For the bottom half of the NHL, there comes a point in every season when the players and coaches all know deep down that the playoffs aren’t going to happen, but they have to put a smile on in front of the cameras and reporters anyway.
After Thursday’s trade of Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee to the Calgary Flames in exchange for a pair of wingers with just four goals apiece (Andrei Kuzmenko and Jakob Pelletier) and a pair of draft picks, coupled with their fourth regulation loss in the last five games that night to the Islanders, that moment may have come for the Philadelphia Flyers.
General manager Daniel Briere spoke on a video conference call on Saturday for the first time since that deal two days ago. He denied that it should be viewed as a proverbial punt on 2024-25.
“For us, it’s not giving up on the season,” Briere said. “Kuzmenko has proven to be a game-breaker before. So if there is some chemistry there, who knows what happens? Giving Pelletier, also, the chance to play, we’ll see what he has.”
TRADE ALERT: We’ve acquired forwards Andrei Kuzmenko, Jakob Pelletier, a 2025 2nd round pick and a 2028 7th round pick from Calgary in exchange for forwards Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost. https://t.co/l8graUmhlE
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) January 31, 2025
There are still 29 games to go in the season, and the Flyers are just five points out of the second wild-card spot ahead of Saturday’s action, so the response was predictable. It was even understandable, as 16 of those remaining 29 are at Wells Fargo Center. Tickets are still on sale.
But for a Flyers team that needs contributions up and down the lineup just to be competitive, and has already been struggling for offense lately with just five goals in a manned net in the last five games including back-to-back shutouts, losing Frost and Farabee feels like a death knell for a team that’s now 14th in the Eastern Conference and has fewer regulation wins (14) than everyone but San Jose. While neither was having an All-Star caliber season, they were still useful. No one in the organization can take the minutes at center that Frost was giving them — the Flyers may now have the worst center depth in the entire league — while Farabee still had his moments of effectiveness in a depth role. Both are significantly better players than the two wingers the Flyers are getting back, which is why the Flames, pushing for the playoffs, made the deal in the first place.
There’s something else Briere and those in charge may know at this point, too, but would never say on the first day of February: This could be the final year they truly have a chance to snag a top-five draft pick, and they may have to take advantage of it. Remember, the Flyers were reportedly aggressively trying to trade up at least year’s draft in Las Vegas when they had the 12th overall pick, but were unable to consummate anything. Perhaps that was a lesson that getting into the top five is virtually impossible unless you bottom out.
That seems entirely possible now, considering the roster.
It might not be in the years to come.
Because while the Flyers may be worse off after the trade, they could potentially get better much more quickly because of it. Briere even suggested as much in response to a question about the organizational timeline to compete/spend money again.
“The biggest thing in all this is the cap flexibility that it gives us moving forward,” Briere said.
Ever since they were put in charge about a year and a half ago, both Briere and president of hockey operations Keith Jones have said that the dead money on the books through 2025-26 would likely prevent them from making any bold moves. But Farabee and his $5 million through 2027-28 are gone, Frost won’t be getting what was likely to be at least a $4 million AAV on his next deal, and the salary cap is set to rise to a more-than-expected $95.5 million next season and $104 million the season after that. Rasmus Ristolainen and his $5.1 million cap hit through 2026-27 could also potentially be moved before the March 7 deadline, or the coming offseason, freeing up even more cash.
Briere left open the possibility that this summer could be more eventful than they originally anticipated.
“It gives us some possibilities going into the offseason,” Briere said. “It’s like cracking the door open a little bit. I wouldn’t say that it’s wide open. I’m not saying that this will be the year that we go out (and do something). It’s got to be the right player or players if we do decide to open up the checkbook and go after free agents. … It’s possible that it gives us the chance to start dipping our toes a little quicker. But, time will tell.”
It’s not just the extra salary cap flexibility, either, that could lead to a playoff push perhaps as soon as next season. Briere detailed that part of the reason Frost and Farabee became expendable was that the younger forwards around them essentially leapfrogged them. He mentioned, by name, Owen Tippett, Tyson Foerster, Bobby Brink, Noah Cates and Ryan Poehling.
The general manager seems entirely comfortable with the young core that is in place. Many of them have gotten better under coach John Tortorella’s watch. Conversely, it’s been clear for some time that Tortorella never really got out of Frost and Farabee what he and Briere had hoped.
“I think (the trade) speaks more about the development of the players around those two guys than it does (them),” Briere said. “We had higher hopes, I would say, for Morgan and Joel just maybe two years ago, and guys were starting to go by them.”
And Briere is comfortable with how the dressing room will handle the trade, too. While acknowledging how popular Frost and Farabee were with their teammates, he believes that life will go on behind those closed doors without incident.
“If that trade was made two years ago, maybe (it’s) a little bit more scary, just not knowing where our room was,” he said. “Don’t get me wrong, Joel and Morgan were a big part of that room and how tight this was, and they’re going to be missed. But I believe that the leadership now in place, and how these guys have jelled together, they’re going to welcome the two new guys with open arms.”
It seems a bit counterintuitive that a trade that weakens the roster now could ultimately speed up the Flyers’ rebuild in as little as four or five months if they get some lottery luck and decide to make a bold move or two via the trade market or free agency. But this was never going to be a standard rebuild.
It could get ugly before the season finale on April 17, but that’s not something Briere seems to be overly concerned with. That part of his message has remained consistent.
“Really, this was a move for the future,” he said.
(Photo of Morgan Frost: Emilee Chinn / Getty Images)
