We are a mere 61 days away from the NHL Trade Deadline which means this could be the final 2 months of Claude Giroux’s Philadelphia Flyers career. There’s no doubt Chuck Fletcher hoped this year would go different, adding players like Ryan Ellis, Rasmus Ristolainen, and Cam Atkinson to help change things up in the locker room and on the ice. Things just did not go their way.
Cam Atkinson has played well as he’s scored 15 goals and racked up 29 points and Rasmus Ristolainen has been respectable, but Ryan Ellis who was probably the greatest addition to the roster during last off-season, has played in just 4 of 37 games.
Add in the fact that your top 2 centers in Kevin Hayes and Sean Couturier have been playing hurt or recovering from injury most of the season and well you might have a recipe for disaster.
Players the Flyers depend on greatly for goals have been almost non existent as Travis Konecny had been stuck on 99 career goals since November 18th, a span of 20 games without a goal before finally scoring Monday night.
James van Riemsdyk who is one of the Flyers top paid players has a measly 10 goals on the season, with 8 coming in his last 15 games.
Things are bad in Philadelphia which is unfortunately why an article about potential trade partners for the long time Flyers captain is being written. I can empathize with Flyer fans in wanting to get the absolute best prospects and highest picks for one of the franchise’s all-time greats. It is just that some of the players I’ve seen mentioned are absolute dream scenario’s at best.
Below I’ll bring you back down to reality and show you some realistic options the Flyers should be targeting if they can not somehow smuggle another team’s top prospect away. Ideally I’m hoping the target return is a top center prospect as the Flyers really have no premier center talent coming up through the ranks and with the number are trade suitors already narrowed down, I do not believe the Flyers have the luxury one might think.
I should also mention that I believe the ideal return for Giroux will be a prospect and a 1st round pick, albeit a late one no doubt, which is why hitting on the right prospect is so important.
Minnesota Wild
When thinking about potential trade partners for the Flyers these days you might rush to immediately scan the Minnesota Wild roster. This is because of former Minnesota Wild GM Chuck Fletcher now being the GM of the Philadelphia Flyers.
Of course if we’re looking at premier center talent in return for Claude Giroux the first name that comes to mind is Marco Rossi, and why wouldn’t he be?
Rossi was a flat out stud with the Ottawa 67’s in the OHL, particularly in the 2019-20 season when he amassed 39 goals and 120 points in just 59 games. Rossi would go on to be drafted 9th overall by the Wild in the summer of 2020, but his professional debut was delayed due to complications from his bout with Covid.
At just 5’9 Rossi is slightly undersized but makes up for his height as he weighs in at a very solid 182 pounds on NHL.com. Currently Rossi is lighting up the AHL with 25 points in just 23 games.
In closing, Marco Rossi is a dream because the Wild are extremely thin at center on the NHL roster and once paired with Kirill Kaprizov, the Wild tandem will give opposing teams fits for the foreseeable future.
If Marco Rossi is an unrealistic dream, the next player I believe the Flyers can realistically get in a return from Minnesota is 6’1, left winger, Adam Beckman.
Adam Beckman was drafted 75th overall in the 2019 NHL Draft, a year before Rossi, but scored 48 goals and 107 points in the WHL, which in my opinion is a tougher league than the OHL and he did it in just 63 games for the Spokane Chiefs.
With the Flyers moving Giroux in the deal and likely moving on from James van Riemsdyk in the next year or so, the Flyers will have a need for a scoring winger on the left side. I believe Adam Beckman fits that bill.
Florida Panthers
The second team on my list of potential suitors for Claude Giroux is the Florida Panthers. Now you might look at their roster and find that they do not necessarily need a Claude Giroux as the Panthers are one of the top scoring teams in the NHL as of this article being posted.
The truth is that every team needs a Claude Giroux for a cup run. What teams are getting in Giroux is not just points. They are getting leadership, toughness, one of the best face-off takers in the NHL, and a power-play specialist. What Stanley Cup aspiring team looks at those things and says “Meh, we don’t need that.”
Here is your answer. No Stanley Cup contender looks at Claude Giroux and says they don’t need him.
However is a few months of Giroux enough to pry an established rookie like Anton Lundell away? I would say absolutely not if I were Florida’s GM but we’ve seen crazier things happen. To me Lundell is the dream. We’re talking a Calder Trophy candidate here. You do not move a potential rookie of the year, stud center, for a couple months of a rental.
Which is why for me the realistic return prospect in a Panthers/Flyers deal is Justin Sourdif.
Sourdif was chosen 87th overall by Florida in the 2020 draft and quite frankly there was no way in hell he should have slipped that far. At 5’11, 182 lbs, and jus 19 years old, he’s a player the Flyers have lacked since the days of Mike Richards.
