The Flyers Lost a Second Round Pick, Trust Me, It’s Okay

On Thursday July 22, 2021 circa 1:24pm. It happened. It finally happened.

The end of an old and confusing era and the potential inception of something new.

No, the Flyers didn’t get Jack Eichel…or Seth Jones…or Vladimir Tarasenko (MOTHER RUSSIA!).

It was the day that the Philadelphia Flyers traded defenseman Shayne Gostsisbehere, a 2022 2nd and a 2022 7th Round Pick to the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for Salary Cap relief.

Now, I know what you’re thinking and no, “Salary Cap relief” is not some new, hidden gem prospect that’s been huffing the Russian Gas in the KHL for last two seasons.

However, the relief is important for a much larger picture that Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher is trying to paint this offseason. It’s a critical first stepping stone in order to wash our hands of the damnation that has occurred with the Philadelphia Flyers franchise over the last decade.

On the surface, this trade looks bizarre. To many who are not as plugged in with the underlying significance of this trade, you’re probably furious.

“WHY DID WE INCLUDE A 2nd ROUND PICK!?”

For those of you who are struggling to wrap your head around including a 2nd round pick in order for Arizona to take Shayne Gostisbehere, I’m going to try and break this down as simply as I can.

For starters I’m sure the ones complaining about giving up a 2nd round pick aren’t the same people who want all-stars like Seth Jones, Dougie Hamilton, Matthew Tkachuk, and/or Vladimir Tarasenko…want to know how I know that?

Because a move in acquiring a big salary-named player like the aforementioned needs to be made in conjunction with making moves that move salary OUT (like this Gostisbehere trade).

That doesn’t mean it’s an indication on Shayne Gostsisbehere’s ability as an NHL defenseman. It means that his $4.5 million cap hit was in the way of making a larger franchise-changing move.

The Philadelphia Flyers compete window to get Claude Giroux a Cup is getting tighter… and… tighter… and… tighter. This core does not have many more seasons to get it done. Claude Giroux does not have many more seasons to bring a cup to Philadelphia. It’s the truth.

Claude Giroux and the Philadelphia Flyers do not have time to wait 2, 3, 4 years for a 2nd round pick to develop (paging Isaac Ratcliffe and Pascal Laberge). They need to WIN NOW.

That’s not to dis-merit a 2nd round pick or say that it isn’t valuable or that asset management isn’t important, because…it is! In fact, if that’s your worry… it shouldn’t be. Why?

Aside from the 2022 2nd round pick and 2022 7th round pick we traded today in the Gostisbehere trade, the Flyers have a draft pick in every single round for each draft in the next 3 years.

In regards to “Shayne Gostisbehere is still valuable! He’s still an NHL defenseman! Meh!”. Well, you’re right. However, with the addition of Ellis, the growth of Yegor Zamula and Cam York, defensemen under contract like Ivan Provorov, Justin Braun, Robert Hagg, the soon-to-be contracted Travis Sanheim, and the possible addition of ANOTHER right-handed defenseman. That’s a CROWDED blue line.

Much like we’ve seen over the past few seasons with “Ghost”, he was never going to get consistent playing time under Alain Vigneault. He was put on waivers last season. Teams didn’t want him. They didn’t want a $4.5 million cap hit for a bottom pair defenseman. Flyers needed the cap space. They needed to provide additional compensation to move him.

In a press conference this afternoon Fletcher said he had talked to all 31 other NHL teams about taking on salary and the compensation they were asking for included the 13th Overall Pick in the 2021 NHL Draft or Flyers 1st round pick in 2019, Cam York.

Fletcher said he spoke with every team over the league over the last half year. One team wanted York to take Ghost. Another wanted the 13th overall pick.

— Bill Meltzer (@billmeltzer) July 22, 2021

This quote from Chuck Fletcher gives you a depiction of how immensely difficult it is to move salary right now in a flat-cap era. GMs do not want to help each other clear cap space. In fact most should be grateful that it was the 2nd round pick that was moved.

In regards to the value a 2nd round pick can bring, we can consult historical data and see that over the existence of the NHL Entry Draft for the Philadelphia Flyers (since 1980) the only notable 2nd round picks have been:

Carter Hart (2016)

Janne Niinimaa (1993)

Mikael Renberg (1990)

Scott Mellanby (1984)

Peter Zezel (1983)

Thats it.

In the last 40 years of Philadelphia Flyers hockey, 37 players to be taken in the 2nd round in Philadelphia in the last 40 years, 5 of them significant.

Don’t believe me? At your convenience I have attached a list of every other 2nd round pick made in the last 40 years for the Philadelphia Flyers. Maybe after reading this list you will have a better understanding of the point of view from which my thoughts originate:

Adam Ginning

Isaac Ratcliffe

Pascal Laberge

Wade Allison

Nic Aube-Kubel

Robert Hagg

Anthony Stolarz

Kevin Marshall

Andreas Nodl

Mike Ratchuk

Denis Bodrov

Jason Beckett

Ian Forbes

Jean-Marc Pelletier

Pat Kavanagh

Shane Kenny

Denis Metlyuk

Chris Simon

Terran Sandwith

Greg Johnson

Patrik Juhlin

Pat Murray

Jeff Harding

Jukka Seppo

Kent Hawley

Bruce Rendall

Greg Smyth

Jeff Chychrun

Rich Costello

Jay Fraser

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