Flyers, Hurricanes Complete Prospect Swap

The Philadelphia Flyers have acquired center prospect Massimo Rizzo along with a 2025 fifth-round pick from the Carolina Hurricanes, according to a team release. In return, they’ve sent the rights to forward David Kase to Carolina.

Kase is an unusual type of player to see traded, given his contract status. The 26-year-old brother of former Hurricanes forward Ondrej Kase has spent the last two seasons in the Czech Extraliga with HC Sparta Praha, not signed to an NHL contract, but remained on the Flyers’ reserve list after they issued him a qualifying offer in 2021. He got into seven NHL games with the Flyers after they selected him in the fifth round of the 2015 NHL Draft, recording one goal.

The versatile forward has logged heavy minutes in Prague the past two seasons but hasn’t had spectacular production, notching just ten goals in 68 games since returning to his home country in 2021. Kase signed a three-year agreement with Extraliga club HC Litvinov this offseason, meaning his inclusion in this trade is likely a throw-in to balance out each team’s reserve list numbers.

Rizzo comes to the Flyers after reportedly being part of the rumored Anthony DeAngelo trade between the two clubs that fell through earlier this summer. Essentially, this transaction completes the move that the NHL blocked due to cap circumvention – the Flyers later bought out DeAngelo, and Carolina signed him to a one-year, $1.675MM pact days later. This series of moves allowed the Hurricanes to acquire DeAngelo at a lower cap hit, as the maximum salary retention the Flyers could have offered via trade would’ve brought DeAngelo’s cap hit down to only $2.5MM. Thus, Carolina parted with Rizzo and a fifth-round pick to save $825K in cap space.

The 22-year-old member of Carolina’s 2019 draft class shouldn’t be overlooked as a prospect. While he may not have ideal size at 5-foot-11 and 174 pounds, he’s had a strong collegiate career and looks to be exceeding the value expected of him as a seventh-round pick. He just completed his second season with the University of Denver, leading the team with 29 assists and 46 points in 38 games. In 2021-22, he recorded 36 points in 39 games as a freshman to help lead Denver to the national championship.

Rizzo is not yet signed to an entry-level contract and will return to Denver next season if the Flyers don’t sign him now. If/when they did reach an entry-level agreement with Rizzo, he is eligible for assignment to the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms.