Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Sean Walker was one of the hottest names involved in NHL trade talk to start the season. Rumors and links seemed to have cooled off for the moment, though that won’t be the case for the whole season.
However, on Thursday, we got an idea of how much Walker might cost on the market, and what the Flyers are going to want in return for him.
“You look at Sean Walker of the Philadelphia Flyers, he’s a really strong right-shot defenseman, the Flyers love him, but it’s expected they can command as much as a first-round draft pick for him,” Darren Dreger reported on TSN’s “Insider Trading”.
This is all good information. Walker loves the Flyers, and the Flyers love Walker. However, they’ve let it be known that everything they do is for the future of the team and the good of the organization. Walker is a pending free agent in the summer, and he’s already got a cap hit of $2.65 million. Couple that with the fact that he’ll be 30 at the start of next season, and you might question whether or not Walker is a good fit for Philadelphia in the long-term.
The current NHL trade market
We already heard this week that the Toronto Maple Leafs were sniffing around on Rasmus Ristolainen. Chris Tanev of the Calgary Flames is another hot name, and teams will be gathering to watch free agent defenseman Ethan Bear skate in Kelowna sometime soon. Dreger also reported that teams are interested in Anaheim Ducks defender Ilya Lyubushkin, but they’re not going to move him just yet.
It might seem like the market is flush with right-shot defenders as is, but these guys typically fetch their teams a pretty penny come the trade deadline. If Walker happens to be the last man standing, the Flyers are going to command offers that reflect the desperation of the market. As of now, the Flyers’ stance on Walker has not changed, and they’re happy to keep him for the time being.
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