The Philadelphia Flyers, Los Angeles Kings and Columbus Blue Jackets all have much more to do after their three-team trade on Tuesday.
The Philadelphia Flyers, Los Angeles Kings and Columbus Blue Jackets all have much more to do after their three-team trade on Tuesday.
The first significant trade of the 2023 off-season was also the first for Philadelphia Flyers GM Daniel Briere. Showing a willingness to make bold moves, Briere swung a three-team deal that sent Ivan Provorov to the Columbus Blue Jackets via the Los Angeles Kings.
That move likely won't be the last for those clubs this summer.
Following the trade, there was a report claiming Briere was working on a deal involving goaltender Carter Hart. When asked about Hart, the Flyers GM didn't confirm the rumor, but he also didn't deny it.
“I'm still in the same spot I was,” Briere said. “We're open for business. We listen on everybody. Everybody's being treated the same way for us.”
That doesn't mean the Flyers are engaged in a fire sale. Briere got a substantial return of futures for Provorov and could seek something similar for Hart or any other quality players on his roster.
The Kings, meanwhile, cleared $5.6 million in cap space by shipping goalie Cal Petersen and defenseman Sean Walker to the Flyers in the Porovov deal. They wasted little time putting that money to good use, signing blueliner Vladislav Gavrikov to a two-year deal worth an average annual value of $5.85 million.
It remains to be seen if they'll re-sign Joonas Korpisalo before he becomes a UFA on July 1. The Athletic's Eric Stephens speculated they could keep Korpisalo or seek someone else to share the goaltending duties with Pheonix Copley.
As for the Blue Jackets, Stephens' colleague Aaron Portzline said GM Jarmo Kekalainen could have more moves up his sleeve. Kekalainen indicated his club will keep an eye on the free agent and trade markets.