The NHL Draft takes place tonight at 8pm on ESPN2 and there is plenty to talk about before the Buffalo Sabres are officially on the clock with the first overall pick. Now, there’s a lot of rumors out there now and while some is just smoke being blown to throw other teams off their actual plans, there’s also some traction to some of these rumors.
As the Flyers guy here at Branded Sports it’s my job to report on what moves the team is looking to make and my guy Chuck Fletcher has been busy busy over the last few weeks.
First, last week he went out and made a deal to acquire defenseman Ryan Ellis from the Nashville Predators for Nolan Patrick and Phil Myers. Then, yesterday he traded Shayne Gostisbehere and two draft picks to Arizona for cap relief. This is a smaller move that is setting the Flyers up to make some bigger moves going forward. In order to be in on some of the big possible names that are out there the first thing the Flyers had to do was clear cap space and they did just that. The Flyers currently have around $13 million in cap space and still have some RFA’s to sign which should happen within the next week or so. So what can the Flyers do with their $13 million in cap space?
We have heard the rumors about Vladimir Tarasenko, but there is another name that their focus has seem to have shifted too.
Sam Reinhart from the Buffalo Sabres has been getting linked to the Flyers over the last few days. Reinhart is an interesting name as he is a 25 year old center who could fill in and make an immediate impact for the Flyers. There is an obvious interest from the Flyers end as Reinhart would fill a need for sure. But who would be going the other way in a deal that would bring him in? That’s probably one of the more important things that people want to know. According to sources there have been a few names that have been floated around in a Flyers/Sabres trade.
As you can see our guy over @NHLRumorsDaily discussed on the Snow The Goalie Podcast the Flyers interest in Rienhart and Ristolainen.
One deal that I saw floated out there was a package deal that included Sam Reinhart and defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen. The Flyers would receive those two while sending Jake Voracek, Morgan Frost, and draft picks back to Buffalo.
While the trade that brought in Ellis may have skewed the Flyers interest when it comes to Ristolainen, if you can bring him in along with Reinhart I’ve got no problems making this deal. Ristolainen would fill another need for the Flyers as he can step in and be a solid 2nd/3rd pair defenseman that brings a physical edge the Flyers lack.
It’ll be interesting to see how all of this plays out over the rest of today and tonight. A lot of this could be all smoke and mirrors but from what I’ve been seeing and hearing there is definitely some truth to this rumor.
Currently the Flyers hold the 13th pick in tonights draft but I for one will be pretty shocked if they hang onto the pick.
-Walsh