Canucks Trade Lukas Reichel To Bruins
The Canucks have dealt depth forward Lukas Reichel to the Bruins for a sixth-round pick, Pierre LeBrun of TSN reports. It’s Boston’s sixth-round pick in this year’s draft, the team announced.
It’s the second time this year that Reichel has been traded. Unfortunately, the Canucks have taken a step back in terms of asset management. Earlier this season, Vancouver acquired Reichel from the Chicago Blackhawks for a 2027 fourth-round pick.
Reichel, 23, has seen his stock drop significantly over the past several years. The Blackhawks drafted him with the 17th overall pick of the 2020 NHL Draft after scoring 12 goals and 24 points in 42 games for the DEL’s Eisbären Berlin.
After spending one more year in his native Germany, Reichel moved to North America for the 2021-22 campaign. He played exceptionally well for the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs in his first two years, scoring 41 goals and 108 points in 111 games.
Still, he was unable to generate much success in the NHL. Across four and a half years with the Blackhawks, Reichel is credited with 22 goals and 58 points in 174 games with a -60 rating, averaging 13:21 of ice time per game. Furthermore, his 41.3% CorsiFor% at even strength didn’t indicate a breakout was on the horizon, either.
He instantly became a trade candidate at the beginning of the season, and the center-needy Canucks took their shot. It was more of the same in British Columbia, as Reichel will finish his tenure in Vancouver with one assist in 14 games.
Things got so bad with the Canucks that the team placed him on waivers a few months ago, but he ultimately made it through the wire unscathed. He’s been with the Abbotsford Canucks since, scoring six goals and 13 points in 23 games.
From the Bruins’ perspective, this trade was about helping out their AHL affiliate, the Providence Bruins. Providence has dominated the AHL’s Atlantic Division this season and is looking to make some noise in the Calder Cup playoffs.
Bruins, Flyers Swap Minor-League Skaters
The Bruins and Flyers announced a swap of minor-league skaters on deadline morning. Boston brings in forwards Massimo Rizzo and Alexis Gendron, while Philly lands forward Brett Harrison and defender Jackson Edward.
It’s an AHL and ECHL-bound skater each way. The most notable name is probably Harrison, a 22-year-old pivot who went 85th overall to Boston in the 2021 draft. The Ontario native once held a relatively high spot on the Bruins’ prospect ladder due to its overall weakness, but thanks to Boston’s retooling over the past couple of years, he hasn’t gotten an extended AHL opportunity, and his development has remained stagnant.
Largely a bottom-six piece for Providence, Harrison’s offense has varied very little from year-to-year. He put up 14 points in 47 games as a first-year pro in 2023-24 and has 17 points through 46 games this season. He has good size at 6’3″ and 201 lbs and could have a little more offensive upside to move up the lineup in the Flyers’ system in Lehigh Valley, but he’ll need to add some physicality to his game if he ever wants to get an NHL look.
The Flyers land another big body alongside Harrison in Edward, a 6’2″, 201-lb lefty who was a seventh-rounder in 2022. A pure shutdown threat first and foremost, he spent a good bit of time in Providence last season as a rookie, but has been more of a regular with ECHL Maine this year. In 68 pro games between Providence and Maine over the last year-plus, he’s managed two goals and 16 points with a -3 rating and 61 penalty minutes.
The Bruins’ additions are more offensively geared. Rizzo is 24 and was a seventh-round pick back in 2019, but he made some noise in the Flyers’ system, turning pro out of the University of Denver in 2024. He had 44 points in 30 games as a senior, his second straight point-per-game season, and the expectation was he’d be a significant AHL contributor out of the gate and potentially push for an NHL job.
That never happened. Rizzo only managed six goals and 18 points in 46 AHL games last year before failing to crack Lehigh Valley’s roster entirely for 2025-26. He’s spent the entire year on assignment to ECHL Reading, where he’s recorded a 6-16–22 scoring line in 29 outings with a -6 rating. The B’s are hoping he can turn that momentum into some potentially increased output in Providence.
