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Philadelphia Flyers: Grading the trade with the Coyotes

By Amedeo Guglielmelli

Oct 27, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Flyers general manager Ron Hextall walks onto the ice for ceremony before game against Arizona Coyotes at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 27, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Flyers general manager Ron Hextall walks onto the ice for ceremony before game against Arizona Coyotes at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Philadelphia Flyers took the required steps to shorten their forward logjam leading up to the draft before the Expansion Draft.

Friday, Ron Hextall traded away bottom-six forward Nick Cousins and Harvard goalie Merrick Madsen. Hextall got a paltry return for the duo as the trade was to cut bait with dead wood. Moving Madsen made sense for the Flyers as prospects Connor Heart and Anthony Stolarz are in the pipeline with Michal Neuvirth set as the current netminder.

Losing Cousins could be a big blow for the Philadelphia Flyers. With teams starting to model the Pittsburgh Penguins’ system of “speed, speed, and more speed,” moving on from gritty young guys who have some speed is the wrong way to go. On one hand, Nick Cousins was never known to set the ice on fire, but he has more speed than aging fourth liners Chris VandeVelde or Pierre-Edouard Bellemare. On the other hand, Cousins doesn’t posses the same skills as the afore-mentioned two that makes them key contributors to the NHL’s 21st best penalty kill, which is actually tied for 19th and separated by 2.7% for the 10th best.

The Philadelphia Flyers moving on from Madsen is not a surprise. His contract is up at the end of next season and it was very unlikely that the Flyers would re-sign him. As I said earlier, Connor Hart and Anthony Stolarz are a few years away from being the goaltender tandem for this club. He would only be a depth goaltender for the Flyers with goaltender situation.

Without further ado, let us get a look at the trade:

  • Flyers send F Nick Cousins and G Merrick Madsen to the Arizona Coyotes 
  • Coyotes send F prospect Brendan Warren and Arizona’s 2018 Fifth round pick

This was a head-scratcher of a trade by Philly and Hextall. When you look at the return Hexy got for Zac Rinaldo in a trade with the Boston Bruins (a third round pick) only getting a fifth rounder for Nick Cousins is depressing. Even with Cousins posting only 16 points in 60 games after cracking the Flyers’ roster this season, he still offers more to a team than Rinaldo ever could.

Another area that Hexy missed on is bringing in Warren. Brendan Warren, a forward for the University of Michigan, is coming off a disappointing sophomore campaign. in 30 games he only registered 10 points. Arizona clearly pulled the plug on the young forward after they realized he wasn’t worth their third round pick. If anything it looks like Arizona was able to swindle an upgrade to their bottom six from Philadelphia for almost nothing.

Philadelphia Flyers Grade: C-

I’m fighting myself to even give the Flyers a grade this high, but there is still hope for the fifth rounder. As of recent, there has been a couple steals that late in the draft, such as Pikka Rinne (9th round, 2004)and  Henrik Lundqvist (8th round, 2000) to name a few. This is rare as late round picks almost always are fringe players at best.

What does help Philly in this trade is narrowing down who they’re going to protect. With the rules and procedures to the Expansion Draft automatically protecting certain players (depending on the years of their service, no movement clauses etc.) it only allows a handful of players to protect.

Next: Philadelphia Flyers: Can The Pittsburgh Penguins' Success Be Emulated?

Cousins was likely to be selected by Vegas anyway. Now, look for someone like Matt Read, Andrew MacDonald, or Michael Raffle to be selected to help the Golden Knights reach the salary floor for the 2017-2018 season.

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