Crushed by injuries and two double-digit losing streaks, the Flyers are in full-on sell mode, enduring one of their worst seasons in franchise history.
Chuck Fletcher is set to "aggressively retool" the club at the NHL trade deadline.
"Everything's on the table," the Flyers' general manager said Jan. 26.
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SIGN UP HERE Leading up to the March 21 deadline, we've evaluated the Flyers' candidates to be moved.
We broke down Claude Giroux before he was traded to the Panthers and have looked at Derick Brassard, Martin Jones and Justin Braun. We finish our series with James van Riemsdyk.
Why van Riemsdyk could be traded
The Flyers are an underachieving team headed for a remake of sorts, so veteran players with less term on their deals or bigger cap hits very well could be on the block.
NHL
After this season, van Riemsdyk has only one more year left on his five-year, $35 million deal. He turns 33 years old in May, has a $7 million cap hit and was signed by the Flyers' previous general manager Ron Hextall. He was not protected in last summer's expansion draft, so, in their second straight letdown season, it's possible the Flyers could look to part ways with van Riemsdyk before the final year of his contract.
The big winger is not having the season he did last year when he put up 17 goals and was tied for the team lead in scoring with 43 points through 56 games. This season, he has 14 goals, 25 points and a minus-27 mark in 62 games.
However, van Riemsdyk has goal-scoring pedigree and qualities that contending teams would like. He's a pro in the way he prepares, is an excellent net-front power play guy and has 71 games of playoff experience.
What they're saying
The even-keeled van Riemsdyk is a smart guy and knows the Flyers' spot at the deadline.
"Just speaking realistically, when the team's kind of in the situation that we're in, no one's necessarily safe in that sense," van Riemsdyk said last Tuesday. "You're kind of aware that things can happen. There's all these different things, I'm sure teams have a lot of different balls in the air as far as what could happen.
"Obviously you don't want to be naive to that, but at the same time, it's cliche, but try to just focus on what you can control — being a good teammate, trying to be a productive player and doing your job each and every day.
"That's kind of the way I take it. When things are going good, when things aren't going so good, that's just what I try to do. Come for the next day and put my best foot forward. That's ultimately the only mindset I feel like that helps you keep things in perspective and it helps you stay levelheaded through some of the more things that can become distractions."
Trading van Riemsdyk right now is not nearly as likely as some of the Flyers' other candidates to be moved at the deadline. The Flyers will likely be much busier in the summer with changing their roster, but as Fletcher said, everything will be on the table before Monday's cutoff point.
Projected return
The Flyers would likely receive mid-to-lower-round draft pick compensation in return for van Riemsdyk and maybe a player so a team could clear cap to add cap. But given van Riemsdyk's bigger salary in a flat-cap world this year, the Flyers would have to retain some money on his deal in a trade.
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