Revisiting the Richards and Carter trades Part II: The Results

After examining the Causes for the trades of Mike Richards and Jeff Carter, the question to answer now is: Was it ultimately worth it?

For the two of them it seems to have worked out okay. After a short and sulky stint in Columbus, the Blue Jackets opted to ship Carter to the Kings themselves where he would be reunited with Richards. The two of them would win the Stanley Cup that year in one of the most remarkably lucky (by which I mean injury-free) runs at a Stanley Cup.

That in and off itself was a challenging fact for Flyers fans to accept and was largely seen as a condemnation of the trades themselves. It was proven that a team can win with the two in their line-up. However, that was in my opinion never in question. The difference in the situation between the Flyers and Kings is that their role was significantly reduced, as they were now relied upon as secondary contributors behind players like Anze Kopitar, Dustin Brown and Drew Doughty.

I myself am happy for them. They should have already won the Cup in 2010 and it cemented Mike Richards as one of the ultimate winners. It also meant that other Flyers alumni deservedly got their names on the Cup as they should have had for a while now, namely Simon Gagne (himself acquired by the Kings as a free agent) and Ron Hextall as part of their management.

As for the Flyers, they tried their hardest. It helped that the lost scoring was replaced by acquiring some free agents like Jaromir Jagr returning from the KHL and performing a grandiose heel turn by signing with the Flyers instead of the Penguins, or unsigned college graduate Matt Read who turned some heads himself. After an absolutely ridiculous series against the Penguins, they would however fall short against the Devils who would advance to the Finals and be crushed by the Kings.


The trades themselves are also looking good from the perspective of the Flyers. All the key pieces have established themselves as core members. Voracek has become one of the better right wings in the league and is a constant threat on the side of Claude Giroux, who has wonderfully grown into the first line center role that was opened up by the departure of Richards and Carter. Wayne Simmonds has established himself as a great power-forward and a dominant presence in front of the net and on the boards. Sean Couturier made the NHL as an 18-year old and is at age 21 already one of the best defensive forwards in the NHL while hardly ever committing a penalty. His scoring needs work but he is an integral part of the line-up as a shut-down player. Brayden Schenn is also slowly realizing his promise, looking to break the 20-goal mark this year while centering the 2nd line.

The surrounding areas however are kind of a disaster. Ilya Bryzgalov's contract would ultimately be bought out in the wake of the changes brought upon by the new Collective Bargaining Agreement established in 2013. He had some very disappointing numbers and never fit in with the system or the team due to his eccentric personality, finishing up as one of the worst goalies in 2012, statistically.

However, this was not before the Flyers had traded Sergei Bobrovsky to the Blue Jackets, attempting to bring Bryzgalov around by removing some competition. The Blue Jackets would earn some crow calls from the peanut gallery as in "of course you go to Philadelphia to fix your problems in goal" for this move, but Bobrovsky would regain his confidence in Columbus and win the Vezina Trophy in the shortened 2013 season for his troubles, another dagger in the back of the battered Flyers fans suffering through a decidedly mediocre season.

The Flyers would return the favor by taking Steve Mason off the Jackets' hands in a separate trade a year later. Mason won the Calder Trophy as an outstanding goaltender in his rookie year and posting 10 shutouts. However, he was unable to follow this up behind a weak Columbus team and was seen as a lost cause, though he has been regaining some of his confidence with the Flyers.

Another goalie would also be acquired from Columbus in a more roundabout way, as the 2nd round pick the Flyers received in exchange for Bobrovsky was used to select Anthony Stolarz, who as of this writing shares the league lead in Save Percentage in the OHL.


However, far worse than the debacle that was Bryzgalov in net was the unfortunate end of Chris Pronger's career. Pronger was struck in the eye by the stick of Toronto Maple Leafs forward Mikhail Grabovski on a follow-through. This injury coupled with some other hits caused a long lasting battle with post-concussion syndrome.

Pronger has not suited up for the Orange and Black since 2011, and his career is effectively over. With him the Flyers lost a stalwart on the blue line, which they are still attempting to replace. They also lost the leadership and guiding presence in the locker room they needed after trading away Mike Richards. The Flyers were also somewhat forced to retain his salary and cheat the system by placing him on injured reserve, rather than using one of their two compliance buyouts allowed with the new CBA on him, as they were used on Bryzgalov and Danny Briere.

There can be debate about whether it was wise of the Flyers management to build on Pronger, who signed his contract extension with a year left on an ongoing deal and whose new contract would run until he was 42 years old without the potential if relief in case of his retirement or just such a long term injury. However, injuries are by their very nature unforeseen and unpredictable, even less so for a guy like Chris Pronger who was occasionally and jokingly described as a sort of unstoppable Terminator.

As of now the Flyers have managed to mitigate the Bryzgalov debacle, but have a number of areas in which they can improve. They are still looking to fill the crater left by Chris Pronger, as attempts to sign Shea Weber and Ryan Suter have failed, but they have managed to acquire a number of good young prospects on defense, mostly through the draft. Samuel Morin, Mark Alt, Frederick Larson, Valeri Vasiliev and Robert Hagg are showing some promise, but the biggest hope for now is Shayne Gostisbehere who is one of the front runners for the Hobey Baker Award this year. He may very well play for the Flyers next season, though I hope they will not rush him into it.

In the wake of the Richards and Carter trades it is interesting how the Flyers of today resemble the Flyers of five or six years ago. They are again a team consisting of an elite and young forward group growing towards and/or about to enter its prime, with an uneasy and aging defense corps and rather questionable goaltending.

The positive is that unlike five or six years ago, the Flyers actually have a number of talented prospects in the system with hope that those will fill the gaps in the near future. If these defensemen can catch up to the forwards, and if Steve Mason can regain his Calder Trophy winning abilities in goal (or if Anthony Stolarz manages to supplant him), it may ultimately truly have proven worth it. However, in the face of Richards and Carter completing their dream in Los Angeles, anything short of a Stanley Cup victory will be unable to actually punctuate this.

For now, the trades themselves appear to be an absolute win-win-win, as all three teams, Columbus, Philadelphia and Los Angeles, appear to be happy with what they received in exchange for the assets they have given up.