Bringing the trade into focus, here's what's happening:
Provorov is now a member of the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The Flyers have received Los Angeles's first-round pick in this year's draft from Columbus and a conditional second-round pick in 2024. Columbus acquired the first-round pick from LA at the 2023 trade deadline.
The second layer of the trade sees the Flyers acquire goaltender Cal Petersen and two defensemen, Sean Walker and Helge Grans, from the Kings along with a second-round draft pick in 2024. LA will receive defenseman Kevin Connauton and forward Hayden Hodgson from the Flyers.
When you look at this deal, you first stare at the biggest feature - essentially the Flyers receiving a first-round pick in this year's draft for Provorov as they turn a page towards a new era. Briere's quest to make the Flyers younger has started with Provorov, who is only 26 years old but now the Flyers essentially will turn him into a high draft pick of an 18-year-old. Furthermore, the Flyers now have two first-round picks in this highly-touted 2023 draft - their own at #7 and Los Angeles's at #22.
Make no mistake, the departure of Provorov will leave a hole to fill. His career average ice time of 24:05 is the fourth-highest of any Flyer since the NHL started tracking the statistic in 1997 and has been amassed over 532 games, as Provorov never missed a game due to injury in his Flyers career. Someone will have to fill those minutes; it's likely that a combination of a few people will have to fill those minutes. But the assets received in return - specifically the first-round pick and potentially two second-round picks - will become part of the foundation of the Flyers' future.
The second part of the trade focuses on the deal made with Los Angeles. The Kings needed to clear cap space, and the Flyers took advantage of the money freed up by Provorov's departure to obtain a second-round pick from the Kings in return for helping them with that.
Two of the three players received from Los Angeles offer the Kings cap relief; all three of them are intriguing figures for different reasons. Petersen is perhaps the very definition of a player who could greatly benefit from a change of scenery. He was presumed to be the future #1 goaltender for the Kings but for whatever reason fell out of favor with general manager Rob Blake after Blake signed him to a three-year, $15-million contract in the 2022 offseason that carries a $5 million cap hit this year and next. He spent most of last year with the Kings' AHL affiliate in Ontario, California. If there isn't a subsequent move with Petersen later this summer and he is in Philadelphia this fall, the Flyers will hope that he returns to the form once predicted for his future and further strengthen the organization's standing at the goaltending position.
Walker is a veteran of 232 NHL games over the past five seasons, although he was limited to just six games in 2021-22 because of a knee injury. He bounced back to appear in 70 games for the Kings last year, and this year will enter the final year of a four-year contract with a $2.65 million cap hit. Walker took a path to the NHL that Flyers fans may be familiar with in Noah Cates - an undrafted player, Walker played a four-year NCAA career at Bowling Green State University, where he was the team captain for the final two seasons. He developed into a prospect that the Kings signed to an AHL contract for a year after college, then liked him enough to sign him to a two-year entry-level deal and later a four-year extension.
In addition to the picks received in this trade, Grans is a potential piece of the Flyers' future on the blue line. He was taken by the Kings with the fourth pick of the second round in 2020 out of Malmo of the Swedish Hockey League and has now played two seasons in North America, both of them with AHL Ontario. Grans brings a 6-4 frame and a right-handed shot to the Flyers blue line, and having just turned 21 last month, has a lot of room in front of him to grow. Following John Tororella's adage of defense being the hardest position to learn in the NHL, the Flyers will look to continue Grans's development into potentially a middle-pairing NHL defenseman.
In what's usually a sleepy time of year for the 30 teams that aren't in the Stanley Cup Final, Briere didn't wait until the end of the playoffs to start putting his stamp on the Flyers. It's likely the first salvo in what will be an extremely interesting month of June in Philadelphia.
