To the fans who were shouting for the Flyers to make a move Wednesday night, Danny Briere at least made one on Thursday afternoon.
Philadelphia announced a one-for-one swap of AHL forwards with the Seattle Kraken, sending Devin Kaplan to Seattle in exchange for David Goyette.
Kaplan, a third-round pick by the Flyers in the 2022 NHL Draft at 69th overall, spent three seasons at Boston University before turning pro. He got into one NHL game at the end of the 2024-25 season, but last year was mostly spent with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, where he put up 13 points - five goals and eight assists - in 49 games.
His season ended early because of an upper-body injury in late February. Kaplan was healthy at Development Camp, but he apparently didn’t do enough there, or in Rookie Camp, to keep his place in the organization.
Goyette comes from the same 2022 draft class, having gone to Seattle in the second round, 61st overall, just eight picks before Kaplan.
The two forwards bring very different profiles. Kaplan is the bigger body at 6-foot-3, while Goyette is listed at 5-foot-11 and may carry the more intriguing ceiling.
Goyette’s junior numbers were eye-catching. He served as an alternate captain with the Sudbury Wolves and posted 92 points - 41 goals and 51 assists - in 63 games during the 2022-23 season, then followed that with 117 points - 40 goals and 77 assists - in 68 games the next year. That production has not carried over to the pro game, though, as he has just 28 points - nine goals and 19 assists - in 106 AHL games with the Coachella Valley Firebirds.
There’s also another layer here. Goyette was suspended for 20 games in February for violating the terms of the AHL/PHPA Performance Enhancing Substance Program. He came back for four games at the end of the regular season and did not record a point.
On paper, this is the kind of move that fits what the Flyers are trying to do with their AHL depth. Philadelphia already has a strong crop of potential bottom-six forwards in the system, and Kaplan had slipped behind a number of them in camp. He looked like a player headed for a bottom-six role with the Phantoms this season anyway.
So the Flyers took a swing on a former second-round pick with some offensive history, even if he was only drafted eight spots ahead of Kaplan. Maybe Goyette is what he is at this point, but a change of scenery from one valley to another could still help him find some of that scoring touch.
This likely won’t register at the NHL level, but it does mark another instance of Briere and the Flyers working the AHL roster. Philadelphia made a few AHL trades last season, and this is the first one for them this year.
The Phantoms finished preseason with a 3-0 loss to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Tuesday night. They open the regular season Friday night at home against the Hartford Wolf Pack, then get a week off before hosting the Cleveland Monsters for a back-to-back the following weekend.
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For a club trying to find some footing, the concern is less the standings point than how the game unfolded once the lead was in hand. The Flyers could not hold off a Devils team that kept coming from behind, and the margin for error was small enough that an extra shift, a cleaner exit or a better finish might have changed the result. [Read more 🡒]