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The five best off-season moves from Metro Division teams

The five best off-season moves from Metro Division teams

Metro Division sides pulled off quite a few notable transactions this summer. Let's take a look at the best of the bunch.

Todd Cordell's avatar
Todd Cordell
Jul 24, 2023
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The five best off-season moves from Metro Division teams
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While some teams – perhaps even the New Jersey Devils! – may have a move left in them, most of the off-season fireworks have already taken place.

Now that the dust has settled, I wanted to take a closer look at some of the best moves made by Metro Division teams this summer.

In no particular order, here are my five favorites:

Philadelphia drafting Matvei Michkov

Sometimes the obvious decision really is the best one. That sure felt like the case when the Flyers took to the podium and selected the (predictably) free falling Matvei Michkov at 7th overall.

The organization has cut corners at every turn for a while now and severely lacks elite level talent from top to bottom. Rather than drafting for position or taking a ‘safe’ player with a more stable ETA, the Flyers opted to take Michkov and figure out the rest later.

Is it possible Michkov takes longer to play in the NHL than others available? For sure. Is it possible Michkov *never* comes over to North America? Unlikely, but you never know.

The Flyers didn’t care, though. They let common sense take over and selected a kid who, based purely on talent, was likely the second best player in an extremely good class.

Drafting is a gamble at the best of times. You might as well push your chips in on the players carrying the biggest potential payoff.

That’s what the Flyers did with Michkov and it could prove to be a franchise altering decision.

Carolina re-signing their tandem for $4.9M

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