As the Philadelphia Flyers snoop for more ways to quietly improve their roster, one Dallas Stars forward has emerged as a potential trade target. He’s just not Jason Robertson like everyone had hoped.
Rumors had previously surfaced that the Stars could trade Robertson, a former 100-point-scorer heading into the last year of his contract, to create cap space and flexibility down the road.
That may still be true, but a new report has suggested that the Flyers are interested in a different Stars forward of a lesser caliber, which would help Dallas towards its goal all the same.
According to Anthony Di Marco of Daily Faceoff, the Flyers are fans of Stars left winger Mason Marchment, a 6-foot-5 winger with 20 goals in consecutive seasons.
The 29-year-old has one year remaining on his contract with the Stars at a $4.5 million cap hit, which Dallas is presumably looking to shed to allocate funds elsewhere. Marchment has a 10-team no-trade list, according to PuckPedia.
“I have heard Marchment is a guy PHI likes. If they’re looking to add size up front (which I believe they are) I wonder if they’ll pursue him,” Di Marco reported on his X account Wednesday afternoon.
Considering the Stars’ salary cap pinch ($5 million to sign nine players) the Flyers could acquire Marchment at a relatively minimal cost. The two main questions are, of course, if the Flyers are on Marchment’s no-trade list and if he’ll stay beyond the 2025-26 season.
At 29 years old, Marchment is on the older side for the Flyers’ roster, and Philadelphia may be better suited in the long-term giving guys like Jakob Pelletier, Nikita Grebenkin, or Alex Bump the NHL ice time rather than trading for Marchment for a year’s worth of hockey.
Something else to consider is the possibility the Flyers flip Marchment to a contender at the NHL trade deadline, and being able to retain salary will give them the chance to earn the best possible return possible.
At the same time, the Flyers have only one retention slot available remaining due to the Scott Laughton and Kevin Hayes trades, so if they retain salary on a future Marchment deal, they won’t be able to retain salary on further trades until the summer.
This is something that could potentially prohibit them from trading a player like Rasmus Ristolainen, for example, at some point next season.
If the Flyers trade for Marchment, he’ll presumably slot into a top-nine role immediately, but management may want to make sure the former Panthers and Maple Leafs forward will stick around before rushing into any deals.
Marchment shares an agent, Paul Capizzano, with top Flyers defense prospect Oliver Bonk.
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