The Philadelphia Flyers’ miserable start has sparked all kinds of noise, but Oilers fans shouldn’t get ahead of themselves.
Yes, the Flyers are scuffling badly. And yes, that has been enough to kick up trade chatter, including speculation around players such as Travis Konecny and Matvei Michkov. Michkov has even been floated in a proposal that would send Isaac Howard and two picks in the 2028 NHL Draft to Philadelphia.
But the idea that the Flyers’ early-season mess is going to turn into an easy fix for Edmonton? That’s a stretch.
Nine games into the 2026-27 campaign, Philadelphia is sitting at 0-6-3. The offense has been stuck in the mud with 11 goals, tied with the Los Angeles Kings for the fewest in the league, while the defense has been getting buried, with 33 goals allowed - the most by any Eastern Conference team and the third-most in the NHL. Four of those nine losses have come by at least three goals.
The schedule isn’t doing them any favors, either. The Flyers’ next two games come against the Ottawa Senators, who lead the Atlantic Division heading into Saturday’s action, and the Colorado Avalanche, the reigning Presidents’ Trophy winners. They’ve also played four more games than the next-closest team in the Metropolitan Division, and only the New York Rangers - who are nine points ahead in second place - have played as many games or more.
That’s all to say Philadelphia could wind up looking even worse in the standings before long.
Still, the Oilers probably shouldn’t view the Flyers as a convenient trade partner for a quick boost. Michkov is the name that has drawn the most attention, but the fit isn’t exactly obvious.
He would bring youth and a low-cost contract to a position of need, but Edmonton is in a different stage of team-building than Philadelphia. The Flyers made the second round of last year’s playoffs after a wild second-half surge, and that’s a harder kind of climb to repeat than it looks.
There’s also the matter of Philadelphia’s young core. Including Michkov, the Flyers have 11 players under the age of 25, and nine of them are signed beyond this season.
That makes any major shakeup difficult to pull off. Goaltender Dan Vladar also seems unlikely to be part of trade discussions.
If Edmonton is going to poke around the Flyers, players like Konecny or Rasmus Ristolainen may be more realistic names to monitor. Ristolainen has already been tied to trade talk around last year’s deadline and again in the summer, with the Ottawa Senators and Detroit Red Wings showing interest of some kind. Konecny, meanwhile, has come up more recently as a possible target for the Oilers.
He would bring playoff experience from his time with the Flyers, but his near-$9 million AAV and his status on injured reserve could make him a tougher fit for Edmonton right now.
For now, though, the bigger point is simple: nine games is too small a sample to force a move. The Flyers may be struggling, but that doesn’t mean they need to rush into a trade just to do something. Elliotte Friedman backed that idea, saying the front office shouldn’t be or feel like they are in a position to make a move yet.
So the Flyers are worth watching over the next few weeks. They’re just not in a spot where they’re likely to hand the Oilers an easy answer today.
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The injury is separate from the ankle problem that slowed Dickinson earlier, which matters because the Oilers were hoping to build some continuity around him after that delayed ramp-up. Instead, they are suddenly dealing with another absence in a part of the lineup that can least afford churn, and the uncertainty now lingers over how long he might be out and what it means for Edmontons depth chart going forward. [Read more 🡒]