Giroux trade talk, theory on York decision, more in 3 Flyers thoughts

It was a dark and gloomy weekend for the Flyers, what almost felt like an unofficial surrender to the reality of this season not going anywhere.

Sean Couturier is done for the remainder of the season, Ryan Ellis is all but there and Kevin Hayes might join them.

Missing nine players Saturday, the embattled Flyers sunk to 15-24-8 overall.

"It’s been an extremely difficult season," Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher said Friday. "But right now, there's opportunity for the players that are here to show what they can do. There's great opportunity for our organization to look at ways to improve, whether it’s the trade deadline or this summer going into next year."

With that, let's get into three thoughts on the Flyers.

1. The captain's clause

Claude Giroux won All-Star Game MVP and his team went into the break with back-to-back wins. So the 34-year-old captain likely left Las Vegas in a positive frame of mind as he returned to the Flyers.

But then the post-All-Star break schedule began and reality sunk back in: the Flyers are mired in a frustration-filled, injury-plagued, course-altering season.

The club picked up consecutive losses to Detroit out of the break. It stumbled badly, 6-3, at home last Wednesday and then followed it up with a helpless 4-2 decision on the road over the weekend.

Giroux racked up a season-high 22:36 minutes in the first loss. In the second loss, he played 21:21 minutes, his third most of the season, as the Flyers entered the game missing two more players (Rasmus Ristolainen and Derick Brassard) because of injuries.

Losing wears on Giroux and it has to be wearing heavily on him now. The NHL trade deadline is March 21 and Giroux is playing on the final year of his contract, which has a full no-move clause. 

"I guess the best way to put it is we’ll continue to have conversations and ultimately a decision will have to be made one way or the other," Fletcher said Jan. 26 of Giroux potentially waiving his no-move clause. "It’ll be Claude’s decision."

The more the Flyers lose, the more the frustration mounts — and that very well may give Giroux and the Flyers more and more reason to believe a trade is what's best for both sides.

"Even talking to him after the practice and how difficult this is in so many different ways for a guy like G," Flyers interim head coach Mike Yeo said Monday. "First of all, he played his butt off last game and we still come up short, we still lose the game and I could see the disappointment, the frustration, whatever you want to call it. It's very discouraging and it's difficult, yet, I have full confidence he's going to go out there and do the same thing again next game.

"He cares very much about this organization and obviously the fact that we're struggling right now, he takes that very personally. So that part's very difficult. And then you add on the stress, the uncertainty of what's to come. You can just tell the way that he plays night after night, the way that he comes to the rink, the way that he acts as a professional, the way that he acts in the dressing room, on the bench, on the ice, how much he cares about this organization, so it's very stressful obviously.

"In true G fashion, he continues to go out and play hard for the group, and that's great for us."

This week, the Flyers have five days of meetings with their pro scouts, so the shaping of their deadline motives is going to pick up.

And, yes, with each passing day and game, the Giroux buzz will also pick up.

More: 'That was awesome' — Flyers make Giroux blush in celebrating his All-Star MVP

2. Yanking around York?

Many were wondering why Cam York wasn't recalled from AHL affiliate Lehigh Valley once the All-Star break finished.

This reporter was one of them.

Here's a theory for why the 21-year-old defenseman is with the Phantoms for now.

Prior to the All-Star break, York was playing third-pair minutes on his off side; not exactly the best environment for his development. York is a lefty shot like Ivan Provorov and Travis Sanheim.

Before Ristolainen got hurt (day to day, upper-body injury), there's a good chance the Flyers wanted to keep him and Sanheim together as they try to build a consistent second pair there.

And it's possible the Flyers don't want to take Justin Braun off their first pair because they want to showcase him in that spot ahead of the trade deadline. The 35-year-old defenseman is a prime candidate to be moved by the retooling Flyers. He has a savviness in goal prevention, owns 100 games of playoff experience and is on an expiring contract with only a $1.8 million cap hit.

Contending teams will be highly interested and the Flyers have a chance to sell his stock high in a top-pair role.

Considering their circumstances, perhaps the Flyers didn't see an ideal fit for York's development at the time. But that's also a tough pitch to a not-so-happy fan base when he is clearly one of the Flyers' best six defensemen right now.

York got banged up last Friday night in the Phantoms' game. Yeo said he believed there was a potential of York playing in Lehigh Valley's game Sunday, so his injury doesn't appear overly serious.

Regardless, the top prospect will be back with the Flyers soon. Once the trade deadline comes and goes, the Flyers need to play him.

More: Talent-needy Flyers paid 'big price' for Ristolainen, but he can be part of future

3. Bobby's world

As the Flyers' front office looks to push in-house positives about the future, Bobby Brink will be a popular one.

Fletcher brought up Brink last Friday. Danny Briere, the club's new special assistant to the GM, brought him up two days before that.

He's certainly worth bringing up.

Entering this week, the 20-year-old winger led all of college hockey in scoring with 44 points (10 goals, 34 assists) through 28 games.

The 2019 second-round pick has taken off as a junior at Denver.

"Bob always has a burning fire inside of him that maybe doesn’t come across when you’re meeting him off the ice," Denver head coach David Carle said in April 2020, "but when it’s time to get on the ice, he’s a gamer and I’d bet on him all day long."

Subscribe to and rate Flyers Talk

Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Art19 | YouTube