The trades started coming early and often on NHL Draft Day, but once the Draft started all was quiet on the trade front until the Dallas Stars decided to get things moving.
The Stars and Chicago Blackhawks traded late first round picks, and then the door starting opening for some other things to happen. The biggest trade of the night involved the Philadelphia Flyers and the St. Louis Blues. Philly had already taken center Nolan Patrick second in the Draft, but the team decided it wasn’t going quietly into the night.
The Flyers traded center Brayden Schenn to the Blues in exchange for the 27th pick in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, center Jori Lehtera and a conditional first round pick in 2018. The conditions on the additional draft pick are that it is top 10 protected for 2018. If the pick is in the top 10 for the Blues next season then the pick would be deferred to a 2019 first rounder, and the Flyers would also receive a 2020 3rd rounder should this be the case.
After the trade was announced, Philadelphia was on the clock with the 27th pick in the Draft, and they chose center Morgan Frost. According to a write up on Frost by The Hockey Writers, the kid is smart and has hockey sense. He doesn't give up on the play, is a good skater and a great passer. The downside of Frost is that he needs to learn to shoot more instead of looking pass first and he needs to build up his strength. The center won’t be ready to play in the NHL for a few years, but the Flyers have enough depth at center that he can take his developing.
A change of scenery could probably wind up being a good thing for Jori Lehtera. He would have been the odd man out in St. Louis since Vladimir Sobodka came back last season from playing overseas, and signed a contract extension last season. Lehtera’s offensive production has been slipping the past few seasons in St. Louis. The center only has seven goals, 15 assists and 22 points in 64 regular season games played last season. He also was a healthy scratch a few times, and was watching games from the press box.
Lehtera has good vision, which makes him a decent playmaker. He has size, but doesn’t use it nearly enough. He shies away from being physical and he doesn’t like to hit. The veteran center is probably an upgrade over Schenn in his own zone. Lehtera needs to find a way to be consistent for 60 minutes of hockey game and throughout a full season. The center won 49.16% of his face-offs that he took last year.
Lehtera has two years left on his current contract, which has a cap hit of $4.7 million per season. He will become an unrestricted free agent after the 2018-19 season.
Schenn is a natural center, but whether he will remain there with the Blues is to be determined. In 79 games last year, he had 25 goals, 30 assists, 55 points and seven game-winning goals. He played at even strength and on the power play, where he registered 17 goals and 28 points. The biggest reason the Flyers were willing to part with the young center is mostly likely due to his lack of production while playing at even strength. He only scored eight goals at even strength and almost half of his total points came while on the man advantage.
There were times last season when he was completely shut down by the opposition at even strength. He isn’t exactly known for being the best defensive forward in the League, and he is known for being a little slow to get back in position to make a good defensive play. If the Blues want to keep him at center then he’s going to have to improve in the face-off circle. Schenn needs to become more consistent in all phases of his game and the forward needs to be better with his game-to-game consistency.
Schenn has been know to stand up for his teammates and get in on the forecheck. He has three years remaining on his current contract, which has a cap hit of $5.125 million per season. Schenn will be a free agent at the end of the 2019-20 season.
This is the second trade in about six months where the Flyers have taken on a player whose team needs to get rid of him for salary cap purposes. Let’s just hope this doesn’t become the norm for Ron Hextall and the Flyers.
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