Should the Flyers try to sign Brad Marchand?

Marchand is going to be a free agent this summer and he clearly has the Philadelphia Flyers mentality.

Don’t you hate everyone looking at the Philadelphia Flyers in disgust? Waking up every morning knowing that your favorite hockey team is one of the most loathed groups of hockey players who are just miserable to face because of how annoying they can be on the ice? Well, some of us want that again.

They might have an opportunity this summer if they really want to do some persuading.

During Canada’s celebration for winning the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament Thursday night, winger Travis Konecny needed a helping hand to get his medal. He was a healthy scratch and was unable to participate in Canada’s 3-2 victory over the United States, but he still earned his medal for the two games he participated in. So in comes Brad Marchand to carry the Flyers winger on his back so he doesn’t have to look super silly and scuttle his way over and potentially ruin his suit.

While it was nothing more than a happy moment between two international teammates who share the same passion for being extremely annoying pests on the ice, it got us thinking. Should, just maybe, the Flyers go out and really try to sign Brad Marchand this summer?

The Bruins captain is going to turn 38 years old before he hits free agency, but somehow, he is still playing some very sound hockey on a mediocre team up there in Boston. With 20 goals and 44 points in 57 games this season, the production is still there and almost every single underlying metric you want to look at to get a peek under his hood, he is still driving play. Hell, HockeyViz still has his total impact on the game at above a first-line forward level, playing even better overall hockey than he was in his late-20’s.

Marchand is still an impactful player at his age, so we know that he would obviously make this team better, but what does it mean with the context of where the Flyers are at and what his situation could be? If the Bruins trade him before the deadline — essentially waving the white flag on their season — the likelihood of him not returning to Boston goes up tenfold. He probably is going to be aiming to get some security on what should be his final NHL contract, so he might just go to the team that can give him the length of deal that he wants. That is where the Flyers might just be fine with trying to coerce the Nova Scotian down to Philadelphia.

The Flyers will have approximately $26 million in cap space this summer and unless they sign one of the pending restricted free agents like Cam York or Tyson Foerster to a mega long-term deal, there should be a good amount of extra room to have some fun. And what would be more fun than adding Marchand to this team and essentially being the elder statesman for Travis Konecny to get even more annoying and more pesky? We can’t think of a whole lot.

Now, is this some foolproof plan that the Flyers should commit long hours of the day to? Probably not. Does it make sense if they want to rebuild? Probably not. Would Marchand sign with the Flyers over some other Eastern teams like the Rangers or Devils, unless they pay him millions more? Probably not.

We can have some fun thinking about Marchand and Konecny getting under the skin of just about every single team they face, though. Let us have fun before reality sinks in.