that their rebuild isn’t a firesale of all useful veterans with an eye on increasing NHL Draft Lottery odds. They might have interest in keeping an impending unrestricted free agent in Philadelphia and re-signing him during the offseason.

The intriguing choice for Danny Briere will lead to plenty of speculation. Expect to hear Sean Walker and the Flyers in trade deadline conversations in the upcoming months.

Noah Cates will miss six-eight weeks with a lower-body injury. The second-year forward has just one goal and three assists in 21 games this season.

The former NCAA National Champion was one of only three Flyers to play 82 games in 2022-23, his rookie season. He established himself as a reliable shutdown defensive center and received votes for the Selke Trophy (Best Defensive Forward) and the Calder Trophy (Rookie of the Year).

His average time on ice has dropped over three minutes per game from 17:46 in 2022-23 to 14:25 in 2023-24. John Tortorella has moved him to the fourth line and over to the wing at times after he played top-six minutes as a center for most of last season.

The injury will presumedly allow Bobby Brink, Morgan Frost, and Ryan Poehling to stay in the lineup every game. Cates will have to overcome a forward logjam to regain momentum when he returns after the New Year.

Travis Sanheim has become the brightest surprise of the 2023-24 Flyers season. Briere shopped Sanheim during the offseason, and the 27-year-old defenseman only stayed in Philadelphia because Torey Krug enacted a no-trade clause to nix a proposed trade.

Sanheim has two goals and 14 assists in 23 games, and he’s been the team’s workhorse defenseman at even strength and on both special teams units. He has impressed the organization with his determination and a clear benefit of offseason conditioning. However, he's the same defenseman who sandwiched brutal seasons in 2020-21 and 2022-23 around his Barry Ashbee Trophy season in 2021-22.

The strong start is promising. Sanheim still needs to sustain a high level of play that justifies the $6.25 million annual cap hit he’ll cost through 2030-31.

It’s no secret that the Flyers don’t have the top-line talent to compete with Stanley Cup contenders. It’s one of the primary reasons the rebuild is necessary. However, they have controlled the puck well and spent time in the offensive zone consistently this season.

They finished 23rd in the NHL in expected goal percentage (xGF%) in 2022-23 while 13 of the top 16 teams based on the advanced metric qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Fans usually hear hockey broadcasts claim the “ice is tilting” in one team’s favor, but xGF% gives data and substance to the cliche.

The 2023-24 season has been a different story for the Flyers. They currently sit 7th in xGF% in 2023-24. They’ve offset the lack of dominant, play-driving forwards with strong efforts from accomplished scorers like Sean Couturier and Travis Konecny.

Tortorella credits the offensive transition game for the strong development of a new style of play. 

The veteran head coach sees the long-term picture of the organization. He knows the Flyers will count on top prospects Cutter Gauthier and Matvei Michkov as foundational pieces to correct the lack of top-end talent. In the meantime, the offensive approach is developing well.

Part of the rebuild is about identifying strengths. The Flyers might not finish at the top of the NHL in puck possession number over 82 games, but they’ve shown glimpses of ability you might not have thought they were capable of two months ago.

The style Tortorella spoke about is important to develop young talent at the NHL level. It could even help a younger player like Joel Farabee or Owen Tippett break out into a star player.

The Flyers will play a home-and-home series against the rival Pittsburgh Penguins before a three-game Western Conference road swing. 

The iconic brand of the Philadelphia Flyers has developed through a storied history since Ed Snider founded the franchise in 1967.

The days of the Broad Street Bullies during the 1970s put the Flyers on the map in Philadelphia. They’ve since transitioned into different eras that have inspired the perception around the NHL of the seventh integral team to hockey tradition outside the Original Six.

Back-to-back Stanley Cups in 1974-75 established the identity of the Flyers. They revolutionized the NHL with intimidation tactics that changed the game of hockey forever. The organization still considers the Broad Street Bullies the root of their DNA. It's no surprise that four players with retired numbers skated for the notorious Bullies.

Their success as one of the top teams in the NHL continued during the 1980s. They made it back to three Stanley Cup Finals in one decade, unfortunately losing all of them. The Flyers proved they could never stay out of the spotlight when they sent shockwaves through the NHL by acquiring Eric Lindros in 1992.

The era that followed kept them in the conversation as a Stanley Cup contender through the 1990s. They maintained that status into the first decade of the 2000s. They hope to revitalize that tradition in the modern era.