No that’s not me comparing Justin Sourdif to Mike Richards, or is it?
Justin Sourdif plays the game with energy, toughness, skill, and was just about a point-per-game player in the WHL for the Vancouver Giants. Is he a top line guy? No, but he can play up there if needed. Sourdif is another 2nd or 3rd line player but will play his role to the absolute maximum of his ability and Flyers fans will love this kid.
The only downside of this is that Sourdif is not a center. He plays primarily on the right wing, a position the Flyers are pretty stocked at with Cam Atkinson, Travis Konecny and Joel Farabee occupying the top 6 right wing positions and Wade Allison eventually getting his shot.
That said, this would not stop me from acquiring a player like Sourdif if given the opportunity, that’s how much I like this player. Also let’s imagine high energy guys like Justin Sourdif and Wade Allison on the same team. Ah, a boy can dream…and also be realistic.
Calgary Flames
The Calgary Flames are intriguing because of the teams mentioned in this article, they arguably make the most sense to trade for Claude Giroux. Through just 35 games played the Flames have allowed just 88 goals, good enough for 2nd best in the NHL. The Flames are also one of the toughest teams to play against as GM Brad Treliving made a point to beef up the roster a bit in the off-season.
Claude Giroux would be a massive help to a team like the Flames who as mentioned are great defensively and tough to play against. However they lack offense as their 110 goals scored ranks near the bottom for teams in the playoff picture. When you look at the Calgary roster, you will notice that there is a massive drop off in points among forwards after Gaudreau, Lindholm, Tkachuk, and Mangiapane who has 18 goals but just 22 points.
So yes the Calgary Flames make a ton of sense as a potential partner from their standpoint, but do they make sense for the Flyers?I believe they do and as I have mentioned a few times earlier in the article, the Flyers should be primarily after a center prospect.
The Flames have one in Connor Zary. Listed at 6′ and 178 lbs, Zary could be exactly what they Flyers have been missing down the middle for a long time. During Zary’s last 2 seasons at Kamloops he amassed 110 pts in just 72 games while playing in the WHL, a league as mentioned already that I value higher than the OHL.
Zary is a center who loves to make things happen around the net. A well-balanced scorer who drives his line. – Dobber Prospects
Taken 24th overall in the 2020 Draft, the Flames will likely not be looking to move Zary for a rental in Giroux but he would absolutely be the dream player the Flyers should be targeting.
The realistic player would be Jakob Pelletier. When I watch this kid play I can’t help but see a potential Claude Giroux 2.0. He can play all 3 forward positions and despite his size, listed at 5’10, 170, he’s not afraid to get into the dirty areas of the ice.
Pelletier is a skillful offensive forward who knows how to play the defensive side as well, has quick hands and looks to set up teammates any chance he gets. Currently playing in the AHL for the Stockton Heat, Jakob Pelletier has 31 points in 30 games, not an easy thing to do for a young player in the AHL.
Los Angeles Kings
Last but certainly by no means least, we have the Los Angeles Kings who may be the most intriguing trade partner for the Flyers because they have so much of what the Flyers need. Let’s get the dream player out of the way first.
First and foremost we have Alex Turcotte. Allow me to make this short. The Kings would not include Alex Turcotte in a trade for Jack Eichel. There is no way in hell they are trading him for Claude Giroux.
Now let’s move on to some realistic targets. The 2 players I have my eyes on are Akil Thomas and Gabriel Vilardi.
Akil Thomas is the type of player a lot of fans would love to watch as he’s a fast and skilled center who some might say is a bit undersized. Drafted in 2018, Thomas racked up points for Niagra and Peterborough, amassing 186 points in his last 112 games in the OHL. At 22 years old, Thomas is a bit older than some of the other player mentioned on the list but still has 2 years remaining on his rookie deal, something Gabe Vilardi does not have.
Below is how Dobber Prospects describes Gabriel Vilardi.
“Poised centerman with a lethal release. His timing and foot speed will need to improve before he makes an efficient transition to the NHL but his toolbox is full of the makings of a typical middle-6 NHL pivot.”
Vilardi is 6’3, 200 lbs, a former 11th overall pick back in 2017, and has the “toolbox” to be a “typical middle-6 NHL pivot”.
Now you might be saying to yourself “Oh Jim, enough with the middle 6 players”, and I’d ask you to show me the middle 6 center prospects the Flyers have coming through the pipeline.
Thomas and Vilardi are both players I’d be happy with in a return for Claude Giroux but I’d be remised if I didn’t mention Vilardi’s injury history. This might sway me more towards Akil Thomas but either way, the Flyers would be getting good young center talent. Something this franchise has not been able to draft since Claude Giroux.
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