Brayden Schenn isn’t necessarily on the trade market, but he is up for grabs if the Flyers get the right offer. That’s the news reported by TSN’s Darren Dreger on Wednesday.
The Flyers say that this isn’t completely true — that other teams have been calling about both Schenn brothers, but that neither of them are on the block. But you have to imagine that if somebody offered the right package, the Flyers could part with the young, two-way forward. You’d have to imagine that Luke Schenn, who’s been a healthy scratch, would be even easier to get from the Flyers.
Let’s focus on Baby Schenn, though. The center position is a strength for the Flyers, and if you’re dealing from a position of strength, you typically want to go after a position of weakness. That was kind of the idea behind trading James van Riemsdyk for Luke Schenn, but well … let’s just say we wish the return was a bit better on that deal.
But with Claude Giroux here forever, Sean Couturier still just 20, Scott Laughton not even in the NHL yet, and Vincent Lecavalier here for the next five years, the Flyers are pretty set on centers for the long term. Schenn seems to be the odd man out, and while he’s played wing for the most part this season, it’s clear that his potential is as a strong, two-way center. That’s potential he may not reach in Philadelphia, so he makes sense as trade bait in that sense.
The Flyers are still pretty dang weak on defense, so you’d have to think that a high-end defenseman or top-level defensive prospect would be the centerpiece of any trade. If the Flyers could swap Schenn for a guy who could anchor their defense in the next two or three years, that would be really ideal and probably totally worth doing. Anything other than that, though? I don’t think it’d be worth it.
There’s the fear that Schenn will go on and become a great player, and he’ll probably at worst be a very good player no matter what. He’s shown glimpses of it this season, and there’s no doubt that he has a ton of talent and a huge upside. But with as deep as the Flyers are at center, Schenn might be the perfect player to move … if they can bolster their weakest posiiton in the process.
What are your thoughts?
