Trade chatter is picking up around the NHL with all eyes now firmly fixated on what the Vancouver Canucks end up doing with defenseman Quinn Hughes. However, the Philadelphia Flyers are amongst a list of teams trying to make a move, at least according to prominent NHL insider Elliotte Friedman.
Earlier this week, Friedman mentioned in passing he that he had heard from multiple sources that Philadelphia was in the market for a depth centre. Interestingly enough, the Flyers have plenty of depth centres, just not enough top-flight options. However, what made this more interesting is that the Flyers must be ready to exit their rebuilding plans if they’re on the market for depth pieces.
“It’s not the biggest thing, but I did hear from a couple places that Philly’s looking for another center. Maybe more of a depth guy as much as anything else, but definitely another center.”
Perhaps it shouldn’t be all toon surprising considering President of Hockey Operations Keith Jones and CEO Dan Hilferty took to the media before the season started and talked about their plans of being more aggressive and looking to add instead of subtracting.
However, looking for depth centres doesn’t really make all that much sense with Sean Couturier, Noah Cates, Christian Dvorak, and Rodrigo Ābols patrolling the middle of the ice right now. At some point, you have to imagine head coach Rick Tocchet gives Trevor Zegras more run, but where would another depth piece fit in this lineup, outside of Ābols’ spot on the fourth line?
While fans had time to digest that bit of information, Friedman came back with a bit of juicer nugget, in that the Flyers are one of a few teams that are looking to use their draft capital in trade talks.
In a brief appearance on ‘The Fan Hockey Show’, Friedman was talking about how Utah is prepared to make big moves using their draft capital, while also giving a shoutout to the Flyers as another team to look out for.
“They [Utah] have a lot of draft capital, and so does Seattle, and Philly, and I don’t think they’re going to be afraid to use it.”
That draft capital comes in the form of 2 first and third round picks in 2027, as well as first, second, and third round picks in 2026 and 2028. Comparatively, Seattle has 5 firsts and 4 seconds in the next 3 years, whereas Utah has 3 firsts, 5 seconds, 5 thirds, and 9 picks in the fourth and fifth rounds.
The Flyers had an abundance of draft capital this past summer, where they were slated to have 7 selections in the first two rounds. They did move one pick to Anaheim for Zegras and another pick to move up and select Jack Nesbitt, but they still ended up making a plethora of picks, perhaps wanting to address their pipeline before going out and making some aggressive moves in the future.
As for who the Flyers could acquire using draft capital, they can look towards teams like Calgary, Nashville, St. Louis, and Vancouver for help. The Blues and Canucks would be two teams the Flyers would be interested in as the former two options don’t really have the young talent the team is looking for.
One name in particular that has been brought up is Jordan Kyrou. The 27-year-old is listed as a centre but has primarily played on the wings, so it’s not certain if the Flyers would try to transition him to the centre position or not, but he’s got plenty of firepower that the team would love to install in their every day lineup.
Between 2021-25, Kyrou scored 131 goals and 285 points in 317 games with 31 power play goals, 17 game winning tallies, 13.8 shooting percentage, and 950 shots on goal. he tallied a career-high 75 points in just 74 games ion 2021-22 and is just a year removed from a 70-point season.
He has struggled to start the 2025-26 season with just 6 goals and 13 points in 22 games, while also being made a healthy scratch once, but the struggles have been team-wide, which is why the Blues are open for business – and have been with Kyrou over the last two seasons.
The Flyers also recently traded for his brother, Christian, from the Dallas Stars a few weeks ago in exchange for Samu Tuomaala.
Another type of move the Flyers could look to make is trying to acquire a young prospect who is NHL-ready like Brad Lambert. The centre has been given permission from the Winnipeg Jets to seek a trade and Frank Seravalli mentioned the Flyers as one of four possible destinations.
The former first round selection from the 2022 NHL draft is looking to move away from the Jets after having spent the majority of the last 3 seasons in the AHL. The 21-year-old centre has scored 91 points in 128 games for the AHL’s Manitoba Moose and could be exactly the type of young, NHL-ready talent the Flyers are looking for.
While there’s nothing concrete in their interest for a player like Jordan Kyrou, that is the type of player the Flyers should be focusing on if they’re planning on moving draft capital. There’s plenty of names out there on the open market, especially from the aforementioned 4 teams that are looking to blow up their roster, but the Flyers need legitimate talent, not depth pieces.
It will be interesting to see when the first domino does fall with the roster freeze in effect during the holidays and then the Winter Olympics not too far behind. However, it does sound like the Flyers might actually be involved this year, as they are finally looking to add to their roster.
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