3 Trade Destinations for Flyers’ Ivan Provorov

The Philadelphia Flyers are having a better season than their disastrous 2021-22 season because of John Tortorella, but still sit out of reach of a playoff spot this season. They are going to be sellers at the trade deadline and a prime candidate that has emerged for the team to trade is defenceman Ivan Provorov.

Elliotte Friedman reported that the Flyers and Provorov have a mutual frustration and the team could move him by the deadline. With two years remaining on his deal with a cap hit of $6.75 million AAV, the Flyers are going to have to eat some of that cap. But there are some teams that are looking for a top-four defenceman who can play the left side. Let’s take a look.

Washington Capitals

The Washington Capitals got bad news about their star defenceman John Carlson. After taking a puck to the head a couple of weeks back, he is going to be out long-term. With the team in good position in a playoff spot, they are going to have to make a move and address that big hole. Erik Gustafsson has taken over some of the offensive load, but if the Capitals acquire Provorov, he can eat up lots of minutes and be under team control for two more seasons.

Provorov has had a tough go in Philadelphia over the past few seasons, but he is still a good defenceman. He isn’t a number one as the Flyers had hoped he would turn into, but that’s not what the Capitals need either. Washington’s biggest need at the trade deadline is to fill that hole on their back-end and they could likely get Provorov for 2/3 of his cap hit. They could also utilize the LTIR if Carlson is recovering until the playoffs. The Capitals have a ton of decisions to make regarding UFAs in the offseason. This potential move could solidify at least two spots on their defence for next season.

Los Angeles Kings

As the Los Angeles Kings are looking to move a right-shot defenceman or two out, they also intend on upgrading the left side. They can work with a partial cap hit of Provorov this season and have more cap space freed up for next season with Jonathan Quick’s contract expiring. The team is running with Mikey Anderson, Sean Durzi, and Alex Edler on the left side. Anderson is solid, but Durzi is playing his off side and Edler is ineffective.

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The Kings need an upgrade defensively because the team has allowed the sixth-most goals against in the league this season and won’t go anywhere in the playoffs if nothing is addressed. Provorov has lots of upside offensively shown in seasons his team does well. He is effective in scoring goals as a defenceman, can eat minutes, and blocks a ton of shots. Shot-blocking is key to help the Kings keep pucks off their net since their goaltending is shaky at best.

Detroit Red Wings

The Detroit Red Wings have work yet to be done before they are ready to compete for a playoff spot and become a contender. One of the first steps is to shore up their defence. The left side is weak in particular as they are putting out Jake Walman, Ben Chiarot, and Olli Maatta. Provorov could play alongside either Moritz Seider or Filip Hronek and as I mentioned with the other two teams, play a lot of minutes. Part of the reason Provorov hasn’t produced much offensively the last few seasons is because the Flyers have had one of the worst offences in the league. Detroit is a lot better at scoring.

Mattaa and Walman are UFAs after the season, so that would be one less thing to worry about for Steve Yzerman. He is a good general manager and sees things in players that others may not. Provorov’s value isn’t very high right now, so the Red Wings could save themselves some assets and take a chance on a good defenceman during a time when competing isn’t imminent. They have lots of cap space to work with and may be buyers and sellers this season.