Ronnie Attard traded to Edmonton for defenseman Ben Gleason

Over five years after being selected in the third round of the 2019 NHL Draft by then-GM Chuck Fletcher, defenseman Ronnie Attard’s time with the Philadelphia Flyers’ organization has come to an end.

The Flyers announced on Monday night that they had traded the 25-year old Attard — in the final season of a two-year extension that he signed back in the summer of 2023 — to the Edmonton Oilers in a one-for-one swap for 26-year old defenseman Ben Gleason.

It’s an exchange of two AHL blueliners without clear paths to the big club — which wasn’t always the case for Attard, but clearly was after a severely disappointing performance in training camp back in September.

Entering camp, Attard desperately needed to make a big push for an NHL roster spot, given his advanced age and the fact that he no longer was waiver exempt, meaning that a demotion would give every NHL organization the opportunity to claim him. A similar situation in 2023 had helped convince the Flyers that Egor Zamula deserved to make the big club, and Attard looked to follow in Zamula’s footsteps, perhaps serving as the No. 8 defenseman on the Philadelphia roster to begin the year.

Instead, Attard flopped. His disastrous showing against Montreal in the second preseason game in retrospect sounded the death knell for his time with the organization; Attard did not appear in another exhibition game for the club, and was waived four days later. Unsurprisingly, given his poor form and lack of a compelling NHL track record, Attard went unclaimed, and was reassigned to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.

After seven scoreless games with the Phantoms this season, the Flyers gave him the change of scenery he appears to need.

It’s a similar trade to the one that sent Wade Allison to the Nashville Predators organization at the trade deadline last season, bringing back another young-ish player who had fallen out of a favor with his organization: Denis Gurianov. Gurianov did get a brief look with the Flyers, appearing in four games over the final month of the season, but ultimately was not retained over the summer and ended up signing with CSKA Moskva in the KHL.

The likelihood of Ben Gleason factoring heavily into the Flyers’ long-term plans is similarly slim.

Gleason (the cousin of longtime Carolina blueliner Tim Gleason) isn’t without organizational value. He’s established himself as a high-scoring left-shot AHL defenseman over the course of his seven-year pro career, and could help the Phantoms in the short-term, especially with top LHD Emil Andrae currently up with the big club.

But at age 26, Gleason doesn’t qualify as a prospect anymore; he’s only appeared in four NHL games (way back in 2018-19) and is more an injury call-up option than an exciting new piece. His time with his initial organization — the Dallas Stars, who signed him to an NHL entry-level contract back in 2018 — came to an end two years ago, with the Oilers picking him up as a organizational depth piece. That’s the role he’ll likely play for the Flyers as well, at least until his contract expires and he becomes an unrestricted free agent once again this summer.

As for Attard, he’ll get a chance to revitalize his professional career with Edmonton. Especially after his dismal preseason, Attard had fallen way down the organizational depth chart in Philadelphia, with all of Andrae, Adam Ginning and Hunter McDonald clearly ahead of him at the pro level already and more young defensemen on the way.

Attard has flashed NHL caliber skills at times, producing strong 5-on-5 advanced metrics in sheltered minutes when up with the big club (53.92 percent on-ice xG share in 29 NHL games), but his decision-making skills had failed to progress the way the Flyers development staff envisioned it could. Attard’s impressive physical attributes (his size, shot, and natural aggressive instincts) weren’t enough to outweigh the holes in his game — at least in the Flyers’ estimation.

So now, Attard heads west, likely joining Edmonton’s AHL affiliate in Bakersfield. Gleason is all that remains of a once-promising third-round draft pick, who never quite panned out the way that the organization hoped.