The Philadelphia Flyers have made their first deal on deadline day. And it’s a player who spent just 37 days with the club.
Andrei Kuzmenko, acquired by general manager Daniel Briere and the Flyers in the late January deal that sent Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee to Calgary, now heads to a new — and much warmer — locale in Los Angeles. Flyers head coach John Tortorella confirmed the trade.
In return for Kuzmenko, the Flyers received a 2027 third round pick from Los Angeles, retaining 50 percent of Kuzmenko’s $5.5 million cap hit in the process. The Flyers also shipped out a 2025 seventh round pick to complete the deal.
The trade of Kuzmenko serves to close the book on the Farabee/Frost deal. Kuzmenko was a pending UFA, and while the Flyers remained open publicly to the idea of re-signing Kuzmenko, as a 29-year old winger already jettisoned by two teams, it always seemed unlikely that he fit in the team’s future plans. Now, the guts of the package in return for Farabee and Frost is a 2025 second round pick, a 2027 third round pick, and Jakob Pelletier.
More on this trade — and the rest of the Flyers work at the trade deadline — will be on ALLPHLY.com in the coming hours.
5 Comments
Jack Junod Jr
Team push it forward …
Jason
Not bad, all things considered.
guadzilla
“the package in return for Farabee and Frost is a 2025 second round pick, a 2027 third round pick, and Jakob Pelletier”
And the cap space
guadzilla
Aaand Laughts gets them a first – albeit in 2027. More trade ammo, I guess.
Bob MCH
The Laughton trade is a good move. 2027 first rounder from Toronto, you never know, maybe it falls into the top 10. Worth the crap shoot. At worst, it is ammo for a bigger trade to get that 1-C that is so critical for this rebuild. Maybe to move into the top 10, maybe as a package for a current elite prospect. But good move. Laughton can come back in 2 years as a coach or cheap fourth liner. Too bad DB did not cash in on Risto’s value. Probably will never be higher. Maybe Risto becomes a draft day trade to move up or gain a first rounder, maybe from a worse team than was shopping at this deadline, so a better first round pick might be had?? Not sure what DB’s thinking was, but there had to be a couple of teams offering a # 1 for Risto, especially if DB sweetened the deal with a # 2 leaving with Risto.
Overall grade for DB at the dealline, a B- because he did well with Laughton, failed to get a # 1 for Risto, and the other two deals are meaningless, as picks after round one in the NHL are essentially meaningless for a rebuild, just lottery tickets or 3rd / 4fth liners, and Flyers have to lead the league in those fringe prospects.