Gendron, 22, was a seventh-round pick in 2022, taken 20 picks after Edward. The 5’11” winger plays a high-motor game and has the most successful pro track record of anyone in this transaction. He impressed with 20 goals in 63 games as a first-year pro for Lehigh Valley last season, creating some hope that he could end up as a fourth-line depth piece for Philly.
He’s still young enough that his development could come to pass. He’s having an even better offensive showing here in 2025-26 with a 10-12–22 scoring line in 47 outings for Lehigh Valley. He’ll now look to slot into an impact role for a P-Bruins squad that just lost Dans Locmelis for the season due to shoulder surgery.
Latest On Conor Garland
Within 24 hours of the trade deadline, Canucks winger Conor Garland is becoming one of the hottest names available. The Islanders made a significant push for him earlier in the week, and while they remain in the hunt to land him, they weren’t able to get a deal done then. That’s opened the door for more suitors to make themselves known. Pierre LeBrun of TSN relays that the Blue Jackets, Capitals, Devils, Sharks, and Bruins are pitching offers in addition to the Isles’ previously reported interest.
Garland isn’t the only Vancouver winger with term available. They’ve made it known that Brock Boeser and Jake DeBrusk can both be had, and all three players are signed through at least 2030-31. Garland has become the most likely name to move due to a lack of trade protection, though. There’s likely an urgency on Vancouver’s end to shuffle him out before that changes on July 1, too; he’ll have a no-movement clause commencing along with the six-year, $36MM extension he signed last summer that any acquiring team will be taking on in full.
Like every Canuck, this has been a season to forget for Garland. The soon-to-be 30-year-old is normally money in the bank for 15 goals and 45 points, but has only managed a 7-19–26 scoring line in 50 appearances. His 6.8% shooting rate is by far a career low and nearly four full points below his career average, though. Some positive regression is due.
Nonetheless, teams have never been keen on Garland as a finisher. His value comes from his playmaking ability and his high-end speed – plus a good degree of pot-stirring and physicality despite only checking in at 5’10” and 165 lbs.
Columbus has an apt top-nine, even if their team offense is right around league average. There isn’t so much a short-term need for Garland as there is a long-term one. A player with that much contractual security is attractive for a Blue Jackets team that has three of its top six players in terms of points-per-game this season slated for unrestricted free agency this summer. They’re looking to get deals done for all of Charlie Coyle, Boone Jenner, and Mason Marchment, but in the likely event they don’t go three-for-three, they’ll need some sort of insurance policy. That’s where Garland comes in.
Garland would be a similar long-term insurance policy for the Caps to make sure they don’t lose too much firepower if Alex Ovechkin opts to call it a career in the coming months. Of course, the 40-year-old is still Washington’s leading scorer with 24 goals and 50 points in 63 games, but has remained noncommittal about whether he’ll re-sign in Washington (he’s a pending UFA), return home to Russia to close out his career, or retire outright.
New Jersey has been clear about its desire to add an impact top-nine piece. They’re willing to dangle a defenseman to make it happen, but if they’re going to make 2022 #2 overall pick Simon Nemec available to Vancouver, they’ll likely ask for more than just Garland. Earlier today, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet said any Devils blue-liner outside of Luke Hughes and Brett Pesce is available.
The Sharks have an excess of prospects and draft capital to leverage. For a Canucks team clearly headed toward something more resembling a full teardown than a retool, they could be well-positioned to provide the most attractive package – plus an already-established relationship after San Jose acquired Kiefer Sherwood from Vancouver just a couple of months ago.
That Boston would be interested in Garland, too, is no surprise considering they’ve also had some documented interest in a reunion with DeBrusk. The latter has been more productive and carries a slightly lesser cap hit, but, because of those two factors, might require a slightly richer price than Garland that they aren’t willing to pay.
Latest On Bruins’ Deadline Plans
The Bruins find themselves squarely in contention for a playoff berth amid deadline week, not a spot most expected them to be in back in training camp. Their 5-2-3 record in their last 10 has somewhat upended their push, but they still remain with a a 54.2% chance at a postseason spot, per MoneyPuck – a slightly favorable coin flip.
Amid a crowded field, the Bruins aren’t keen to sell off more assets after last season’s deadline fire sale. Instead, general manager Don Sweeney yesterday reiterated his desire to reward his group for a strong start, but confirmed they’re not much concerned with the rental market and are instead focused on “moving forward as well.”
