What is more of a priority this offseason for the Philadelphia Flyers: center or defense?
Anthony Di Marco of the Daily Faceoff joined Sirius XM NHL Network Radio TFP Hotstove on Saturday with Dave Pagnotta, Dennis Bernstein, and Ryan Paton. There, he was asked whether the Philadelphia Flyers will prioritize the center position or defense this offseason.
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
Dave Pagnotta: “So would you think? Would you, or do you believe that they’re going to prioritize defense over center this offseason?”
Anthony Di Marco: “That’s a tricky one. I know center is a thing that they’re looking at hard. You’ve seen them experiment with Denver Barkey down the middle. They’ve tried Trevor Zegras there at times, but recently, he’s been back on the wing with Christian Dvorak. I feel like they will prioritize center more obviously, easier said than done.
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Whether you go to Ottawa and see if they have a surplus that they’ll be comfortable moving off of. But look, it feels like every second team we talk about is in need of a top-six center. I just think that you’re, I just look at this, and even though they feel like maybe they’re comfortable with the defense, and I’m comfortable with it too, but there’s just such a need for a power play quarterback that I think that’s what they should prioritize.
The problem is that you still have to hand Jamie Drysdale a new contract. You have long-term money committed to Travis Sanheim. Cam York is just finishing up the first year of a five-year contract, so maybe it takes some moving parts on the back end.
But I mean, I think just based on conversations I’ve had, center is more likely the route that they’ll go, but it’ll also depend on what’s available on the trade market. And given there being nothing as far as free agency goes, maybe we’ll see more trades than usual because of the newfound flexibility.
The cap is going up another what, $9 million or so, and they’re just simply being nothing available as far as July 1.”
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NHLRumors.com Note: We know that Trevor Zegras needs a new deal this offseason, given his RFA status. Same for Jamie Drysdale. The Flyers have one goalie signed, Dan Vladar. So, even with a rising cap, how much are they giving to Zegras, who is a winger, not a center? What will Drysdale get?
Philadelphia benefited from a playoff system to reach the second round and is still a few years and pieces away from truly competing. It is clear they need help down the middle, but how do they get there?
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