On Sunday morning, the NHL unveiled every team’s list of protected players prior to the Expansion Draft on Wednesday, June 21. For the Philadelphia Flyers, the decision by Ron Hextall continued to show the team’s forward-thinking plan towards succeeding in the near future.
The Flyers decided to protect 23-year-old forward Scott Laughton, defenseman Brandon Manning and goaltender Anthony Stolarz over players like Michael Raffl, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Matt Read, Andrew MacDonald, and Michal Neuvirth. Hextall decided to go with youth and possible upside over aging and replaceability.
The crew of SOP Radio sat down to dissect Hextall’s decision to protect these players and how it would impact the team moving forward later in the week. The NHL Expansion Draft is set for Wednesday evening and fans all over Philadelphia are eager to see who the Vegas Golden Knights will select. But does Hextall have anything else up his sleeve regarding a behind-the-scenes trade? We will find out soon enough.
Other topics include:
- Expansion Draft ramifications
- Does Oskar Lindblom addition allow the Flyers to expose Raffl?
- Which Flyer could realistically be taken by Vegas
- Possible trade opportunities
- What would you realistically give up/take back in order to get Andrew MacDonald off your books?
and much more!
So put on your headset, sit back, and enjoy the newest episode of Sons of Penn Radio.
