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Whatever Happens with Rasmus Ristolainen, the Flyers Gotta Move a Winger
Published:
NHL trade deadline on Friday at 3 p.m.
Rasmus Ristolainen is the biggest name circulating the rumour mill, but don’t the Flyers have to address the glut of wingers?
49ers lover Anthony San Francisco said this on on STG, flanked by Chris Therien and Volodymyr Zelenskyy:
“You need to create space. Bobby Brink is a restricted free agent, doesn’t make a lot of money, has interest from teams around the league, right? I’m taking the Russ Joy view, you’ve got to create that space at some point.”
Yeah look, it’s a numbers game and fans have been talking about this for months. Porter Martone is on the way. Tyson Foerster is returning from injury. They’ve got Trevor Zegras, Travis Konecny, Matvei Michkov, Owen Tippett, Denver Barkey, and Nikita Grebenkin in the mix. Ant mentions Alex Bump. That’s nine guys right there, 10 with Brink, before you get to the fourth liners.
Chris Pronger said a few weeks ago on Spittin’ Chiclets that the Flyers’ rebuild was fugazi because they were winger heavy. You want to build down the middle, as is the case in most sports. Where do the Eagles start? In the trenches, on the offensive and defensive line. A rebuilding soccer team needs a good center back, defensive midfielder, and goalkeeper. Same thing in the NHL. You need a goalie, a 1D, and a 1C. The Flyers passed on James Hagens in the 2025 draft and came out of a center-heavy draft with a winger, which people were fine with at the time because they thought Martone was the best player available at 6. If that’s the belief, no problem, but it contributes to the current imbalance and it needs to be handled.
Danny B is working those phones, we think. The Flyers are four points out of a playoff spot. Let’s #BringItToBroad.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com