Matt Stinger (@delco_dope)
As it stands right now, the Flyers will not have to protect either Joel Farabee or Morgan Frost, as they both fall into the category of first two year players. I’ll start by giving my protection list:
Goaltender: Hart, (we can file this one under the DUH category) Defensemen: Provorov, Myers, Sanheim
Forwards: Giroux (NMC), Hayes (NMC), Couturier, Konecny, Lindblom, Laughton, Aube-Kubel
So let’s start with the forwards. If I am Chuck Fletcher, I am not protecting Voracek. That is nothing against Jake or his play, but Voracek who is 31 has the second-biggest contract on the team at $8.5 million AAV. He is signed through the 2023-2024 season.
Now, this is a risky move, as leaving Voracek unprotected could create a 56 point void out of the Flyers’ top 6 forwards. However, freeing up that cap space could do wonders in Fletcher’s flexibility in the future during free agency. As Eric said above, is Seattle really going to free the Flyers of JVR or Ghost’s contract?
As for Patrick, he will most likely fall into the protected category. We are still not certain on his status and I doubt he will play the minimum 40 games this season to be considered eligible. I am going to carry him as ineligible.
As for the defensemen, I think this is a no-brainer. The only difference I could see is that Fletcher makes a move, trading Sanheim for a scorer. If that does happen, which I believe is highly unlikely, then I think they protect Braun.
My gut tells me that Seattle either takes a veteran player, either Braun of Voracek.
Ricky Amandeo (@Ricky_amandeo8)
If I had to guess, Seattle will definitely take a forward from Philly. With the talented depth that the Flyers have, there’s going to be plenty of reason to believe that an important piece of their offense will be taken. As I wrote about back in April, For this expansion draft, the Flyers may not lose an elite player, however, it’s very likely that they lose someone more significant than Pierre-Édouard Bellemare.
Difficult decisions are going to be made for this draft. With the status of Oskar Lindblom and Nolan Patrick still up in the air, it’s uncertain if these guys will even be protected. For the sake of optimism, we’ll focus on those two being full-time contributors in 2020-2021. Patrick *could* ultimately fall into the “potential career-ending injury” clause in the rules too.
With all of this said, I’m looking at the Flyers packaging a pick for one with one of their older veteran guys. Packaging picks for players is not an unusual move, as we saw in the 2017 expansion. As much as I appreciate what Jake Voracek and James van Riemsdyk have done during the rebuilding era of Flyers’ hockey, their contracts are getting in the way of potentially adding some scoring around the young guns. The Flyers have one of the youngest groups in the league and have proven that they are ready. If I were the Flyers, I’d tempt Seattle into taking one of those older veterans to lead and build chemistry among the new group in Seattle.
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Photo Credit: Alex Mcintyre
