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The Philadelphia Flyers may have to look elsewhere for their top-line center with the latest trade rumors surrounding Detroit Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin and St. Louis Blues center Robert Thomas.
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0:00
Hello and welcome to Broad Street
0:03
Hockey. I am Ryan Gilbert. I'm going to
0:05
be going over some of the latest trade
0:07
rumors surrounding the Philadelphia
0:09
Flyers as of Saturday, June 6th here.
0:13
Flyers have been linked to quite a few
0:15
centers in recent weeks here. We talked
0:17
about them on the Broad Street Hockey
0:19
YouTube channel and on the podcast feed.
0:20
Make sure you subscribe there if you
0:22
want more content like this.
0:24
Um Dylan Larkin is the latest name in
0:27
the rumor mill on Thursday afternoon.
0:29
Sportsnet uh Sportsnet's Elliot Friedman
0:31
reported that the Detroit Red Wings
0:33
captain has requested a trade from
0:36
Detroit after uh the Red Wings kind of
0:38
collapsed here and missed the playoffs
0:40
with the Flyers overtaking them among
0:42
some other teams to make the playoffs
0:44
here in this past season. Larkin
0:47
immediately became one of the top trade
0:49
targets on the board, not only for the
0:50
Flyers but for across the entire league
0:53
here. Um he's established as a top-line
0:56
center in this league. He has five
0:58
straight seasons with at least 30 goals.
1:01
He's averaging 35 goals per 82 games
1:03
over those past five seasons.
1:05
Hasn't quite cracked 80 points in a
1:07
season, which is something people have
1:09
um pooh-poohed at a little bit, but he
1:11
had 67 points in 74 games this past
1:14
year. He's a goal scorer, plays in all
1:16
situations, won the gold medal with Team
1:19
USA at the Olympics.
1:21
And he's 30 years old, 30 years old in
1:22
July, so he is a bit on the older side,
1:25
but his 8.7 million-dollar contract
1:28
through 2031 is already a steal and
1:31
going to con- continue to be a steal
1:33
with the salary cap rising in a coming
1:35
years. And with that contract comes a
1:38
no-movement clause for the captain, and
1:40
that is the big update we have on Dylan
1:43
Larkin. Um Elliot Friedman
1:45
on Friday went on The Fan Hockey Show
1:48
and uh pro- provided some more details
1:51
on what Larkin might be looking for in
1:53
his next stop. And it did not seem like
1:57
good
1:58
for the Flyers. Uh Friedman said number
2:00
one, I think Larkin's not going to want
2:01
to go to a team that's far away, or a
2:03
team that's rebuilding, or a team that's
2:05
on the fringes. If you wanted to do
2:06
that, he would just stay in Detroit. I
2:08
think he wants to go to an established
2:10
power, like a Minnesota, a Tampa, or a
2:12
Dallas. I think those are three of the
2:14
teams I'm hearing a lot. And
2:17
so when you hear this from Friedman,
2:19
it's kind of the first thing is kind of
2:20
like, yeah, yeah. Obviously, a player
2:23
that wants to be traded wants to go to a
2:25
team that has a chance to win the
2:26
Stanley Cup. Especially a 30-year-old,
2:29
going to be 30 starting next season,
2:31
like Larkin, just won gold, got a taste
2:33
of high-level hockey, has played more
2:36
Olympic games than Stanley Cup playoff
2:38
games in his career, and Detroit has
2:41
done a poor job of building around him
2:44
since he was drafted 15th overall, I
2:46
think, back in 2014.
2:49
So, Larkin wants out from Detroit. He
2:51
wants to be traded to a top team, and
2:55
that's not surprising whatsoever. You
2:58
know, he wants to go to a top team. He
2:59
wants to win. He wants to go to
3:01
Minnesota, who just added Quinn Hughes,
3:03
or Dallas, who has been in the playoff
3:06
year after year, or Tampa, who's still
3:09
on the, you know,
3:10
the
3:12
dynasty there in down in Tampa is going
3:14
strong still with with Kucherov and
3:16
Hedman and Vasilevskiy and Jon Cooper
3:18
down there.
3:19
But, there the no-movement clause kind
3:22
of goes both ways, cuz when Larkin
3:24
requests a trade, he's kind of giving
3:26
some of the power to the Red Wings.