Sweeney did add yesterday that he’s “not in a rush to usher guys out the door” when asked about the futures of pending unrestricted free agents Andrew Peeke and Viktor Arvidsson (via Joe Haggerty of Boston Sports Journal). That’s a bit of a course reversal from last month when The Athletic’s Fluto Shinzawa indicated they were more willing to dangle Peeke for futures (or a longer-term upgrade elsewhere on the roster), although they weren’t keen on moving on from Arvidsson at that time, either.
It does make perfect sense that Sweeney won’t sell the farm for a pending UFA as he has in years past, even with the B’s in playoff position. Last season’s quick retool has paid immense dividends thus far, but isn’t complete. There’s a bit of restraint shown in not accelerating it too much, especially amid an incredibly crowded field of Eastern Conference competitors down the stretch.
That said, if a name can help them for the rest of the decade (or at least past this season), it’ll be something they consider. Per The Fourth Period’s updated trade board today, they’ve at least kicked the tires on veteran names with term all around the lineup like Jake DeBrusk, Justin Faulk, Nazem Kadri, and Rasmus Ristolainen, among others. Another report last week linked them to Flyers winger Owen Tippett. It’s also clear they’re willing to leverage some of their mid-to-high-end prospects, namely pivot Matthew Poitras, to make it happen.
Bruins Interested In Owen Tippett
The Bruins have interest in Flyers winger Owen Tippett, according to a report from Anthony Di Marco of The Fourth Period. Di Marco also reports that the Flyers have identified Boston center prospects Matthew Poitras and Dean Letourneau as desirable pieces in a return, as well as defenseman Mason Lohrei. It’s unknown how close a deal has gotten or what the exact framework of talks has been, but Boston has checked in on Tippett’s availability “several times this season,” Di Marco writes.
Tippett, 27, was a first-round pick by the Panthers in 2017 and, after finding his way to Philly in the 2022 Claude Giroux deal, broke out as a consistent second-line scoring piece immediately upon his arrival. He’s never had a big breakthrough by any means but has been remarkably consistent over the past four years.
His points per game rates have fallen in a narrow window between 0.56 and 0.68 since 2022-23, with his goal-scoring rates per game even more precise between 0.26 and 0.36. He averages 16 to 17 minutes per game and has held consistently strong possession impacts, peaking with a relative Corsi For share of 2.3% at 5-on-5 this season.
Not only would Tippett be an immediate plug-and-play 25-goal scorer for a Bruins team with a top-heavy offense, but he’d come with a good deal of control. Tippett is less than two years removed from signing an eight-year, $49.6MM extension with the Flyers, which carries a $6.2MM cap hit.
He’s got six years left on that deal but has a modified no-trade clause kicking in on July 1 this year, affording him a 10-team no-trade list through the end of the 2029-30 season. Whether that would impede any future deal to the B’s remains to be seen, but it’s a factor to keep in mind if Boston identifies him as a must-have target.
The prospects Di Marco reports the Flyers have been eyeing are on opposite trajectories. After impressing out of camp in his age-19 season, Poitras – who the B’s are reportedly dangling in other talks – has yet to settle back into a full-time NHL role.
He dropped out of Boston’s top-five prospects before the season, according to NHL.com. The 2022 second-rounder is days away from his 22nd birthday and does have a 7-20–27 scoring line in 69 career NHL games, but the 6’0″ playmaker’s AHL production has regressed to 30 points and a -5 rating in 47 games this season after notching over a point per game in 2024-25.
Letourneau, however, has seen his stock take a meteoric rise this year. He was also left off NHL.com’s top five list and was ranked right at #5 by Daily Faceoff’s Steven Ellis last offseason. The gargantuan 6’7″ pivot was a controversial selection late in the first round of the 2024 draft right out of the Canadian high school system, and the criticism of the pick was only backed up by Letourneau managing just three assists in 36 games as a freshman for Boston College last year.
