At some point in the near future, the Philadelphia Flyers are going to have to make some tough trade decisions. That time could arrive sooner if some players continue to put forth more of the same.
One name in particular that finds itself back in trade chatter is none other than Owen Tippett, who was mired in rumors at the start of the season, only to silence the crowd with a five-goal outburst across the span of five games.
Since then, though, Tippett, 26, has just one assist and no goals in his last eight games, and the Flyers are said to be getting worn out on these low points, according to a new report.
“While hot and cold stretches are to be expected of a shoot-first winger, the inconsistency in Tippettâ€s game has started to become tiresome from those within the organization, based on conversations Iâ€ve had,” Anthony Di Marco of Daily Faceoff reported Tuesday. “The Flyers do like Tippettâ€s game but feel like they may not have the right player(s) to properly complement his style.”
Therein lies the problem: the Flyers have tried nearly everything to get Tippett going consistently in his four years in Philadelphia.
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Names like Travis Konecny, Morgan Frost, Matvei Michkov, Trevor Zegras, and Sean Couturier come to mind.
Tippett will turn 27 in February, so there’s little room left for true development at this stage of his career. Being a streaky scorer is inherently fine at the NHL level, but you also have to question the Flyers’ patience level with that when they have younger, cheaper options like Matvei Michkov, Tyson Foerster, Porter Martone, and Bobby Brink at the same position.
“According to team sources, there are some internal questions as to where Tippett will fit long term with the Flyers,” Di Marco added. “Marc Bergevin of the Los Angeles Kings front office has taken in several Flyers games recently, causing speculation on whether they could be looking at Tippett. While I have no doubt the Kings could be, they donâ€t have many assets the Flyers like, Iâ€m told.”
The obvious choice for many would be Kings defenseman Brandt Clarke, but the Flyers appear to be headed towards a more physical identity defensively to complement the presences of Cam York and Jamie Drysdale.
That said, the Flyers have done extremely well with reclamation projects over the last few seasons under GM Danny Briere, and that line of communication has been and still is open with the Kings.
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The Kings were part of the three-team deal that sent Ivan Provorov to Columbus, and Andrei Kuzmenko left for Los Angeles and earned the Flyers a third-round pick for his short but solid tenure in Philadelphia.
Other options, if the Flyers won’t add another winger to an already overcrowded pool, might include Kirill Kirsanov or 2025 first-round pick Henry Brzustewicz, a 6-foot-3 London Knights defenseman who was teammates with Flyers prospects Denver Barkey and Oliver Bonk.
Perhaps Los Angeles may also be willing to part ways with out-of-favor center prospects like Akil Thomas and Alex Turcotte; the latter was drafted ahead of Zegras in 2019, and the two were teammates for parts of four seasons playing for the U.S. National Team Development Program.
Oh, and York and Brink were part of that group, too.
The Kings are quickly running out of time to make the most out of what’s left of the careers of Anze Kopitar, Drew Doughty, and Darcy Kuemper, and maybe one last move to jolt some life into the forward group would do them some good.
Di Marco noted that the Flyers are not actively shopping Tippett, but there should be no surprises these talks came back up with this ongoing two-week slump.
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