The Flyers have consistently kept their alumni involved to honor their accomplishments of the past. Their reputation around the league as an organization who takes care of people who’ve made contributions to the organization still proceeds them around the NHL.

Fans who look in the rafters of the Wells Fargo Center see banners proudly displaying the accomplishments of the Broad Street Bullies era, multiple Patrick Division crowns, and the 2009-10 Eastern Conference Championships.

However, the Philadelphia Flyers have reserved the honor of retired numbers for only six former players.

“Only the Lord saves more than Bernie Parent.”

Countless drivers in Philadelphia during the 1970s read the iconic bumper sticker about the future Hall of Fame goaltender. Parent accumulated Hall of Fame numbers over 13 NHL seasons, 10 of which included stints with the Flyers.

The real mark of his legacy came in the 1973-74 and 1974-75 seasons. He won the Vezina Trophy as the top goaltender in the NHL after both regular seasons. His 47 wins in 1973-74 stood as a league record until 2007.

Parent won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff MVP for each of the only two Stanley Cups in franchise history after both of his Venzina seasons. The famed Broad Street Bullies built their reputation on intimidation and grit, but they never would’ve sniffed a Stanley Cup without Bernie Parent between the pipes.

Mark Howe played six seasons in the WHA to begin his professional career and didn’t make his debut with the Flyers until age 27. However, he established himself as the indisputable best defenseman in franchise history.

He still holds franchise records for goals, assists, points, shorthanded goals, and plus/minus rating among defensemen. Most of the blueliners behind him in the major statistical categories played more games with the Flyers. Howe published a book cleverly named Gordie Howe’s Son in 2013.

Barry Ashbee began his career in Philadelphia at age 31. He played 287 regular-season and playoff games in orange and black. He finished fourth in Norris Trophy voting for the best NHL defenseman in 1973-74, when he became a key member of the first Stanley Cup team in Flyers history.

Ashbee suffered an unfortunate eye injury that ended his playing career in 1974. He joined the Flyers staff as an assistant coach but passed away from leukemia three years later.

The organization has consistently honored his legacy after the two tragic occurrences. They award the Barry Ashbee Trophy to the team’s best defenseman every season, and they retired his number shortly after his death.

Bill Barber still holds the franchise record with 420 goals decades after his retirement in 1983-84. The “LCB line” with Reggie Leach, Bobby Clarke, and Barber brought the offensive firepower the Broad Street Bullies needed to win two Stanley Cups.

The Flyers organizational lifer built his reputation with a Hall of Fame playing career, a stint as head coach, and a long tenure as a front office executive.

It’s tough to come up with a player who can define the identity of a franchise in the NHL or in all of professional sports more than Bobby Clarke defines the Flyers. He incredibly won three of four Hart Trophies as the league MVP from 1972-73 through 1975-76. Clarke wore the “C” as the heart and soul of the Broad Street Bullies during the best era in franchise history.

He has remained around the organization in various roles since his retirement in 1984.

The Flyers made arguably the biggest splash in NHL history when they acquired the rights to Eric Lindros in 1992 after some lengthy drama. He was supposed to be the next Wayne Gretzky, and his dynamic skill and intimidating power didn’t disappoint when he was on the ice. He won the Hart Trophy after the shortened 1994-95 season and helped the Flyers to an appearance in the 1997 Stanley Cup Final.

Concussions derailed the career of arguably the most talented hockey player ever to lace up the skates. He struggled to stay healthy in a stretch that infamously ended with a devastating hit from Scott Stevens in the 2000 Eastern Conference Final.

He ranks sixth in franchise history in scoring, but his 1.36 points per game average blows every other Flyers skater out of the water. The organization has properly moved on from disagreements with one of their all-time greats whose number has hung in the rafters of the Wells Fargo Center since 2018.

The Flyers were in Stanley Cup contention when Claude Giroux broke into the NHL. The crafty forward developed into the organizational centerpiece, but the team dragged through a forgettable era in franchise history during his captaincy.

Giroux is second in Flyers history in points, games played, and assists trailing only the legendary Bobby Clarke. He played on teams that won six total playoff series and recorded 73 postseason points, including an overtime goal in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final in 2010. He has finished fourth or higher in Hart Trophy voting three times during his tenure in Philadelphia.

The Flyers will someday retire the number of one of their all-time greats who unfortunately never broke through with a Stanley Cup.