Philadelphia Flyers: Grading the Nate Thompson trade
The Philadelphia Flyers are one of the hottest teams in the NHL and they just traded for Nate Thompson. Here is a quick evaluation of the move.
The Philadelphia Flyers have just five regulation time losses in their last 19 games. Their hot streak has propelled them into third in the Metropolitan Division and they are deep in the playoff hunt. This team can score and are supported by a strong tandem of Carter Hart and Brian Elliott.
Today, general manager Chuck Fletcher traded away a fifth-round pick to the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for Nate Thompson.
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Thompson played 63 games with the Canadiens and recorded just 4 goals and 10 assists. At 35 years old and in his last year of his 1 million dollar contract, this is a low-risk move for the Flyers which is both good and bad.
It’s good in the sense that this move won’t have a massive negative impact on the team but it’s bad because it won’t have a massive positive impact either. Thompson hasn’t been on the same team for a full season since 2016-17 and has only scored 10 goals once in his entire career.
He can bring some veteran leadership and physicality to the team but that’s about it. Besides, the Flyers have a locker room full of strong leadership so it makes the acquisition of Thompson seem secondary.
This just seems like a move for the sake of making a move and that is not what the Flyers should be doing right now. They have a strong core that are in their primes like Sean Couturier and Claude Giroux and a lot of promising young talent in Carter Hart and Travis Konecny on the rise.
Next. Grading the Vincent Trochek trade. dark
Fletcher should be doing a better job of adding pieces that will have a positive and lasting impression on the team rather than moves that have no legitimate impact at all.