Flyers Trade With Golden Knights Makes Perfect Sense

The Philadelphia Flyers have been scouted by and have scouted the Winnipeg Jets quite a bit, but the same can be said of another Western Conference team. How about the Vegas Golden Knights?

The Golden Knights just placed Jack Eichel on LTIR, and not long after his surgery, captain Mark Stone was put on the shelf, too. Now, the Golden Knights have $6 million in cap space. Have we seen this movie before?

Teams here for Flyers-Coyotes

Bruins
Stars
Red Wings
Oilers
Wild
Canadiens
Devils
Rangers
Canucks
Jets
Golden Knights x3 👀
Blues

— Jon Bailey (@ByJonBailey) February 12, 2024

Just by combing my old tweets of which teams were visiting recent Flyers games, I found that the Golden Knights have attended five Flyers games since Jan. 8. On Feb. 12 – the Flyers’ most recent home game – Vegas had not one, not two, but three representatives in attendance.

That was the last game the Flyers played before naming Sean Couturier their captain.

Eichel hasn’t played since Jan. 11, and Stone has reportedly suffered a lacerated spleen. Depending on how long they’re out, the Golden Knights could be in the market for a winger, a center, or both.

From a Flyers perspective, we’ve come to know over the last few months that Scott Laughton has piqued the interest of multiple teams. Center? Winger? He wore both hats during his time in Philadelphia.

Laughton is signed for two more years at a $3 million cap hit and might be desirable for that reason. Center Chandler Stephenson and winger Jonathan Marchessault are free agents this summer, and Vegas may be unable to keep both. Stephenson is due for a raise from his $2.75 million cap hit, as is Marchessault from his $5 million cap hit.

In this case, the Flyers pivot would fit as a natural replacement for Stephenson.

The Golden Knights could have been interested in a Flyers blueliner before Shea Theodore returned from injury. However, that is no longer the case with Theodore back in their lineup, healthy and ready to compete for another Stanley Cup.

Nick Seeler is likely off the table with contract extension talks underway, but Sean Walker has some appeal to a Vegas team with only two right-shot defensemen in their lineup.

As for the return in a potential Flyers trade, Kaedan Korczak has the most appeal. He’s a 6-foot-4 right-shot defenseman who’s just 23 years old. Korczak has nine points in 26 NHL games this season and will be an RFA in the summer.

We’ll monitor the situation further as the Flyers play more games at home, but this isn’t necessarily a coincidence during this time of year.

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