The Flyers are an interesting team, with a lot of players that it would be exciting to trade for. The problem is that since the Flyers started playing Carter Hart they haven’t been nearly as bad as they were at the start of the season and forced them in to the seller column. With a 8-1-1 record in their last 10, I’ll assume the Flyers are bit more comfortable holding onto their non-rental players than they were a few weeks ago, or even if they are looking to move them, they’ve unfortunately picked up a bit of leverage by not being so desperate.

Prying a young defenseman out of Philadelphia always seemed like a good for Toronto, but unfortunately that ship seems to have sailed, now they probably need to look a little older if and a little heavier and consider Radko Gudas as the best of what is likely available on the blueline. Gudas still has a very palatable contract for next season, and the Flyers can likely leverage his size, physicality, and surprisingly good underlying numbers into a solid return from someone.

Beyond Gudas, and what he can do for an immediate need and likely availability the rest of the Leafs wants should read like a true wishlist and include defensemen like Gostisbehere, Sanheim, and Provorov or forwards like Sean Couturier or Nolan Patrick, and at this point I might as well include Carter Hart and Claude Giroux if I’m just going to list untouchable assets.

Yeah, here’s where it opens up into a more complete discussion. The Flyers are absolutely looking to cash in on Wayne Simmonds, as everything about him fits the hockey man profile of what a playoff performer should be. Teams should only want power forwards come playoff time and you don’t have a roster full of them there is no chance your team will win. Considering that there are probably at least 10 teams calling the Flyers to see if Wayne is available, and while the Leafs are quite possibly one of them, I am encouraged by Dubas’ public comments about not giving up their best assets for rentals. What that probably means is that Toronto isn’t a fit.

The other option for Toronto here is Michael Raffl, a much cheaper option for acquiring a depth winger. He’s a heavy hockey option, but not close to the talent level of Simmonds. If the plan is to have additional bodies in the playoffs and to give Mike Babcock some roster flexibility, Raffl is an option. Frankly, I’d rather just play Trevor Moore, but we’ll throw his name out there anyway.

Any Wayne Simmonds or Radko Gudas deal will likely be made with the future in mind, but perhaps a much more immediate future than with some of the other sellers on the list. The Flyers have a good young defensive core, a good young goaltender, a handful for exciting forwards and 3 or 4 prospects in waiting who could make a difference as well. I’m not sure if the Leafs are wanting to deal off their roster, and the Jake Muzzin deal points to them not, but Connor Brown as a piece in a Wayne Simmonds deal still sticks out to me, allowing the Leafs to get much better in the short term while the Flyers can immediately replace Simmonds, in some capacity anyway.

Semyon Der-Arguchintsev might be the best prospect that the Leafs are making readily available, and in a deal for a player like Gudas the Leafs would have to pay up, possibly beyond that and could put 2020 draft picks in play.

Is there an appeal in having a Russian pairing of Provorov and Zaitsev? It seems a bit like tethering a cinder block to a Mercedes, but if Gudas is departing at the deadline perhaps they’ll need some backfill. If the Leafs are able to take Andrew MacDonald off their hands in the deal that would help Flyers a bit in the short term salary wise, as well. Maybe the Flyers want a veteran presence. Right now I’m not sure we really know what Cliff Fletcher’s vision for the Flyers is beyond breathing a sigh of relief that Carter Hart is the real deal.

There’s no escaping the fact that the Leafs have repeatedly been connected to both Simmonds and Gudas, so there’s a very real possibility of a trade here. I’m not sure that it’s in the best interest of the Leafs to do business with Philadelphia, but it wouldn’t take much for me to be sold on having Gudas on the Leafs blueline.

In contrast to that, the Flyers seem like a team that could draw bidding wars on both Simmonds and Gudas, and in that event the Leafs seem much more likely to move on to the next name on their list rather than overspend, or at least one would hope.