The Philadelphia Flyers, a team that has been relatively quiet since July 1st, have executed a trade with the Seattle Kraken, where they’ve acquired forward Tucker Robertson in exchange for Jon-Randall Avon.
The Flyers entered the offseason with a plan and they seemingly executed it to a tee, as they managed to check off all of their boxes by July 1st’s free agent frenzy. They hired Rick Tocchet, traded for Trevor Zegras, drafted a slew of prospects including Porter Martone, and then signed Christian Dvorak and Dan Vladař on Canada Day to round out their bigger moves.
Since then it’s been relatively quiet outside of the Cam York extension, but that much was expected from a rebuilding club with very little cap space remaining. Nevertheless, depth in the minor leagues is still a very important fixture, and the Flyers did so by acquiring Robertson.
Drafted in the 4th round of the 2022 NHL Entry Draft, Robertson has spent the last 2 years playing in both the AHL and ECHL with the Kraken’s affiliates. He scored 6 goals and 10 points in 39 games for the Coachella Valley Firebirds in the AHL during the 2023-24 season, as well as another 14 points in 13 games for the Kansas City Mavericks in the ECHL.
This past season, Robertson scored 4 goals and 9 points in just 38 games for the Firebirds, while also going scoreless in 3 playoff contests. The Toronto native did have a very successful junior career with the Peterborough Petes of the OHL, including 36 goals and 90 points in 68 games in his final year that also saw him net 22 points in 23 games in the playoffs en route to a championship.
Going the other way is Avon, who was a teammate of Robertson’s in the OHL during their 3 seasons together with the Petes. The Peterborough native was signed to an entry-level contract as an undrafted prospect by the Flyers in 2021 before scoring at over a point-per-game pace for the Petes in his final 2 years.
He joined the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in 2023-24, where he scored 9 goals and 18 points in 65 games, and then added 7 goals and 17 points in 60 games last year.
This trade is merely a swap of prospects who are looking to stake their claim in the minor leagues in an attempt to battle for a bottom-6 role in the NHL, either outright through camp or as a recall during the season.
Robertson carries a little more offensive firepower than Avon, but he has only managed to play in 72 AHL games over the last two years compared to Avon’s 125. If he can turn back the clock a little bit to junior hockey days and remain in the lineup, he could give the Phantoms a real offensive jolt after finishing 19th league-wide in goals last year.
