Flyers trade Pride-night boycotter Provorov
The Philadelphia Flyers have traded Ivan Provorov, sending away the defenceman who boycotted the team’s Pride night as part of a three-team trade that included the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Los Angeles Kings.
The seventh overall pick of the 2015 draft, the 26-year-old Provorov lands in Columbus and is set to enter the fifth season of a $40.5-million US, six-year contract. He was the centrepiece Tuesday of the first major move under new Flyers’ leadership.
There were plenty of moving parts in the three-team deal.
• Philadelphia traded Provorov and forward Hayden Hodgson to Los Angeles in exchange for goalie Cal Petersen, defenceman Sean Walker, defenceman Helge Grans and the Kings’ 2024 secondround pick. The Kings lost in the first round of the playoffs.
• Columbus acquired defenceman Kevin Connauton from Philadelphia in exchange for a 2023 first-round pick (22nd overall) and a conditional second-round pick in either the 2024 or 2025 NHL Draft. Columbus acquired Provorov from Los Angeles in exchange for Connauton.
The Flyers already hold the No. 7 pick in this season’s draft and now also have the 22nd pick as they start accumulating key assets for long-range success in what is expected to be a deep draft.
Flyers GM Danny Briere had said no player was untouchable after the Flyers missed the playoffs for the third straight season and went to work with the Stanley Cup final still underway. The Flyers named broadcaster Keith Jones team president last month and he is still working the final for TNT. But it’s clear the overdue rebuild is underway for a franchise that hasn’t won a Stanley Cup in 48 years.
“We felt that the picks and the direction that we wanted to go in, it was really enticing,” Briere said. “We have a chance to really start building the team the way we wanted. The right way.”
Briere said the Flyers are “open for business” this summer and that included potentially listening to offers for No. 1 goalie Carter Hart. Coach John Tortorella, Briere and Jones have all tempered offseason expectations for any fan looking for a quick fix.
Provorov had 65 goals and 217 points in 532 career games with the Flyers. The Russian was widely criticized in January when he cited his Russian Orthodox religion as the reason he did not participate in pregame warmups when the Flyers wore Pride-themed jerseys and used sticks wrapped in rainbow Pride tape.