Option 2: Adding young stars
Any NHL roster prognostications would naturally gravitate towards acquiring the opposition’s best young players. I considered Nolan Patrick as simply unattainable, so too Ivan Provorov, but Konecny is a star on the rise, and Gostisbehere takes a lot of flak from Flyers fans so might be available.
Adding a player like Travis Konecny would give Rod Brind’Amour plenty of options – he is able to play up and down the lineup, plays on the power play, and is a player who gives his all on every shift. His versatility would be of great value to any team.
Shayne Gostisbehere is coming off a career year, posting 13-52-65 in what was a stunning campaign for the defenseman. However, his play has fallen off this year, going just 5-15-20 in 48GP. We would be buying low on a guy who could transform our blueline.
Going the other way would be Justin Faulk, rather than Dougie Hamilton, plus top forward prospect Janne Kuokkanen and our 2019 1st round pick. That’s a lot of futures, but adding Konecny and Gostisbehere would surely get the Carolina Hurricanes into a playoff spot come the end of the season.
Sadly, I can’t see a realistic scenario in which the Flyers let either of these two youngsters go – but if Don Waddell could acquire them, the Carolina Hurricanes would be much better off for it. The question here would be whether the Flyers would need us to add to this deal.
Possibility: 1/5