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The 2026 NHL Draft weekend in less than one week away. In recent days, much has been made of the Flyers’ history of making trades on June 23. It’s strictly coincidental but almost eerie how many significant trades have gone down on that specific date. Several took place either at the NHL Draft or the day before.
- 2001: The Flyers acquired the rights to Jiri Dopita from Florida for a 2001 second-round pick.
- 2011: The Flyers made three major moves: 1) They signed goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov in the morning. Later in the day, within an hour apart, they made two trades. 2) Philly traded Mike Richards to the LA Kings for Wayne Simmonds, Brayden Schenn and a 2012 second-round pick (later traded to Dallas for Nicklas Grossmann). 3) The Flyers traded Jeff Carter to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Jakub Voracek, Columbus’ 2011 first-round pick (Sean Couturier) and third-round pick (Nick Cousins).
- 2012: The Flyers traded James van Riemsdyk to Toronto for Luke Schenn.
- 2014: Philadelphia traded Scott Hartnell to Columbus and reacquired R.J. Umberger.
- 2017: Philly dealt Brayden Schenn to St. Louis for 2017 (Morgan Frost) and 2018 (Joel Farabee) first-round picks plus veteran forward Jori Lehtera.
- 2025: The Flyers traded Ryan Poehling, Columbus’ 2025 second-round pick and Philly’s own 2026 fourth-round pick to Anaheim in exchange for Trevor Zegras.
Offseason trade target: Bowen Byram
Today, we continue our series looking at potential offseason acquisitions for the Flyers, either via trade or free agency. Over the last week, among others, we’ve discussed Darnell Nurse (via trade), Morgan Rielly (trade) and Jacob Trouba (unrestricted free agent).
Today, the focus shifts to a younger player: 25-year-old Buffalo Sabres defenseman Bowen Byram.
So far in his career, Byram has been an inconsistent player. At times. he has looked like a bonafide top pairing defenseman, especially when paired with Rasmus Dahlin. Other times, he’s struggled with ill-timed miscues that end up in his team’s net. Most recently, he followed a strong first-round playoff series against the Boston Bruins with an inconsistent series against the Montreal Canadiens.
Byram (the 4th overall pick in the 2019 Draft by Colorado) is one of the “toolsiest” talents in the NHL. He possesses excellent skating, puck-carrying ability, and individual chance creation. He’s also comfortably on either side of a defensive pairing. However, his defensive decision-making is iffy at times. Mistakes sometimes snowball if things don’t go his way.
The player lacks nothing for self-confidence. Byram sees himself as a 1st-pair defenseman all the way; capable, in fact of anchoring a blue line. He has not consistently lived up to that standard but the potential is certainly there.
Byram has one season remaining on his current contract ($6.25 million AAV). It seems unlikely he stays in Buffalo for the long haul. His next contract is likely to carry a $10 millon+ cap hit on a long-term deal. His trade price is at its max this offseason because he has a year remaining on his current deal and lacks no-trade protection. He’s an unrestricted free agent next summer unless he extends.
Ideally, Buffalo would get much more in return for Byram with a sign-and-trade this summer. His trade value lessens as a rental.
Flyers Development Camp: Expected attendees
The 2026 edition of the Flyers Development camp is slated to run from Jun 29 until July 3. The Flyers expect to have a large contingent of their picks from the 2023 to 2026 Drafts available to attend including Porter Martone, Jett Luchanko, Jack Nesbitt, Oliver Bonk, Jack Berglund, Shane Vansaghi, Spencer Gill, Carter Amico, Heikki Ruohonen, goaltender Carson Bjarnason and more. Although Denver Barkey no longer qualifies as an NHL rookie, he’s expected to be part of Development, too. Ditto Alex Bump, except Bump (17 NHL games) retains rookie status officially.
On Wednesday, July 1, all camp participants will do a public appearance at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia after the on-ice sessions at the FTC in Voorhees. The Franklin Institute appearance runs from 3:30 to 5:30 EDT. However, fans are encouraged to come as early as 2 p.m. for Flyers-related activities including appearances by Gritty and the Flyers Ice Team.
Museum ticket purchase is required to attend the autograph-signing event with the Flyers’ prospects and related activities.
Team Toyota Draft Spotlight: Xavier Villaneuve
In previous Team Toyota Draft Spotlight featurs, we have looked at USHL center Jack Hextall, BU center Tynan Lawrence, Swedish blueliner Malte Gustafsson, QMJHL center/winger Maddox Dagenais of the Quebec Remparts, incoming BU center Caleb Malhotra, Swedish defenseman: William Håkansson, the Ruck twins, and London Knights defenseman Maksim Sokolovskii.
Today, we’ll take a look at QMJHL defenseman Xavier Villaneuve.
Bound next season for Boston University, Villeneuve was a standout for Team Canada at least year’s Under-18 Worlds (including four goals in eight games). The left-shot blueliner is another player in the batch of smallish to average-size blueliners (listed at 5-foot-11, 163 pounds) with impressive puck skills in this year’s Draft class.
Villeneuve carried over last year’s impressive U18s performance into a strong campaign in the Q this season. He’s the nephew of former NHL player and longtime AHL captain Steve Maltais.
Villeneuve boasts outstanding skating abilty. At minimum, he has high upside as a puck-moving defenseman. If he hits his ceiling, he could become playmaking, he could become a creative playmaking second-pair staple in the NHL. His smallish frame and somewhat spotty defensive reads even in the Q may limit his ceiling as a top-pair candidate down the line.
Cold War in Philly: Upcoming Showings
Each of the first seven showings of the Cold War in Philly documentary have sold out. Correspondingly, additional showings have been added at different locales.
- June 25th: White Rabbit Theatre (Phoenixville, PA) — Post-screening Q&A moderated by Sam Carchidi with Joe Amodei, Joe and Jimmy Watson. Tickets are $18 or $20. Click here.
- June 26th, 27th, 28th and 29th: The County Theatre (Doylestown, PA), Click here for show times and prices.
- June 26th, 27th, 28th and 29th: Ambler Theatre (Ambler, PA), Click here for show times and prices.
Collectors Corner: Clarke, Hextall and Vladar
Hall of Fame legend Bob Clarke is doing a private signing event at Carl’s Cards and Collectibles in Havertown, PA. Items for Clarke to sign are due by June 24. Clarke will be in the store that day to sign the items. For more info, click here.
Meanwhile, Flyers Hall of Fame goaltender and former general manager Ron Hextall is doing his own private signing for Carl’s on June 29. For info, click here.
Additionally, current Flyers goaltender Dan Vladar will do an open-to-the-public (tickets requires) in-store signing at Carl’s on Saturday, August 29. Autographs are $49 each. Photo ops are $39 each. Inscriptions are $20 each. For info, click here.
Guffaw Cigars
Five-time NHL All-Star and Flyers Hall of Fame inductee Brian Propp introduced his own line of top-quality hand-crafted Dominican cigars . The Guffaw Cigar collection is highly rated for its balanced boldness, sophistication and premium-aged tobacco. Brian himself is a longtime cigar aficionado. He wanted his signature line to reflect the qualities he values in a cigar.
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