3:29
This is something that didn't
3:30
necessarily have to come out and be
3:32
public. Elliot Friedman said on the on
3:35
Friday on that hit on The Fan Hockey
3:37
Show that he had been working on it for
3:39
a bit, and finally on Thursday, he could
3:41
prove it enough to be true where he
3:43
could report on it. So, this is
3:44
something going on behind the scenes in
3:47
Detroit for a bit. There were some
3:48
quotes after the season from Larkin
3:50
about momentum and not getting pieces at
3:53
the deadline. And the Steve Yzerman went
3:55
back at him. And Steve Yzerman's not
3:57
going to get pushed around in this type
3:59
of negotiation here uh with Larkin. So,
4:02
I don't know how much power Larkin
4:04
ultimately has in where he's going to
4:07
go.
4:08
But, you know, he if he is giving Steve
4:10
Yzerman a list of teams to work with,
4:12
the Flyers might not necessarily be on
4:15
that list. However,
4:17
if Danny Briere calls up Steve Yzerman,
4:19
gives him a pretty good offer, an offer
4:21
that that Steve Yzerman likes, and
4:23
Yzerman takes it to Larkin, be like,
4:24
"Hey, you know, we can send you to
4:26
Philly."
4:27
Larkin is is friendly with Trevor
4:28
Zegras. He saw how Trevor Zegras came
4:30
into Philadelphia, became a fan
4:32
favorite, loves playing here. Maybe
4:34
Zegras can help recruit him to
4:35
Philadelphia. So, the dream of Dylan
4:38
Larkin to Philadelphia is not completely
4:40
dead, but it took quite a hit on Friday
4:43
with that news that Larkin is looking to
4:46
go to a top team. Um but the Flyers have
4:49
the pieces that the Red Wings might
4:51
want, whether that's a roster player
4:52
like Owen Tippett or Noah Cates or
4:54
Rasmus Ristolainen or futures like a
4:57
Jack Nesbitt or German Rubtsov or Oliver
5:00
Bonk or draft picks. The Flyers have
5:02
pieces to make it work for a player like
5:05
Dylan Larkin. So, if Larkin is open at
5:07
any point to come to Philadelphia, the
5:09
Flyers still have to get on the phone
5:11
and make that call. And even if he's
5:13
not, uh Danny Briere has to check in
5:16
with Steve Yzerman because Steve
5:17
Yzerman's not going to make this trade
5:19
quickly. If like he knew this was
5:21
brewing behind the scenes. It didn't
5:23
have to come out that Larkin requested a
5:25
trade. But now it has. He's pushed the
5:27
bill a little bit. We'll see what comes
5:29
from this, but right now it does look
5:31
like the Flyers are facing an uphill
5:33
battle to land Dylan Larkin if they can
5:36
even put a good enough offer together.
5:39
And that was on Friday afternoon. And
5:42
then on Friday evening, uh the one
5:45
player that seems to be brought up no
5:47
matter what trade target we're talking
5:49
about around the Flyers. Everyone seems
5:51
to to compare him to Robert Thomas.
5:53
Robert Thomas is the measuring stick of
5:56
a center that Flyers fans want. He's
5:58
going to be 27 in July, so 3 years
6:01
younger than Dylan Larkin. Also under
6:03
contract through 2031 at an 8.125
6:07
million dollar deal. Had 64 points in 64
6:11
games this past season and has averaged
6:13
84.7 points per 82 games over the past
6:17
five seasons. He is more of a pass-first
6:20
player. He has two 60 assist seasons
6:22
there, so not necessarily what the
6:24
Flyers want stylistically with all of
6:26
their passing players, but if there's a
6:28
chance to get Robert Thomas, I'm not
6:30
going to say no.
6:31
However, on Friday night, Andy
6:33
Strickland reported that Robert Thomas
6:36
trade rumors can be put to rest. The St.
6:38
Louis Blues are not looking to move
6:39
their number one center. Expect Thomas
6:41
to be on the roster when training camp
6:43
begins in September.
