As more trade targets come off the board, others now are shifting to the forefront. That appears to be the case for Flyers winger James van Riemsdyk. TSN’s Darren Dreger reports (Twitter link) that there are now several teams showing interest in the veteran. Michael Russo of The Athletic adds (Twitter link) that the Wild are among those teams.
The 33-year-old has been a quality scorer throughout his career, averaging 26.5 goals per 82 games. Notably, van Riemsdyk has been a strong producer on the power play, potting 21 goals with the man advantage since the 2020-21 campaign. This would certainly be appealing to playoff-bound teams who could use him in a middle-six role at even strength while deploying him in a more prominent spot on the power play.
Despite his track record, van Riemsdyk is in the middle of a bit of a down season as he has just nine goals and 14 assists in 40 games while also missing 20 contests due to a hand injury. He also carries a sizable price tag with a $7M average annual value in the final season of a five-year, $35M pact signed in 2018. Notably, that deal does not carry any form of trade protection.
Philadelphia has all three of its salary retention slots remaining so it seems quite likely that it’ll retain up to the maximum of 50% ($3.5M) to help facilitate a move and help secure a better return. It’s unlikely that van Riemsdyk will command a first-round pick in return even with a strong market, but the Flyers will have a chance to add at least a decent piece for the future by flipping him elsewhere in the coming days.
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