Grading Flyers Moves at 2026 Trade Deadline

The Philadelphia Flyers sold pieces from their NHL roster ahead of the 2026 NHL Trade Deadline for the sixth consecutive season, including the last three since Danny Briere and Keith Jones took over the front office. They currently sit outside the Eastern Conference playoff picture with slim odds for a late-season push.

Briere made two NHL deals on deadline day, two additional prospect swaps, and one waiver claim. His most consequential move, however, was choosing not to trade his most valuable chip Rasmus Ristolainen.

Flyers Get: David Jiricek
Minnesota Wild Get: Bobby Brink

Briere correctly identified and addressed that Bobby Brink had no long-term future with the Flyers. The emergence of younger wingers with higher upside stifled the chances that the Flyers would re-sign the pending restricted free agent.

The Flyers recouped value at a thinner position by acquiring David Jiricek, a defenseman who similarly had no clear long-term fit in Minnesota.

Briere used sound logic to acquire a 6-foot-4 blueliner with high upside. The idea that Jiricek could benefit from a change of scenery similarly to Jamie Drysdale shows confidence in Philadelphia’s internal player development, a high priority during the rebuild.

However, the sixth-overall pick in the 2022 draft will now join his third organization in four seasons. He’ll report directly to the struggling Lehigh Valley Phantoms instead of joining a Flyers team outside the playoff race. He’ll also reach restricted free agency after the season. 

The Flyers made a B level move to acquire the project defenseman, but the immediate murky fit for David Jiricek requires some skepticism.

Flyers Get: Conditional 7th-Round Pick
Carolina Hurricanes Get: Nicolas Deslauriers

Chuck Fletcher made an outrageous miscalculation signing an enforcer to a four-year contract in 2022.

Danny Briere and the current front office regime inherited Nicolas Deslauriers with three years of remaining term. They recouped minimal value for Fletcher's mistake.

Deslauriers played a tough, physical game during his tenure with the Flyers. He gave the Philadelphia fans a few more moments to cheer than they would've had without a traditional enforcer on the team during the rebuild. However, his role simply doesn't have much remaining meaningful impact in the NHL game.

The trade, simply put, isn't that important. The Flyers more than likely won't see the impact of the player picked in the seventh round in 2027.

However, Briere's ability to find a taker for Nicolas Deslauriers reflects positively on his priority to send a well-liked veteran to a playoff contender for the player's personal well-being.

Flyers Get: Boris Katchouk, Brett Harrison, Jackson Edward
Minnesota Wild/Boston Bruins Get: Roman Schmidt, Alexis Gendron, Massimo Rizzo

The Flyers made two smaller deals to move three prospects with no foreseeable impact impact at the NHL level. Boris Katchouk is the only one of the six players in the two deals with NHL experience.

Neither deal is likely to impact the NHL roster. However, their priority to improve around the margins at all levels of the organization imitates the neighbors across the street. The Flyers admire the way Howie Roseman and the Eagles have captured the same sports market.

Briere just spent the time and effort to address the smallest margins of the organization, with a Howie-style hope that the smallest move pushes the organization in the right direction.

Flyers Get: Luke Glendening

The Flyers will become Luke Glendening's fifth NHL team in 13 seasons. He's scored 83 goals and added 87 assists in 916 career NHL games. The 36-year-old right averaged just 9:54 of ice time in 52 games for the New Jersey Devils this season.

Glendening will likely play a fairly inconsequential role as a fourth-line center for the Flyers before reaching unrestricted free agency after the 2025-26 season. The waiver claim could limit the organization's interest in promoting a prospect from the Phantoms late in the season.

Briere has shown the ability to navigate the trade market by maintaining leverage in a tough situation with Cutter Gauthier, selling Scott Laughton at the height of his value, and waiting for a bargain deal to materialize for Trevor Zegras.

The young general manager has confidently held onto Rasmus Ristolainen through seemingly annual trade rumors.

The Flyers have never begun a firesale of all veterans as part of their rebuild.

The flexibility to trade Ristolainen during the offseason even leaves the theoretical possibility the Flyers could acquire the same draft picks that Briere had his eyes on before the NHL Trade Deadline. Ristolainen’s contract also runs through 2026-27 and eliminates a problem some NHL GMs face simply trying to take any immediate value for a pending unrestricted free agent. 

However, while Briere waits for the stock to rise, he also risks it falling drastically.

Ristolainen missed 94 games in his first four seasons in Philadelphia. He played in just 24 of 61 games this season before the trade deadline.

He stood out to NHL front offices with a strong performance for Team Finland at the Winter Olympics and returned healthy for Philadelphia’s final five games until the deadline. No NHL GMs met Briere's high asking price.

Ristolainen’s long injury history raises questions about whether his value on the trade market is actually more likely to decrease after staying with the Flyers past the 2026 NHL Trade Deadline.

Danny Briere has shown vision in his plan for the future and skills in trade negotiations. The addition of David Jiricek and other sensible moves will help the Flyers take baby steps forward.

The decision to keep Rasmus Ristolainen maintains the opportunity to use a top trade chip at a later time.

However, simply maintaining doesn’t bring the Flyers any closer to addressing serious holes at the top of their lineup.

Don't forget that the Flyers also extended Christian Dvorak, who is miscast as a top-line center, in January and canceled an opportunity to shop another top trade chip. They'll pick up the same priority this summer to look for a top center on the trade market.

The front office performed at a B level at the trade deadline, but the Flyers haven’t put the city of Philadelphia in the mood to focus on anything short of an A level.