The Philadelphia Flyers have announced that they have traded defensemen Dennis Gilbert to the Ottawa Senators for Maxence Guenette.
Gilbert was signed by the Flyers on July 1st – after previously playing for Ottawa – for defensive depth purposes but he never made an NHL appearance. He was placed on waivers on the 4th of October and was reassigned to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on the 12th, where he’s played in 6 games in which he recored an assist, 6 PIM, and a +1 rating.
The Flyers had a cluster of defensemen at the NHL-level, even with Rasmus Ristolainen on the IR, and Gilbert’s chances of playing for the NHL club were slim to none, especially after Emil Andrae had been recalled several times already.
As for Guenette, the Flyers also signed him to a one-year, two-way contract as he was a pending restricted free agent up until this point. The 24-year-old defensemen was drafted by the Senators in the 7th round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft and made his NHL debut in 2022-23.
Guenette has just 8 games of NHL experience, but has provided stability and depth for the AHL’s Belleville Senators over the years. He appeared in 58 games last year, where he accumulated 9 goals and 23 points, and has career totals of 236 games, 27 goals, and 116 points.
The 6’2”, 210-pound defensemen spent his junior hockey with the Val d’Or Foreurs of the QMJHL. In 4 seasons with the Foreurs, he played in 227 games and scored 106 points.
Guenette will more than likely report to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms and essentially replace Gilbert with the minor league club. This is the second minor league swap the Flyers have completed so far this season, with the first one coming a few weeks ago when they traded Samu Tuomaala to Dallas for defenseman Christian Kyrou.