A night-and-day sophomore season now sees Letourneau producing over a point per game, ranking second on B.C. in scoring behind fellow B’s center prospect James Hagens with a 19-15–34 line in 31 games. That breakout, combined with that elusive size and skill combination, could very well make Letourneau check in as Boston’s #2 prospect behind Hagens at this point.
With his emergence in mind, that pair of prospects would be a substantial return for Tippett on their own – not to mention a defensively flawed but high-skill piece on the back end in Lohrei. Promising young centers will be the most valuable piece of most any trade, but especially to the Flyers, who have two top-nine pivots on the wrong side of 30 and their current fourth-line pivot, Carl Grundström, is a natural winger.
They do have some names in the system, like 2025 first-rounder Jack Nesbitt, but he’s having an offensively conservative post-draft season and was tabbed by most as a high-end third-line piece in the NHL anyway. That makes the prospect of adding a name with top-six ceiling like Letourneau especially appealing.
Bruins Open To Moving Matthew Poitras
Just a few seasons ago, it looked like Matthew Poitras was going to be a key piece of Boston’s forward group for years to come. But things haven’t played out that way and now, it appears they’ve deemed him expendable. David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports (Twitter link) that the Bruins are now willing to move Poitras as they look to bolster their roster for the stretch run.
The 21-year-old was a second-round pick by Boston back in 2022, going 54th overall and surprised many by making the NHL roster just one year later. Poitras played in 33 games in 2023-24, picking up 15 points while also impressing at the World Juniors. However, he needed season-ending shoulder surgery in the second half of the campaign and things have been trending in the wrong direction since then.
Last season, Poitras started the year with the big club but since he was now eligible to be sent to Providence in the minors, the Bruins elected to shuffle him back and forth a bit. In the AHL, he was quite productive, picking up 41 points in 40 games, an especially impressive performance for a 20-year-old. But that didn’t translate to much success with Boston as he was limited to just one goal and 10 assists in 31 games.
The dip in production saw Poitras lose his roster spot heading into training camp and he has played predominantly with Providence this season where his numbers have slipped; he has nine goals and 21 helpers in 47 games so far. Meanwhile, he has only had one brief recall which came just before the Olympic break, scoring once in three games but he has been back in the minors since the start of the break.
Poitras changed agents earlier this season heading into his contract negotiations this summer where he’ll be a restricted free agent for the first time. For now, he’s costing a very affordable $870K on the cap when he’s in the NHL. This is his final season of waiver exemption, as well.
While his stock has undoubtedly fallen, young centers who have had some semblance of NHL success aren’t exactly easy to come by. With that in mind, Poitras should still generate some strong interest if GM Don Sweeney decides to part with him to get a win-now piece to try to give them a push to maintain their playoff positioning.
Bruins Reassign Michael DiPietro
Feb. 27: Boston reassigned DiPietro to Providence following last night’s win over the Blue Jackets, per the AHL’s transactions log. Swayman will return to the team for tomorrow’s game against the Flyers. DiPietro was needed for six minutes of game action to relieve Korpisalo, who was temporarily pulled by concussion spotters before returning. He stopped both shots he faced.
Feb. 24: DiPietro was recalled back to Boston today, per Ryan. It’s unclear if he’s up solely for practice purposes or if they’re expecting to need him to back up Korpisalo against the Blue Jackets if Swayman doesn’t return to the team by Thursday.
Feb. 20: Boston has assigned DiPietro back to Providence, Conor Ryan of the Boston Globe reports.
Feb. 18: The Bruins announced Wednesday that they’ve recalled goaltender Michael DiPietro from AHL Providence on an emergency basis. He’ll serve as Boston’s lone NHL-contracted practice netminder for the time being, as Jeremy Swayman (USA) and Joonas Korpisalo (Finland) are still representing their respective countries at the Olympics.
Back during training camp, there was concern DiPietro wouldn’t make it through waivers on his way to Providence. The 26-year-old had emerged as one of the AHL’s top netminders over the previous two seasons, including a .927 SV% in 40 games last year that earned him the Baz Bastien Memorial Award as the league’s best goaltender.