6:46
And the first thing I think about when I
6:48
see this is that the timing is pretty
6:49
interesting here. You got Larkin out on
6:51
the market, you know, with Larkin on the
6:53
market, it kind of takes the price
6:56
possibly for Robert Thomas down a little
6:58
bit. Robert Thomas is no longer the top
7:00
dog on the market there. So, maybe the
7:03
Blues are just, you know, playing some
7:04
some smoke and mirrors here, taking
7:06
Thomas off the market, you know, if
7:08
they're negotiating with teams, that
7:10
gives the Blues more power.
7:12
But also, like the Blues are in a
7:13
position kind of similar to the Flyers.
7:16
They they dangled Robert Thomas at the
7:17
deadline this past season. They
7:19
apparently got an offer from the Wild of
7:22
of Wallstedt and then they know Yurov
7:24
there or some other guys and they didn't
7:27
pull the trigger. They were looking for
7:28
a three top 15 first-round pick or
7:31
equivalent players, which, you know, the
7:34
Flyers maybe could have put together a
7:35
package for, but
7:37
you look at the Blues, they just missed
7:39
the playoffs by four points despite
7:41
selling at the trade deadline. They're
7:43
kind of in a interesting cap situation
7:46
as well. They have Thomas and Kyrou at
7:49
identical 8.125 million dollar
7:51
contracts. Buchnevich at 8 million,
7:54
Perron at 6.5, Faulk Broberg just signed
7:58
to a big extension at 8 million dollars.
8:00
They have Binnington and Hofer in the
8:02
crease at 9.4 million.
8:05
So, they're a team that that could turn
8:06
around and and make the playoffs next
8:08
season. They got guys like like Jimmy
8:10
Sundqvist, they got Jake Neighbours that
8:11
turned into a good good player there,
8:13
Dylan Holloway as well. Dalibor Dvorsky
8:16
was great in the Olympics and as well
8:19
there. So,
8:20
the Blues have pieces kind of similar to
8:22
the Flyers. So, if Thomas wants to go to
8:25
a team similar to the Flyers, he would
8:27
just stay in St. Louis. Like like
8:30
Friedman said about Larkin, if Larkin
8:32
wanted to go to a team on the fringes
8:34
fringes, he would just stay with the Red
8:35
Wings. But,
8:37
Robert Thomas is going to be one of
8:39
those guys that I think still remains in
8:42
the trade rumors here and there. Could
8:45
see Jordan Kyrou maybe come out more
8:46
now. He has been shopped around, has had
8:49
his name in trade rumors as well
8:52
in recent years for the Blues, but it
8:54
does look like Robert Thomas is going to
8:56
be off the market now for the summer.
8:58
So, we can stop talking about him.
9:01
Dylan Larkin remains the top target.
9:03
We'll see if he is flexible on where
9:06
he's willing to go or how long this goes
9:08
on to see if the Flyers really
9:10
have a chance at him, but
9:13
right now the Flyers, it's probably wait
9:15
and see for them. They got They got
9:17
Trevor Zegras and Christian Dvorak last
9:19
off-season to bolster their their depth
9:21
at center. They can go into next season
9:23
with Dvorak, Zegras, Kates, Kostin,
9:26
they got Barkov to play center,
9:28
Luukkonen might make the team. So, they
9:29
have the depth, but they still have to
9:31
get that top six potential top line
9:34
center in there. And if Larkin's
9:36
available, this might be the chance to
9:38
go for him. But if not, it might just be
9:41
a chance to to wait and see to see what
9:43
the Flyers do next season after making
9:45
the playoffs, see if they can progress a
9:47
little bit. Still see what what you
9:49
have. You have a bunch of young guys,
9:50
you want to see where they fit in the
9:52
lineup there. So,
9:54
um you know, it is disappointing to see
9:56
that Larkin probably won't want to come
9:58
to Philadelphia and that Robert Thomas
10:00
is off the market. But there are are
10:03
still names out there, Mason McTavish,
10:05
Matias Ekholm, could see see some other
10:07
guys come available as well that we do
10:10
not know yet.
10:12
But yeah, that's about it for us here.
10:15
Robert Thomas, the dream is dead there.
10:17
Dylan Larkin, you know, slight or just a
10:19
pipe dream now for Larkin to
10:20
Philadelphia, but that does seem like it
10:23
is a less and less of a possibility. Um
10:26
but if you want more content like this,
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