Should the Philadelphia Flyers try to add a top-six center for the second consecutive offseason, a familiar foe in the Eastern Conference could provide one... at the right price.

North of the border, the Ottawa Senators, fresh off a first-round sweep at the hands of the Carolina Hurricanes, are looking for moves they can make to give themselves a better chance at Stanley Cup contention.

Defensive depth has been a question mark, but they have a strong foundation, led by Tim Stutzle, Linus Ullmark, Brady Tkachuk, Thomas Chabot, and Jake Sanderson.

At center, Dylan Cozens, Shane Pinto, and Ridly Greig are all coming along nicely... and the Flyers reportedly have varying degrees of interest in all three.

"According to team sources, the Flyers have interest in Senators centers Shane Pinto, Dylan Cozens and Ridly Greig – in that order. DFO was told that the Flyers and Senators have had on and off trade talks going back to the 2024-25 season; per sources, the Senators were unwilling to move any of their pivots other than Josh Norris," NHL insider Anthony Di Marco recently reported for Daily Faceoff.

Pinto and Cozens are the two most attractive options of the three as the established top-six centers.

Pinto, 25, is coming off a career year, having scored 23 goals, 23 assists, and 46 points in 72 games for the Senators. He's the most expensive at a $7.5 million annual cap hit, though it should be noted that he has one goal in 10 career playoff games.

As for Cozens, he's the most established of the group, as well as the biggest.

The 6-foot-3 former No. 9 overall pick already scored 30 goals in his third NHL season with the Buffalo Sabres back in 2022-23, when he scored 68 points overall.

Cozens hasn't reached that peak since then, but he put together a nice 59-point campaign last season. Notably, the 25-year-old has four seasons remaining on his contract at a $7.1 million cap hit, and he will have a five-team no-trade list kick in next summer.

If the Senators become convinced that Cozens can't reach another gear by then, they could be motivated to strike a deal with the Flyers, even if the latter's preference really is Pinto.

Greig, son of Flyers scout Mark Greig, is more of a third-line center at this stage, though he is young at 23 years old and comes cheap with a $3.25 million cap hit.

The Flyers don't need to save the money, but they could cut corners on a future Noah Cates extension; both players have three seasons remaining on their contracts, but Cates is already older and more expensive.

At the same time, it goes almost without saying that the Flyers would not pursue a virtually pointless trade such as that.

Di Marco notes that "the Senators have shown on and off interest in Flyers defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen," and we can assume that this would be the starting point for any trade between the two teams.

Ristolainen's trade value should be going up after a strong playoff run with the Flyers, and that value should be even greater to a team like the Senators who wouldn't be forced to play him in a top-pairing role behind Chabot, Sanderson, and Artyom Zub.

The Flyers won't be unearthing the next superstar this summer, but it is becoming increasingly clear that they will, at the very least, have options to upgrade at the center position via trade.