2 trades the Flyers can make with the Canadiens

It’s August. We’re in the middle of the most dead period on the hockey calendar. Sure, Nikita Grebenkin got re-signed so there is at least something related to the Philadelphia Flyers to talk about, but we’re firmly in a time where we are just sitting here and waiting and thinking about training camp starting in over a month.

So, why not think of some possible transactions?

The Flyers might not make some trades before the season starts, but there could certainly be something going on soon after that. With the expectation to at the very least push for the playoffs and play competitive hockey in all 84 games, general manager Danny Briere could find a big hole on the roster if some players don’t rise to the occasion, and he could make some sort of early-season move. Or, you know, something closer to the deadline. Either way, exploring this feels like the right thing to do and there is a team that came to mind that might be a very good candidate for a trade partner.

The Montreal Canadiens are a team on the rise and could very well win the Atlantic Division next season, or their young players could all collectively take a step back after overachieving last year and they would also be looking to make a move. And, there might just be a good fit with the Flyers.

More specifically, there are two players that could really draw some interest from the Flyers if they were to call up Kent Hughes within the next several months.

Could Kaiden Guhle be the long-term piece the Flyers want?

It’s clear that the Flyers want to make their blue line stronger in some shape or form. It then only complicates things further when they reportedly have no plan on bringing back Rasmus Ristolainen when he hits unrestricted free agency next summer. It leaves a sizeable hole in the Flyers’ top four that could be filled with Oliver Bonk, but then they’re banking on Jamie Drysdale being capable of playing higher in the lineup and overall they might be entering an eventually vital 2027-28 season with a possible weaker blue line — or at least one that they don’t think has the right amount of size and tenacity.

So, why not try to get that from the Canadiens?

Kaiden Guhle is maybe the young defensemen if you want someone who is willing to lay his body on the line in an effort to make your own team better. The 6-foot-3, 202-pound left-handed defender is going to turn 25 years old next January, fitting right into the Flyers’ own little core group of players hovering around that age range like Trevor Zegras, and Tyson Foerster (and others) up top, and Cam York and Drysdale on the back end.

He just seems like someone the Flyers would easily target and try to make a deal for. It does make it tough that he seems to be a piece of the future Montreal blue line as well, but if other players like David Reinbacher takes a step, they could see him as a bit of a luxury. Especially if it could solve their own issue up top.

The Canadiens do need more forward talent. While they are stacked in prospects and potential, there is a need for someone to really take over and be that scoring depth that they sorely lacked in the playoffs earlier this calendar year. Right now, Alex Newhook is projected to be in their top six, a guy who scored 25 points last season in 42 games, and scored 26 when he played in all 82 games the season prior. There’s clearly a need.

So, does Owen Tippett make sense here? Could it be as simple as a little one-for-one swap, or maybe Montreal adds a little bit extra for the potential?

Both Tippett and Guhle are locked into long-term contracts at a dollar amount that is already seeming like a bargain. Tippett of course has a $6.2-million AAV through the 2031-32 season. Meanwhile Guhle is a top-four defenseman locked up at a $5.55-million AAV through the 2030-31 season. Both are valuable deals.

If Guhle is seen as an answer in the top four and someone like Drysdale’s long-term partner so that he can go and be more freewheeling to put up some numbers, as he crushes people and defends exceptionally well (he had 86 hits and 63 blocks in 39 games last season), then that might be the price. Especially if players like Foerster and Martone and Michkov eventually lock themselves into top-six roles, Tippett might be the best third-liner in the entire league and while losing that scoring depth could hurt, it can be supplemented with other wingers that are either already in the NHL like Alex Bump and Denver Barkey, or other prospects on their way.

It seems like a deal that multiple things would have to happen to then be finalized — both the Canadiens and Flyers viewing Guhle and Tippett as luxury pieces due to others overtaking them in the depth chart — but it could be an easy need-for-need type of deal.

Kirby Dach could find new life in Philadelphia

This one is much more of a gamble, or at least taking on a reclamation project that is so clearly a reclamation project.

Kirby Dach is famously a third-overall pick that was traded by the Chicago Blackhawks after just three seasons and he really hasn’t taken a step. His best season was his first year in Montreal when he scored 14 goals and 38 points in 58 games and he is coming off a couple injury-laden years and most recently scored 15 points in 37 games while averaging 13:39 time-on-ice.