Tanev Trade Should Set Market for Flyers Defensemen
The Flyers could soon follow the Flames in trading their defensemen after the first piece fell.
Kyle Ross-USA TODAY Sports - Tanev Trade Should Set Market for Flyers DefensemenNow that Chris Tanev has been moved by the Calgary Flames, we will likely start to see the pieces fall around the league, at the very least on defense. The Flames were believed to have been holding up the market on defensemen and it may have been a reason why Sean Walker and Nick Seeler have yet to be moved despite their no-progress contract talks with the Philadelphia Flyers.
On the right defensive side at least, the top three rentals around the league were known to be Tanev, Walker, and Matt Dumba. Depending on which team you asked, the price they were willing to pay for each was different, but the price to acquire any of them wasn't cheap.
Anthony Di Marco stated that he doesn't think every team necessarily had Tanev higher than Walker. This may be due to the higher offensive upside, age, and lesser injury history of Walker. But in terms of value, it can't be very far off.
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While the Flames knew they weren't going to lose any of their key UFAs for nothing, the Flyers are in a bit of a different situation as the team sits in a playoff spot. The Flyers don't have to trade their pending UFAs like Walker and Seeler, so they may have less of an obligation to seemingly settle on a deal just to move them before the deadline.
What the Flames got for Tanev wasn't bad by any means considering the strong prospect, a second-round pick, and a conditional future third-round pick acquired in return, so expect something similar offered to the Flyers from teams still in the hunt for a right-shot, top-four defenseman. I expect any team that missed out on Tanev will be ringing the phone of the Flyers immediately.