The five worst moves made by Metro Division teams
From the Flyers going full Flyera, to the Isles trading 13th overall for a mediocre defenseman, there was plenty to choose from this summer.
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Every year – once the dust settles – I like to look at the best and worst moves made by Metro Division teams.
I recently shared my thoughts on the five best transactions, one of which came from the New Jersey Devils.
Today I’ll be finishing off the mini-series by looking at, in no particular order, the worst moves we’ve seen from Metro sides.
Philadelphia Flyers going full Flyera
For years there were serious rumblings Johnny Gaudreau wanted to ‘go home’ and play with the Philadelphia Flyers.
The rumors only heated up as days passed and it became clearer and clearer he would not re-up with the Calgary Flames.
One would think the Flyers, in desperate need of a roster shake-up and some positive news to reinvigorate a fanbase, would do everything in their power to make room for Gaudreau.
If it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out, but at least you can sleep at night knowing you put your best foot forward for a superstar winger coming off *checks notes* a 115 point season.
Not only did the Flyers fumble the bag, so to speak, and fail to bring in a star who seemingly wanted to play for the team; they didn’t even try.
No, instead they wasted all their resources by investing three draft picks and nearly $7 million annually on Tony DeAngelo and Nic Deslauriers.
‘But Todd, Gaudreau signed for $9.75M. The Flyers didn’t have enough room.’
Here’s the thing…make room! I’m not saying you have to attach a 1st rounder in Connor Bedard’s draft to dump JvR.
But maybe, I don’t know, using some of the draft capital spent on DeAngelo to move on from Scott Laughton ($3M per) or another player would’ve been the better play.
Would you rather allocate almost $10M on DeAngelo, Laughton, and Deslauriers, or on one of the most dynamic wingers in the NHL? Tough call, I know.
I legitimately feel bad for Flyera fans; nobody deserves such ineptitude. The NHL team is very bad, the prospect pool is very bad, the team is completely capped out, and they now employ Tony DeAngelo.