He’s well on his way to taking home that hardware for a second straight season. In 28 appearances for the P-Bruins, he’s put up a downright ridiculous .942 SV% and 1.64 GAA with a 21-5-0 record – but somehow only has one shutout to his name. Nonetheless, he has a 12-point lead in save percentage on the second-place netminder with at least 20 appearances.
He’s signed through next season at a $812,500 cap hit, giving the Bruins almost no choice but to work with Korpisalo’s 10-team no-trade list and find a new home for the veteran backup this summer. If they can’t, they’d essentially be forced into trading DiPietro to avoid the near certainty of losing him for nothing on waivers next October.
Canucks Listening On Jake DeBrusk
Canucks winger Evander Kane is a known piece of trade bait after his struggles producing at home in Vancouver, especially given his pending free-agent status, but he’s not the only ‘Nucks winger on the market this spring. Vancouver is also listening to offers on Jake DeBrusk after being informed he is willing to waive his no-movement clause, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports.
It’s not at all surprising that the Canucks would listen to offers for DeBrusk, given the way their season has played out and considering their bevy of other bloated long-term commitments. The Canucks signed DeBrusk to a seven-year, $38.5MM contract with a $5.5MM cap hit in free agency in 2024 after he spent the first seven years of his career with the Bruins. DeBrusk was two years removed from a 50-point showing and had hit 25 goals three times in Boston, so he was viewed as an important piece to help replace a Vancouver middle six that had lost Elias Lindholm and Ilya Mikheyev that summer.
Things have gone quite poorly in Vancouver since his arrival, though. Their offense, which scored 3.40 goals per game in their Pacific Division-winning 2023-24 campaign, dropped to 2.84 GF/G last season and further to 2.54 this year. They’re in a seven-point hole in last place in the league coming out of the break and have no hope of re-entering the playoff picture. They’ll want to sell off as much as possible to accelerate the rebuild that began with the Quinn Hughes trade earlier this season, but without any high-end pending UFAs to dangle, moving largely consistent producers with control like DeBrusk has to be a consideration.
While DeBrusk’s 13 goals in 57 games this season are one of the worst per-game outputs of his career, his overall point production – adding 15 assists for 28 points – has been enough to rank third on Vancouver in scoring behind Elias Pettersson and Filip Hronek. He’s also been brought down by a terrible 8.3% finishing rate, nearly half of last year’s mark and well below his career average. Averaging north of 17 minutes per game, he’s generating shot attempts at a career-best rate, although his usually above-water possession metrics leave something to be desired.
All that said, DeBrusk is ripe for an increase in production with a change of scenery. At a $5.5MM cap hit, his career average of 24 goals and 46 points per 82 games becomes attractive in a rising cap environment, especially as he’s cost-controlled for five more seasons with gradually relaxing trade protection. Producers with similar recent offensive track records, like Michael Bunting and Anders Lee, are projected to earn as much or more on the open market this summer.
Considering teams are facing what now looks to be a historically weak UFA class this summer, next week’s deadline could be a chance for clubs to do early bidding to address future holes in their roster. DeBrusk will be of interest to many in need of short and long-term top-nine help. Among the teams to have placed exploratory calls on DeBrusk are the Kraken and Red Wings, plus the Bruins exploring a reunion with him, per Pagnotta, but all of those conversations still appear to be in their early stages.
Trade Deadline Primer: Boston Bruins
With the Olympic break upon us, the trade deadline is under a month away. Where does each team stand, and what moves should they be looking to make? After looking at teams at the ends of the standings, we shift our focus to teams fighting for a playoff spot. Next up are the Bruins.
The Bruins remain in contention despite many having them pegged to miss the playoffs this year by a fairly significant margin. The Bruins were sellers at last year’s trade deadline but have shifted toward a more promising retool. Boston still has a solid core to build around in David Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy, and Jeremy Swayman, so they will be incentivized to continue adding to their lineup while that core is in the prime of their careers. General manager Don Sweeney has been criticized in the past for some of his moves, particularly in the wake of the Bruins’ record-setting 2022-23 season. Still, he has done solid work over the last year, steering the Bruins through a tough time and back into playoff contention.
Record
32-20-5, 5th in the Atlantic (61% playoff probability)
Deadline Status
Conservative Buyer
Deadline Cap Space
$3.98MM on deadline day, 1/3 retention slots used, 44/50 contracts used, per PuckPedia.
