Reader, it wasn’t so long ago that I wrote that the Flyers trade deadline was looking a bit bleak, in part because of the lack of trade rumors surrounding the team that meant the only things happening (at the time) were a Giroux trade and signing a bad defenseman for too much money. I thought it might be boring and frustrating by making the team worse.
Well, you know the phrase “Be careful what you wish for”? Yeah, I should’ve been more careful. The Flyers went ahead and signed Rasmus Ristolainen to a too big contract, and that seems to have been the trigger for other rumors about the Flyers to start piling up. Particularly, about the rest of the defense.
Keeping Ristolainen around seems to be the goddamn lynchpin to the Flyers whole deadline plan. Earlier in this Ristolainen rumor it was said that GM Chuck FLetcher was concerned with the number of NHL level defensemen they would have left if they let Ristolainen go. Apparently the number might be two no that Ristolainen’s locked in.
According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Flyers may be trying to reshape the whole defense around this extension. He talks about it in the latest 32 Thoughts Podcast and you can skip ahead to the 32 minute mark to hear the Flyers bit.
“I have a feeling that they are gonna be reshaping their roster a bit more, and I do wonder about Provorov.. I made a few calls about him, and he is really struggling. And I had people saying to me, if he didn’t have the pedigree he did — a high draft pick, someone who is supposed to be a franchise cornerstone, who they hope would be a franchise cornerstone and somebody who they are paying a significant amount of money — they think he might have been scratched”
Provorov hasn’t looked like what Provorov should look like for a while now. It might be because the rest of the team is sinking, it might be because he’s not a true number one defenseman who can succeed without a highly skilled partner, at this point who cares? Apparently things have gotten so bad that both Provorov and the Flyers wouldn’t mind not having to deal with each other again.
Would a healthy Ryan Ellis fix whatever’s wrong with Provorov? Who the hell knows! If there’s any truth to what Friedman and Twitter user @FlyersPuckSauce say, there might be larger issues that just can’t be fixed between them, don’t worry I’m linking to a thread for context.
Take a second to read the whole thread, it sucks.
But wait, there’s more! Friedman also hinted that the other functioning defenseman, Travis Sanheim may be a trade piece now that they have Ristolainen for five more years for some reason.
First of all, losing two NHL level defensemen because you signed one defenseman who can’t even skate backwards doesn’t even things out just cause you paid him too much, that’s not how that works.
Second, it seemed like playing consistently on a pair with Sanheim was at least part of what kept Ristolainen in Philly, so hopefully that assertion isn’t too serious. Anthough Risto could just REALLY hate the idea of moving.
It would suck to lose two high profile defensemen in exchange for what they signed, but it would really be a full-on Flyers move. It would be funny in the most depressing, apathetic way imaginable.
All of that and still no word about any moves on offense, cheers.
UPDATE:
An update literally seconds after posting, but remember folks, we’re just here to get mad at fake shit on the internet. Everything is fake and wrong until something actually happens. Like this competing idea that Provorov wouldn’t get moved at all.
Wait, did I say anyone reported Provorov WAS getting traded? I don’t remember. I don’t think so, but interpret how you want I guess. Anyway, what are you mad at about the Flyers today? Make sure you share your opinions with @Gritty on twitter.
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