Philadelphia Flyers Rumors: 3 Defensemen To Be Traded In Offseason

The Philadelphia Flyers are prepared to go into a rebuild that may take two years, five years, or eight years. Management doesn't really know the length, but in order to rebuild properly, they must move on from some of their better talent, get assets back, and give their younger players opportunities to develop in the NHL. There's a lot to talk about regarding the forwards, but the focus here is going to be the defensemen the Flyers must trade to move things along.

The team brought in Ryan Ellis before 2021-22 to help alter things for the better on defense. As he has played just four games over the past two seasons and his future is still up in the air, he's not worth keeping around. Ellis has four more years left at $6.25 million AAV and it might be tough to move him if teams are wary of his health. There's no way that a team will take on his full cap hit, but the Flyers don't seem to be afraid to eat salary cap in trades to move their big players.

Tony DeAngelo was also a big-name defenseman that was brought in recently to help the Flyers make progress towards the playoffs. It was a mistake at the start to bring in someone like him when it was going to take a lot more for the team to make the playoffs. He led the Flyers' defense in scoring, but is used on the third pair and doesn't work great with head coach John Tortorella. With one year left on his deal at $5 million, he won't be difficult to move based on his consistent offensive production and short term left.

Ivan Provorov has been in the rumor mill for a while now as he needs a change in scenery from the Flyers. He had a couple of very good years near the start of his career, but while the Flyers struggle, so does he. He is without a doubt a top-four defenseman, but would greatly benefit from being paired with an experienced defender like he was with Matt Niskanen and Ellis. The Flyers might have to eat some of his contract to move him, but teams will definitely be interested.