Ahead of Friday’s 3 p.m. NHL trade deadline, the Philadelphia Flyers made a trade out of left field, swapping winger Wade Allison for Nashville Predators winger Denis Gurianov.
Gurianov, 26, is now on his fourth team in two seasons, and was drafted 12th overall by the Dallas Stars in the 2015 NHL Draft.
The Flyers have had some success with reclamation projects this season, and Gurianov is the next talent on the conveyor belt. Flyers general manager Danny Briere explained just how much there is to like about the Russian forward.
“He’s interesting. Big, 6-foot-3 left winger that can skate like him. The fact that he’s had some success in some big games,” Briere said, breaking down the Gurianov trade. “He’s had a pretty interesting playoff run a few years ago. I know it’s been a little tougher for him the last couple of years, but if he catches fire again – we’re a little thin on the left side, and he brings us speed and size – who knows where that goes.”
The playoff run Briere is referring to is the 2019-20 playoff run Gurianov had with the Stars, during which he scored nine goals, eight assists, and 17 points in 27 playoff games despite averaging 13:53 of ice time. Ultimately, Gurianov and the Stars lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2020 Stanley Cup final.
For Briere and the Flyers, the Gurianov trade is the ultimate low-risk, high-reward move a rebuilding team like this should be pursuing. Gurianov scored 20 goals in his age 22 season in 2019-20, and followed that up with a pair of 30-point seasons in 2020-21 and 2021-22 – his age 23 and 24 seasons. Now 26 years old and approaching 27, Gurianov is facing a crossroads with his NHL career.
The Flyers do have some versatility up front, and they also have a handful of forwards that have hit a wall in the last few weeks. Bobby Brink and Cam Atkinson have been rotating, but Gurianov allows the Flyers to get bigger and faster with the playoffs fast approaching.
It will be interesting to see what the Flyers and John Tortorella manage to coax out of a talented player like Gurianov in these next few weeks.
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