Transaction Analysis: Flyers Trade Walker, Extend Seeler

The Philadelphia Flyers made two moves on Wednesday with both immediate and far-reaching implications. The team traded impending unrestricted free agent defenseman Sean Walker to the Colorado Avalanche and preempted unrestricted free agency for fellow defenseman Nick Seeler with a four-year contract extension.

Seeler, 30, has been a rock of solid play for the Flyers over his three seasons in Philadelphia. After missing the entire 2020-21 season amid the pandemic, Seeler joined the Flyers and worked his way up the depth chart from being a pleasant surprise as a seventh defenseman in 2021-22, to a reliable third-pair blueliner in 2022-23 to a fixture on the second-pair in 2023-24.

First and foremost, Seeler brings consistently strong positional defense combined with a physical element (112 credited hits) and a slew of shot blocking -- he leads all NHL players with 184 blocks to the table. Although he's not an offensive-minded defenseman or a player who makes many stretch passes, Seeler is underrated at getting shot attempts on net (47.1 percent for his Flyers career).

As fiery as he can be on the ice, Seeler is one of the Flyers' most easy-going and articulate players off-the-ice. His work habits are impeccable, and he exudes professionalism on the bench and in the dressing room.

Seeler's new four-year contract carries a $2.75 million average annual value (AAV). Essentially, he traded off some annual salary average for a little extra contractual security. The first two years of the contract contain a no-trade clause. The latter two years do not.

In the Walker deal, the Flyers conditionally acquired Colorado's first-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft along with veteran center Ryan Johansen. If the Avalanche, a top Stanley Cup contender, unexpectedly struggle in 2024-25 to the extent that their own 2025 first-round pick were to fall in the top 10 of the Draft following the annual Draft Lottery, Philly would instead obtain Colorado's 2026 first-round selection.

Walker, 29, served the Flyers well over his three quarters of a season with Philadelphia. He moved to puck quite well and was effective at using his mobility to joining the play up ice. He also proved to be a generally reliable defender. As a tandem, the pairing of Seeler on left defense and Walker on the right side provided both stability and consistency to the Flyers' blueline.

The Flyers, who selected Matvei Michkov and Oliver Bonk in the first round of the 2023 NHL Draft, now own a combined four first-round selections in the next two Drafts: their own and Florida's (via the Claude Giroux trade in 2022) in the 2024 Draft and their own and Colorado's in the 2025 Draft.

Make no mistake: In the short-term, the Flyers lessened their blueline by trading Walker. With Seeler currently dealing with a lower-body injury he suffered in Monday's game against St. Louis -- he was placed on IR on Wednesday -- the Flyers are temporarily down both halves of what had been a reliable pairing all season. Seeler's injury-related absence is not expected to be anything long term.

For any short-term pain the Flyers experienced in trading Walker, the long-term asset return of a 2025 first-round pick was too valuable to reject.

As part of the Walker deal , the Flyers agreed to retain 50 percent of Johansen's remaining salary cap hit ($4.0 million retained by the Nashville Predators, $4.0 million going on the Flyers' cap). The Flyers subsequently placed the 31-year-old Johansen (13 goals, 20 assists, 23 points, minus-six in 63 games played) on waivers. 

The Flyers will learn at 2:00 p.m. ET on Thursday if Johansen clears waivers. If he clears, the Flyers have the option of either assigning him to the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms or keeping him on the NHL roster.

Johansen previously played under Flyers head coach John Tortorella as a member of the Columbus Blue Jackets. The player, was later traded to the Nashville Predators on January 6, 2016, for defenseman Seth Jones.

The Flyers included a 2026 fifth-round pick to Colorado as the final component of the Walker trade.

Flyers General Manager Daniel Briere then recouped a similar asset by serving as the middleman in what was technically a three-team trade with the Calgary Flames and Vegas Golden Knights. The Flyers agreed to absorb 25 percent of defenseman Noah Hanifin's contract before flipping Hanifin to Vegas for a 2024 fifth-round Draft pick. Philly also freed up a slot on their reserve list by trading the NHL rights to 27-year-old KHL forward Mikhail Vorobyev to Calgary.