NHL News: Breaking down the Flyers-Blue Jackets-Kings trade
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  • Columbus Blue Jackets acquire defenseman Ivan Provorov.
  • Los Angeles Kings acquire defenseman Kevin Connauton, forward Hayden Hodgson and retain 30 percent of Provorov’s contract ($2.025 million).
  • Philadelphia Flyers acquire goaltender Cal Petersen, defenseman Sean Walker, defenseman Helge Grans, 2023 1st round pick (LA’s pick via CBJ), and a conditional 2024 (or 2025) 2nd round pick (LA).

Puck Pedia: Salary moved in the three-team trade.

  • The Blue Jackets add a $4.725 million cap hit.
  • The Kings saved $5.625 million annual Cap Hit; $4.475 million compared to Petersen buried in minors.
  • The Flyers add a $900,000 cap hit, or save $250,000 if Petersen in the minors.

NHL.com: Flyers GM Daniel Briere on the trade:

“The last couple of weeks, I’ve had a few different discussions on Ivan. There’s other teams that were involved, but it really seemed like the best fit was with Columbus and the interest was really, really high on Columbus’ side. So, we started focusing on that a little bit more in the last couple of days.”

Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen on the trade:

“Improving our blue line has been a priority for us and acquiring Ivan gives us an established left-shot defenseman who is still a young player with his best seasons in front of him. He immediately improves our group on defense as he is durable, has great skill, skates well, is an excellent passer with an accurate shot and can effectively play at both ends of the ice.”

Adam Kimelman: Flyers GM Daniel Briere explains how many people within the organization were involved in the internal discussions about the Provorov trade. Briere when asked if president of hockey operations Keith Jones was involved.

“Actually, Keith was great. We’re probably on the phone four or five times a day. And to go in deeper with that, it’s been pretty amazing. Dan Hilferty (Flyers chairman) was kept in the loop, Keith was kept in the loop the whole time, brought in some good ideas. John Tortorella.

But if I went even deeper than that, the amazing part with this is how different departments were involved. Obviously, the guys in my area, the assistant GMs and the guys around me were really involved. But our amateur scouts were involved with the picks, with the young players, what they remember. Our pro scouts were really helpful with some of the players involved. And our analytics department was really, really creative helping with that deal.

So it was pretty cool how different departments kind of came together. Everybody was involved. It was definitely kind of a team-oriented trade that we came up with. Pretty exciting how the team came together.”

Some thoughts from the media and player cards

Charlie O’Connor: “Not sure exactly how this trade is going to shake out. But one critique I made of the previous Flyers front office is that it lacked creativity in terms of trades and accumulating assets. This is looking like it’s going to be a complex, creative set of deals. Good sign.”

Anthony Mingioni: “So the Flyers now have the seventh & 22nd picks in a pretty good draft. Lots of possibilities, if they use them or maneuver them for other assets.”

Charlie O’Connor: “Frankly, in a Provorov deal, it makes sense to take back as many short-term “bad” contracts as possible if it maximizes pick/prospect return. Flyers aren’t competing for the next two years. If you have to hold some money during that time to get better picks, you do it.”

Thomas Drance: ” … but clearing Cal Petersen’s deal is massive for LAK. He’s a decent bounce back bet in a new situation, but his contract was an intractable issue for LAK and it was buyout proof to boot this offseason.”

Adam Gretz: “I do not understand anything Columbus does.”

JFresh: “Provorov has gotten way too much ice time for years now, but stick him on the second pair with Jiricek and he could maybe be a workable choice to help the rookie develop. I would imagine that’s what CBJ is thinking here.”

John Buccigross: “Columbus NEEDS beefier D men. Provorov is a lot like Gavrikov; age, Russian, point production..just a touch smaller..contract will be about the same. (Provorov 6.75)..Columbus needs one more beefy, playoff type Defenseman.”

Jason Chen: “Provorov (2015 7th overall), Werenski (2015 8th), Bean (2016 13th), Boqvist (2018 8th), Ceulemens (2021 25th), Jiricek (2022 6th), Mateychuk (2022 12th). All under 25. All first-round picks.”

Ivan Provorov

Cal Petersen

Sean Walker