No One Completes Trades On June 23 Like the Philadelphia Flyers

The Philadelphia Flyers made some waves Monday — June 23 — when they made a deal with the Anaheim Ducks to bring forward Trevor Zegras to the City of Brotherly Love in exchange for center Ryan Poehling, a 2025 second-round draft pick and a fourth-round pick in 2026.

There's no way around it: the Flyers won this trade. Zegras' stock has come down in recent years, and he was hurt for a big chunk of this season, but we've all seen what he can do, and there's some talent there. 

Meanwhile, while Poehling is a solid bottom-six option, the Flyers can live without him, and while trading a second round pick (45th overall) might seem like a mistake for a team at the bottom of the standings like the Flyers are, but even with shipping one pick in this year's draft to Anaheim, the Flyers will still make six picks in the first two rounds, including three in the first round.

GM Daniel Briere was cooking on this one.

But what's funny is that — as pointed out on Reddit — it carries on a strange Flyers tradition over the last 15 years or so of making big trades on June 23. Why? Likely coincidence, but also because it's a date that usually comes just before or even during the NHL Draft.

The Philadelphia Flyers have a strange habit of making big trades on June 23 and that continued with their trade for Trevor Zegras. (Getty Images)

The biggest came in 2011 when the Flyers made two separate deals just a year after making it to the Stanley Cup Final. The first trade sent then-captain Mike Richards to the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for the great Wayne Simmonds, Brayden Schenn, and a 2012 second-round pick.

That same day, they dealt Jeff Carter to Columbus for Jake Voracek, a 2011 first-round pick that was used to select current captain Sean Couturier, and a 2011 third-round pick that was used to take Nick Cousins.

Carter would leave the Blue Jackets and join the Richards in LA, and the two would win Cups in 2012 and 2014, but the Flyers still got solid returns in those deals.

The Flyers doubled their total number of Schenns in 2012 by dealing James van Riemsdyk to the Toronto Maple Leafs for blueliner Luke Schenn on June 23.

Two years later, the Flyers sent Scott Hartnell to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for re-acquiring RJ Umberger and a fourth-round pick in 2014.

In 2017, the Flyers dealt Brayden Schenn at the draft to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for Jori Lehtera and first-round picks in 2017 and 2018. The Blues won out big in the tone. Schenn is now the team's captain and helped them win a Stanley Cup just two years later.

So, now, after an 8-year hiatus, Briere has the Flyers back to making deals on June 23.

It seems to be a good deal now, but we'll see how it all plays out, beginning with the NHL Draft later this week.