Photo credits: Eric Hartline and Brad Penner, USA Today Sports
At one point in the second period of the Flyers 3-0 loss to the New York Islanders on Wednesday, Morgan Frost wasn't feeling well.
He walked up the tunnel, tried to shake off whatever was bothering him, came back, took a shift, and then left the ice for good.
Maybe it was a premonition.
Frost was traded immediately following the game, On Pattison learned from a team source, along with fellow forward Joel Farabee to the Calgary Flames.
The Flyers received forwards Andrei Kuzmenko and Jakob Pelletier in return as well as a 2025 second round draft pick and a 2028 seventh round draft pick from the Flames.
The Flyers now have seven picks in the first two rounds of the 2025 draft.
Kuzmenko, who will turn 29 next week, was signed as an undrafted free agent from the KHL by the Vancouver Canucks prior to the 2022-23 season.
He made a huge splash with the Canucks scoring 39 goals and 74 points in 81 games in his first year in the NHL.
Since then, though, Kuzmenko has been more pedestrian. He's had 26 goals and 35 assists for 61 points in parts of the past two seasons which included a mid-season trade from Vancouver to Calgary last year.
Andrei Kuzmenko is flaming hot! 🔥
He's got five goals in his last four games! pic.twitter.com/Us7w0SfwsW
He had a limited no-trade clause on his contact that allowed him to block a trade to 12 teams. The Flyers were one of those 12 teams, but Kuzmenko agreed to waive the clause to allow the trade to proceed. He is in the second year of an $11 million contract with a $5.5 million cap hit. He will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.
Oh... and he's afraid of ghosts. Watch the video if you don't believe me.
If you're going to watch anything today, make sure it’s this ghost story from Andrei Kuzmenko 😂👻 pic.twitter.com/clZUinztjY
Pelletier, who turns 24 in March, ironically, on the trade deadline, was a first round pick by the Flames (26th overall) in 2019.
He has only played in 61 games in the NHL over parts of three seasons with eight goals and 13 assists for 21 points.
And he's known for this kiss:
Clark Bishop's first goal as a Flame deserves a Jakob Pelletier smooch 😘 pic.twitter.com/zMj4uOOCMM
He was placed on waivers by the Flames back in October, but went unclaimed.
Pelletier carries a cap hit of only $800,000 and he is arbitration eligible next summer as a restricted free agent.
According to team sources the Flyers wanted to get out from behind Farabee's contract. He was in the third year of a six-year, $30 million contract with an AAV of $5 million. BY swapping that for Kuzmenko's shorter deal, the Flyers bought themselves $5 million in cap space in each of the next two seasons.
Farabee, who turns 25 in February, has 19 points in 50 games this season.
Frost, 25, has 25 points in 49 games this season. He is in the second year of a $4.2 million contract with an AAV of $2.1 million. He will be a restricted free agent in the summer, but sources said the Flyers weren't interested in signing him to a new deal.
Both players were very well liked in the locker room, which a source said took the trade news hard. The locker room now has to wonder who else the Flyers may move on from before the March 7 trade deadline. Names like Scott Laughton and Rasmus Ristolainen have been out there for multiple seasons, and there is interest in both. But, could the Flyers also look to move depth forwards like Ryan Poehling and Garnet Hathaway? What about Cam York, who has taken a step backwards this season after a promising campaign in 2023-24?
With the exception of Matvei Michkov, Travis Konecny and Travis Sanheim, it's safe to assume all the cards are on the table for GM Danny Briere.