Upcoming Draft Picks
2026: BOS 1st, TOR 1st, BOS 2nd, BOS 3rd, BOS 4th, PHI 4th, TB 4th, BOS 6th, BOS 7th
2027: BOS 1st, FLA 1st, BOS 2nd, BOS 4th, BOS 6th, BOS 7th
Trade Chips
The Bruins’ best trade chips at the moment are the four first-round picks they hold in the next two entry drafts. Those picks, should Boston opt to move any of them, would be a significant piece of a package for an impact player at the deadline. It remains to be seen whether Sweeney has the stomach to do that this year, but the option is available.
Aside from the picks, Boston doesn’t have a deep prospect system, and they are unlikely to move their best prospect, James Hagens, whom they drafted last June with the seventh overall pick. The 19-year-old profiles as a center, and the Bruins have a good amount of long-term depth down the middle, so it’s possible they could consider a move. However, Hagens has seen a good amount of usage on the wing this year at Boston College, which means the Bruins have options when it comes to their top prospect.
Beyond Hagens, there is a major drop-off in talent throughout the Bruins’ prospect system, with some of their top players already having graduated to the NHL. Fraser Minten is one of those former prospects who is now a full-time NHLer at 21, and another young player Boston probably has no interest in trading. Minten has posted 14 goals and 15 assists in 57 games this season while providing a steady physical presence. The Bruins have decent center depth throughout the system, but it’s hard to imagine them trading a young center who is just scratching the surface of his potential.
Sticking with young forwards, Fabian Lysell is the Bruins’ 2021 first-round pick (21st overall). He had a cup of coffee in the NHL last season, playing 12 games and recording one goal and two assists. The winger returned to the AHL this season, where he is having the most productive offensive season of his career, with 15 goals and 21 assists in 42 games. At 23, Lysell is on the older side for a prospect, but he’s shown enough offense in the AHL to be viewed as a decent trade piece. Lysell is an excellent skater with good vision through traffic, which should help him when he gets to the NHL full-time and is looking to provide support and opportunities for his teammates. Lysell won’t net the Bruins a top piece via trade, but he could be packaged with other picks and prospects to acquire top-end talent.
Dans Locmelis was a fourth-round pick in 2022 (119th overall) and is another center in the Bruins system, though he doesn’t have the same shine as some of his more well-known peers. Locmelis began his pro career last year, appearing in six AHL games and recording three goals and nine assists. While he hasn’t maintained the same scoring pace this season, Locmelis has remained productive with 28 points in 43 games and an appearance at the Olympics, where he played for Latvia and scored a couple of goals in four games. The Bruins are high on the 22-year-old, and there is a possibility he breaks the NHL roster this season. The Bruins could dangle Locmelis as a potential trade candidate, but given that he isn’t a well-known name and his play has been largely understated, they might not get enough value to entice them to move on from him.
Team Needs
A Right Shot Defenseman: The Bruins made a great move last year, trading defenseman Brandon Carlo to the Toronto Maple Leafs. The move has turned out to be a huge win; however, the Bruins have never actually replaced Carlo, leaving a big hole on the right side of their defense. There are plenty of options available in Boston that should meet just about any price point, and it will be interesting to see whether they go the rental route or make a move for a player with some term remaining on their contract, such as Justin Faulk of the St. Louis Blues. While Faulk has been a solid pro for a long time, he would be a downgrade from some other options the Bruins were considering, such as Rasmus Andersson, who was traded a few weeks ago to the Vegas Golden Knights. Boston was reportedly in on the Andersson sweepstakes and went as far as negotiating an extension with the soon-to-be UFA (as per Elliotte Friedman).
Top Six Forward Help: The Bruins are dealing with a few injuries at the moment, which isn’t the worst timing, given the extended break for the Olympics. Centers Elias Lindholm and Pavel Zacha should be back in the lineup when NHL play resumes, and their injuries have pushed other forwards in Boston into other roles in the team’s hierarchy. Despite the team getting healthy in time for a playoff push, it is clear that Boston needs to add to its top six if it wants any chance of a playoff run. This would allow a player such as Casey Mittelstadt to push down the depth chart and play in a role that better suits his skill set. The Bruins might not want to pay premium prices for a forward, but given that they didn’t send any assets out the door for Andersson, they likely have some options to facilitate a trade for forward help.
