The Philadelphia Flyers seem to be open for business. Will Senators GM Pierre Dorion make them an offer they can't refuse?
After the club finished 26th overall this season, Philadelphia Flyers GM Daniel Briere recently made it clear in a radio interview on 94 WIP that he's listening to all NHL trade offers. He's obviously going to reject a lot of them, but he's going to listen to everything and everyone.
"That's my job as a general manager," Briere said. "I have to listen. I have to do what's best for the team and the organization."
Well, that wasn't just lip service. Briere pulled off a doozy last week.
On Tuesday, the Flyers pulled off a three-way deal with LA and Columbus. They acquired goaltender Cal Petersen, defensemen Sean Walker and Helge Grans and a second-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft from the Los Angeles Kings. The Flyers also acquired a first-round pick (22nd overall) in the 2023 NHL Draft and a conditional second-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft from the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for defenseman Ivan Provorov.
With the Flyers trying to construct what the franchise is calling a "New Era of Orange," (presumably looking for their own unparalleled success), Philadelphia is currently the epicentre of NHL trade rumours.
Two of the names consistently being linked to Ottawa include goalie Carter Hart and, more recently, forward Scott Laughton.
Laughton is well known to the Senators as a pain in their neck. If you can agitate the agitator (as Brady Tkachuk can attest below) and put up 43 points in a season, you're probably a perfect third liner for just about any team.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCFoIQa5HsY[/embed]
Laughton also checks off another Ottawa box. He's played for D.J. Smith in the past, scoring 40 goals for him in Oshawa in 2013-14. Laughton wouldn't be the first former player Smith has helped lure to Ottawa. Others he's presumably vouched for include Austin Watson, Scott Sabourin, Cole Cassels, Michael Dal Colle, Josh Brown, Nikita Zaitsev, and Connor Brown.
Laughton and Smith also just won a gold medal together last month at the World Hockey Championships.
"Ottawa has liked (Laughton) for a long time," Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman reported on 32 Thoughts this week. "They've talked about him before, but I think there are other (interested) players out there.
Claude Giroux would also have serious NHL intel on both Laughton and Hart as well.
The Hart rumours further picked up last week with the Flyers acquiring a veteran goalie in Petersen, but that was mostly just the Flyers helping LA unload a bad contract.
Still, Hart is an interesting option for a team like the Senators. For the second summer in a row, Sens GM Pierre Dorion is considering the idea of an insurance policy for Anton Forsberg, who remains unproven as an NHL starter. Hart has shown bouts of inconsistency as a Flyer but he's also played behind a below average team. The former Team Canada star is still only 24, an age when most starting goalies are just beginning their NHL careers, not getting ready for their sixth season in the league.
The Sens might have interest but they also don't have a single decent pick in this month's NHL draft, and that's Philly's currency for the next two weeks. Briere won't bother to let Laughton or Hart go unless someone really makes it worth his while.
Without any decent 2023 draft picks, that means the Sens would be asked to part with a young player or two like Shane Pinto or Ridly Greig, which would be extremely unpopular in these parts.