June 24, 2019

Flyers trade RFA Ryan Hartman to Stars for Tyler Pitlick

By Matt Mullin
PhillyVoice Staff

Chuck Fletcher's busy Flyers offseason doesn't appear to be slowing down any time soon.

A few hours after announcing that they had agreed to terms with one restricted free agent — defenseman Travis Sanheim, who signed a two-year deal with Philly — the Flyers decided to part ways with one of their remaining RFAs, trading forward Ryan Hartman to the Stars for Tyler Pitlick.

"Tyler is a hard working, versatile player who will bring speed, energy and a competitive edge to our team," Fletcher said.

The trade closes the book on Hartman's brief tenure in Philly. Acquired in the deal that sent Wayne Simmonds to Nashville at the trade deadline, Hartman had just six points (two goals, four assists) in 19 games with the Flyers last season.

Pitlick (6-foot-2, 200 pounds), who was the 31st overall pick of the 2010 NHL Draft, spent the first three years of his career in Edmonton before signing with Dallas as a free agent. In his first year with the Stars, Pitlick had the best season of his career, tallying 27 points (14 goals, 13 assists) in 27 games. Last year, in just 47 games, the forward, who plays both center and wing, notched just 12 points (eight points, four assists). He also appeared in six postseason games for Dallas this season.

YEAR	TM	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-
2013-14	EDM	10	1	0	1	-2
2014-15	EDM	17	2	0	2	-3
2016-17	EDM	31	8	3	11	0
2017-18	DAL	80	14	13	27	9
2018-19	DAL	47	8	4	12	-2
TOTAL	5 YRS	185	33	20	53	2

Here's a look at Pitlick in action:

If nothing else, it appears the Flyers were able to get something in return for a guy they were otherwise going to let walk in free agency — not to mention they may have saved themselves some cap space in the process. And, if things don't work out with Pitlick, it won't hurt them much.

For starters, the 27-year-old forward will only cost the team $1 million for the 2019-20 season, which is likely less than what Hartman would've cost them. Beyond that, he's scheduled to be a restricted free agent himself next summer.

Hartman is likely better than Pitlick but Pitlick will almost certainly cost less in 2019-20. This opens up a bit more cap flexibility for PHI, though Dallas got the higher upside player, to be sure.
— Charlie O'Connor (@charlieo_conn) June 24, 2019

After the move, the Flyers have roughly $17.1 million in cap space (per CapFriendly.com) and still have a few moves left to make just to retain their own restricted free agents.

• Travis Konecny, F
• Ivan Provorov, D.
• Scott Laughton, F
• Justin Bailey, F

Provorov is reportedly looking to sign a long-term deal with the Flyers that could pay him in the range of $8 million per year. In his latest mailbag, published Monday morning, Dave Isaac of the Courier-Post guessed that Provorov's deal could carry an annual value of $7 million. And when you add his projected cost for Konecny ($4.5 million AAV), that leaves the Flyers about $5.5 million to sign their other two free agents and a backup goalie.

Clearly, there are more moves coming. So stay tuned, especially if your name is Ryan Hartman.

Heading off the grid till next Saturday... if you need me... leave me a voicemail ✌🏽world pic.twitter.com/6Megt1CTdC
— Ryan Hartman (@RHartzy18) June 21, 2019