Photo by Sergei Belski-Imagn Images
Bruins, Oilers Interested In Rasmus Ristolainen
“Five or six teams” have expressed interest in acquiring Flyers defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen during the Olympic break, Anthony Di Marco of Daily Faceoff reports. Among those are the Bruins and Oilers, Di Marco writes, although “neither has stepped up as a ‘serious’ landing spot to this point.”
Ristolainen was a talked-about name heading into last year’s deadline season, too. The 31-year-old enjoyed the best two-way showing of his career in 2024-25, and the Flyers were eager to capitalize on it by landing a high-value return for a reasonably cost-controlled, right-shot defenseman. His market wasn’t as fervent as Philly hoped, though, and he ended up staying with the Flyers past the trade deadline.
At the time, they were reportedly looking for a first-round pick as the starting piece of a package. According to Di Marco, that hasn’t changed. The Flyers are using last year’s Brandon Carlo trade between the Bruins and Maple Leafs as a comparable to set their price. Toronto ended up parting ways with a top-five protected first-round pick, a fourth-rounder, and center prospect Fraser Minten – selected as an early second-rounder not all that long ago – to acquire Carlo, who had an additional two seasons remaining on his deal, with 15% of his salary retained by Boston.
Even assuming Carlo’s and Ristolainen’s on-ice value is equal, the Flyers aren’t in a position to command quite that strong a return. The first-round pick may still be possible, but they’ll be hard-pressed to land a prospect of Minten’s caliber as well. Ristolainen only has one year left on his deal following this season, and his $5.1MM cap hit is a greater chunk of change than what Carlo costs. That’s notwithstanding Ristolainen’s much shoddier long-term record of poor defensive play that’s seen him own a career -183 rating in 795 games.
Still, the 6’4″ Ristolainen seems to have stabilized nicely as a high-end second-to-third-pairing piece in Philadelphia over the past two years. The 2013 eighth overall pick was overtaxed for several years to begin his career in Buffalo, but since the 2023-24 campaign in Philly, he’s consistently posted above-average possession impacts while seeing his usage slowly climb back up to the 20-minute range per game.
Injuries are a concern, though. Issues with his right triceps muscle have ended his season weeks early in back-to-back years. He had a more extensive surgery last year to address the issue that delayed his 2025-26 debut until mid-December, and he missed another six games with a separate upper-body issue last month. He’s made just 19 appearances this season as a result, but has churned out a goal and six points with a -4 rating while averaging 19:35 of ice time per game. When given top-pairing deployment with Travis Sanheim, they’ve had great defensive impacts in an 87-minute sample, allowing just 1.93 expected goals against per 60 minutes, according to MoneyPuck.
As for his known suitors, it appears Boston isn’t taking itself out of the mix to add to their blue line after going down to the wire in Rasmus Andersson talks with Calgary. Right-shot depth is an issue for them, with Charlie McAvoy and Henri Jokiharju as their only NHL options signed past this season (and it’s likely pending UFA Andrew Peeke won’t be back). With an abundance of first-round picks for the next two years, it wouldn’t deter their retooling too much to part with one, although it was clear they were looking for a more offensively dynamic piece like Andersson, if possible. As such, Ristolainen isn’t “someone the Bruins are especially high on,” Di Marco writes, although they’re at least keeping tabs on him as a backup option if other targets also fall through.
There’s a more pressing short-term fit for Ristolainen in Edmonton. They don’t have any options in the organization behind Evan Bouchard who can comfortably sniff top-four deployment on the right side. Lefty Jake Walman has spent most of the year on his off side as a result, and his possession impacts have taken a nosedive. Stomaching Ristolainen’s cap hit would be an issue for the Oilers, who have just over $1MM in projected cap space on deadline day, but as Di Marco writes, there could be a fit if the Flyers were willing to take on struggling winger Andrew Mangiapane in the deal.