The Philadelphia Flyers are still figuring out who is going to be on this roster when they are regularly contending for the playoffs again, especially on the wing. With so many prime young players either on the roster or in the system, they will have to figure out who stays and who goes — and the entire NHL knows this. That’s why, according to a recent report, some teams are targeting Flyers winger Owen Tippett as someone they can trade for.
According to The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta on Wednesday’s episode of DFO Rundown: Insider Edition, teams are circling around the Flyers and looking at what it will take to pry Tippett out of Philadelphia as someone who is playing down the depth chart.
“That’s another team going through the wringer a little bit but they went through the rebuild purposefully and so far it’s been working out for them,” Pagnotta said regarding the Flyers’ long-term plans. “There’s an incline there in Philly whereas Buffalo, as you said, they’re stuck in the mud. When you’ve got guys like Foerster and Michkov and others that are starting to earn more responsibility in that group, and you’ve got a guy like Owen Tippett who is signed long-term, cap hit is in the sixes, for what he’s capable of doing. His price tag is really fantastic, especially in a couple of years when the cap is going to be like $120 [million].”
Both Matvei Michkov and Tyson Foerster project to be long-term pieces in the Flyers’ top six on the wing, and as Pagnotta somewhat alluded to, the Flyers also have top prospect Porter Martone ready to make the jump almost immediately. Suddenly, someone like Tippett isn’t being utilized as much as possible. Add in the fact that Tippett is signed at just a $6.2-million AAV through the 2031-32 season and that becomes a very attractive trade target for teams.
“We’re gonna see I think some teams poking around on Philadelphia to see what they want to do with Owen Tippett. We’ll see how this season progresses, nothing is imminent by any stretch. But I’m starting to get a bit of an inkling from a few teams out there that he’s going to be a guy that some teams are going to target,” Pagnotta added.
“Now he has a limited no trade that kicks in July, this is his final year without any no trade protection. So maybe, depending on how the Flyers do this season, and depending on what his responsibilities and roles are. He may lock into a second line position or first line position for the full duration of the season, put up strong numbers, become a staple as part of their core right now. But with guys like I mentioned before like Foerster, with Michkov, obviously they’ve got Konecny and so on. If some of these guys take some of those spots or at least some of the ice time away from him, I can see Philadelphia at least listening on Owen Tippett.
“Again nothing now, nothing imminent now, but it wouldn’t surprise me depending on how the dominoes fall for this team, if teams really start to poke a little bit harder on a guy like that.”
Especially considering the soft deadline that the Flyers have of July 1, where they are able to move Tippett without needing to ask him for any trade list (he gets a 10-team no-trade list starting next summer) this could be the time to use this trade chip and if teams are interested, then that makes even more sense.
As for the timing of this deal, Pagnotta alludes to that nothing is going to happen in a week or two, but we could see some more rumors percolate as the season goes on and possibly closer to the trade deadline in March.
“Philly doesn’t have to do anything. They could sit back and wait and see if the team gets desperate enough. And this could go near the deadline. It could go to the summer with respect to a guy like Owen Tippett. And, I would imagine, unless you know, Danny Briere is blown out of the water immediately, that he’s willing to wait things out because they do like the player.”
Why would the Flyers trade Owen Tippett?
While the entire package of Tippett is super exciting — a 6-foot-2 winger entering his prime that can skate as fast as anyone not named Connor McDavid in the NHL and has a wickedly powerful shot — the success has been dramatically inconsistent during his time in the Orange and Black.
During his last three full seasons in Philadelphia, Tippett has averaged 25 goals and 48.3 points while shooting at just 10.6 percent. That package plus some room for improvement as he grows into his prime is what has kept him around for so long and is what led Briere to sign him to a maximum-length contract extension. But most Flyers fans and management seem to still be waiting for him to truly take that next step like teammates Tyson Foerster and Bobby Brink have.
If Michkov, Foerster, Konecny, and Martone are the wingers in the Flyers’ projected top six, and Brink is someone who can stay as a cheap and very good depth scoring option — that’s not even mentioning prospects like Nikita Grebenkin, Denver Barkey, and Alex Bump on the rise — there is a substantial surplus on the wing. And it might just be that Tippett is the attractive piece that the Flyers use to upgrade somewhere else, like the blue line for example.
Emil Andrae is another trade candidate
Additionally, Pagnotta touched on Emil Andrae being another player that the Flyers are willing to listen to trade offers for. As he kept on mentioning, nothing is imminent or coming down the pipe, but it only grows to be more interesting as the young defenseman was sent down to the AHL on Wednesday and appears to be seen as just a No. 6 or 7 option right now.
We’ll have to see where this goes. If the Flyers are suddenly battling for a playoff spot in a month or two, why would they move from Tippett? Maybe only in the classic “hockey trade” where they’re able to address a position of need and deal from the wing.