Flyers acquire Maxence Guénette in return for Dennis Gilbert in swap of AHL defensemen

Just a little over a month ago, defenseman Dennis Gilbert was on the Philadelphia Flyers‘ opening night roster.

Now, he’s back in the Ottawa Senators organization, right where he was when the 2024-25 season concluded.

The Flyers announced today that they traded Gilbert, a 29-year old left-shot blueliner and veteran of 111 NHL games, to the Senators for 24-year old right-shot blueliner Maxence Guénette in a one-for-one swap. Gilbert hadn’t played in a game for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms — he was sent down on October 12 after not appearing in either of the Flyers’ first two games — since suffering a lower-body injury on October 29 against the Laval Rocket. Now, that will stand as his last game in the Flyers’ organization.

The decision to ship out Gilbert is a straightforward one — given his status as a quality AHL/NHL swingman (Gilbert appeared in 29 NHL games last season across stints in Buffalo and Ottawa), he had fallen far enough down the Flyers’ depth chart that NHL time was looking unlikely for him with the club barring a rash of injuries on the back end.

Noah Juulsen clearly won the battle of veteran depth options at camp and has since solidified his spot as head coach Rick Tocchet’s preferred third-pair RHD in the absence of Rasmus Ristolainen. Emil Andrae has quickly established himself as an every-night NHL lineup option. Adam Ginning remains up with the big club and would presumably get first crack at stepping in for either Juulsen or Andrae in case of injury. Egor Zamula remains in the NHL mix. Ristolainen is nearing a return to action. Top prospect Oliver Bonk will be in need of heavy AHL minutes once he’s cleared.

Gilbert would have had a steep hill to climb if he wanted to get back in the NHL roster mix with the Flyers. Ottawa, on the other hand, was lacking NHL-caliber depth on the left side, especially with Thomas Chabot’s recent injury and the loss of Donovan Sebrango on waivers to Florida back in mid-October. Plus, they knew Gilbert well from his time with the club last season; he appeared in four games for the Sens after being a secondary piece in the trade that also brought Dylan Cozens to Ottawa. Essentially, Ottawa is simply reacquiring their 2024-25 stretch-run depth defenseman for another go-around.

Guénette, a seventh round pick by Ottawa back in 2019, did get his chances with the Senators organization, even appearing in seven NHL games for the club back in 2023-24. But his place with the Sens was no longer clear. After 2019 first round pick Lassi Thomson returned from a one-year stint in Sweden to (likely) rejoin the Bellevue Senators (Ottawa’s AHL affiliate), Guénette apparently decided his time with the organization was at an end. He did not sign an extension with the club this summer despite Ottawa retaining his RFA rights, and according to Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch, Guénette also requested a trade in the offseason.

On Monday, the Senators finally obliged.

The Flyers quickly signed the contract-less Guénette to a one-year, two-way deal once the trade was finalized, officially adding the 24-year old to their organization. And Guénette does bring some upside to the table. He’s five years younger than Gilbert, and still counts as a prospect given his minimal NHL experience. Also, he’s put up quality offensive numbers at the AHL level — 116 points in 236 games. Righthanded defensemen with size (6’2 and 209 pounds) and some skill will always have value in NHL organizations.

That said, Guénette could be hard-pressed to find regular game time at the AHL level, even in his new organization. In Lehigh Valley, there already are three right-shot defensemen on the roster in Helge Grans, newly-healthy Ethan Samson, and newly-acquired Christian Kyrou, with Bonk nearing a return to action as well. Even if the Phantoms move one of their RHD to the left side temporarily, there’s a clear logjam emerging for the surprisingly competitive Phantoms.

The Flyers clearly see a potential role for Guénette, though, or at least want to take a low-risk bet on his talent while also removing a player in Gilbert from their organization who no longer had an obvious fit — but would potentially fill a need for another NHL club.