Blues showing interest in Flyers’ Ivan Provorov; Giroux will focus on a deal after tonight

The NHL’s trade deadline is Monday at 3 p.m., and several Philadelphia Flyers are expected to be on the move.

The list, of course, is headed by center/winger Claude Giroux, the iconic Flyers captain who will play in his 1,000^th career game Thursday against visiting Nashville.

Though it’s a long shot, there are also growing whispers that underachieving defenseman Ivan Provorov could be dealt.

Hello, St. Louis?

Giroux said Wednesday all his focus was on playing his 1,000^th game. After that, he said, his attention will turn to making a decision about whether he will drop his no-movement clause.

He has dropped hints that he will do just that, and the Colorado Avalanche are among the many teams in pursuit.

There were reports that Colorado was deciding between a deal for Giroux or San Jose center Tomas Hertl if they could find cap space. But Hertl signed an eight-year deal extension Wednesday with San Jose, putting Giroux back at center stage.

Earlier this week, Colorado traded Tyson Jost for Nico Sturm in a swap of centers, giving them $1.275 million more cap room. The Avs still don’t have enough cap space to add Giroux, but could also get additional flexibility by placing winger Gabe Landeskog ($7 million annual cap hit) and defenseman Samuel Girard  ($5 million) on the long-term injured reserve list.

Landeskog had knee surgery Monday.

The Flyers are also willing to move defenseman Justin Braun, center Derick Brassard, goalie Martin Jones, and left winger James van Riemsdyk, who could help someone’s power play.

Blues like Provy

St. Louis sources say the Blues are interested in Provorov, who has had a disappointing season. Provorov, 25, was a first-round selection (No. 7 overall) in 2015, and he was drafted a couple months after the Philadelphia Flyers fired coach Craig Berube, now the St. Louis coach.

Maybe a change of scenery and playing on a team with four fellow-Russians (Vladimir Tarasenko, Pavel Buchnevich, Ivan Barbashev, Alexei Toropchenko) would help Provorov?

Arizona defenseman Jacob Chychrun is also on the Blues’ radar, but he was injured Saturday and could miss two to four weeks.

Some of the St. Louis prospects who might interest the Flyers: left winger Jake Neighbors, a first-round pick in 2020 who has 41 points in 26 WHL games this season, and 6-4, 192-pound center Dylan Peterson, a Boston University standout. Defenseman Jake Walman, 26, a 6-2, 215-pounder who has three goals in 31 games with St. Louis this season, could also draw their interest, along with high draft picks.

The Blues are also one of the teams linked to Giroux, a Berube favorite. Ditto Washington because of Peter Laviolette, and Florida is still interested in the Flyers’ long-time captain, per a high-ranking source, though the Panthers just gave up a big trade chip — a first-round pick in 2023 — in their deal for Montreal defenseman Ben Chiarot.

And I’m hearing rumblings that the Rangers might enter the Giroux picture. They have had scouts at numerous recent games at the Wells Fargo Center.

As for Braun, he reportedly has drawn interest from Toronto and Boston. Pittsburgh also would like to add a defenseman.

Stay tuned. The trade deadline is four days away.

Claude Giroux: By the (mostly amazing) numbers.