(Photo by Gavin Baker/Icon Sportswire)

Sam Gagner is the gift that keeps on giving. Since surviving a potential buyout after being traded to the Philadelphia Flyers back in June, the nine-year veteran is giving the Flyers more than just cap relief through the first six games.

The 26-year-old’s pair of goals and an assist may not statistically seem like much, but his presence throughout the lineup, as well as on the power play have played a relevant role in six of the orange and black’s seven points through six games.

Seizing Opportunity

Despite tallying his sixth 40-point season–his first since the 2011-12 season–with the Arizona Coyotes last year, the London, Ontario native was deemed a mismatch for the Coyotes organization. The deciding factor to part ways with Gagner, however, was Arizona GM Don Maloney’s assessment of him at the center position.

“At the end of the day we just didn’t think he could play center at the National Hockey level for us,” said Maloney back in June, per Puck Daddy’s Greg Wyshynski. “And (we) thought by moving his money around — we have a couple of young players that can put in his place that we can grow with and so we decided to move on.”

Based on the makeup of the Coyotes present roster, along with Gagner spending the majority of his even-strength ice time flanking Martin Hanzal and Martin Erat last season, Maloney isn’t necessarily wrong. Especially with Antoine Vermette back, and Max Domi joining him in the desert.

But one team’s trash is sometimes another team’s treasure, as CSN Philly’s Tom Dougherty pointed out even before Gagner potted his second goal of the season in Boston:

Sam Gagner found his way into the lineup because of R.J. Umberger’s upper-body injury and played his way into it on a nightly basis … at least until he plays himself out of it. What did he do with that opportunity? Assisted on the lone goal of last Monday’s 1-0 win over Florida, and then potted his first goal as a Flyer in the team’s 3-0 shutout of the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday. Gagner has too much skill to be sitting in the press box. The Flyers need that in the lineup, especially on the wing.

Since making his debut with the Flyers on Oct. 12 in Florida, the former longtime Edmonton Oiler has done everything Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol has asked of him.

Along with his power play goal against Chicago, which stood as the game winner, the 5-11, 202-pounder has thus far exceeded expectations defensively, while skating with a total of five different forwards between two lines at even-strength.

“I think you want to be able to show your versatility,” Gagner said back in September, via Philly.com’s Jeff Neiburg. “There’s different things that happen throughout the year. As much as you’d like every line to stay the same throughout the course of the season, it just doesn’t happen that way. There are injuries that happen, guys go into slumps; you need to be able to fill in anywhere that you can.”

Gagner seems to have gotten his passion back for the game here in Philly. Really motivated, I think he can be a real key contributor. — David Strehle (@DStrehleTFP) October 22, 2015

Gagner demonstrated that readiness on Wednesday against Boston, sniping a first period shot past Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask on his only recorded shot on goal in 15:42 of time on ice.

That wouldn’t have happened had it not been for Brayden Schenn suffering a shoulder injury against Dallas on Tuesday since the former London Knights forward was originally scheduled to be a healthy scratch.

With Sean Couturier now sidelined as well with an upper-body injury, Gagner will likely have the chance to further exhibit his versatility by centering the second or third line.

“We’re a team in here,” said Gagner, per Randy Miller of NJ.com, before the team’s recent five-day break. “We’ve got to fill in wherever you can and try to help the team win games and try to establish a role. In order to do that, you need to meet every opportunity you’re given and go from there.”

Gagner goal that put the Flyers back on top, 2-1 pic.twitter.com/Jm3t8cTByg — Stephanie (@myregularface) October 22, 2015

Whether it’s Gagner or Scott Laughton, replacing Couturier won’t be an easy task. The Flyers are almost certain to feel the effects of being without their top shutdown center.

For Gagner it’s an opportunity to further prove his naysayers wrong, whether it be Maloney in Arizona, or his own head coach who made the first-year Flyer a healthy scratch for the first two games of the season.

Doing so would not only validate his value on the ice, but increase the legend of GM Ron Hextall, who acquired the former first-round pick for defenseman Nicklas Grossmann.

Spending Wisely

With only two teams possessing less cap space than the Flyers’ $670,001 current window, it’s hard to imagine how the Flyers would own seven points in the standings had it not been for Hextall.

In the span of four months, the second-year GM swapped salary for value in a bevy of shrewd moves, including the trade that landed Gagner in Philadelphia. In doing business with Arizona, Hextall was able to shed not one, but two contracts that were at one time believed to be unmovable.

Writing for Broad Street Hockey back in June, Travis Hughes highlights the what moving the contracts of Grossmann and Chris Pronger meant in exchange for the 26-year-old forward whose already appeared in over 500 NHL games:

With Grossmann gone, the Flyers both free up a valuable roster spot on defense and shed themselves of a terrible $3.5 million defenseman who was an unmitigated disaster last season and had no real right to a spot on Dave Hakstol’s defense. They have retained $500,000 of Grossmann’s salary, according to Sportsnet, so that’s still a savings of $3 million. With Pronger gone, they save another $4.9 million against the salary cap and will no longer have to use LTIR relief just to get within compliance. So together, that’s $7,941,429 in cap savings by losing these two contracts.

Although the trade remains lop-sided in favor of the Flyers, it’s not as if Maloney was duped. As their current $12.477 million cap space reveals, the Coyotes were desperate to reach the league’s $52.8 million floor.

“That was a cap situation for Philadelphia. It’s a fairly big cap charge it’s a low cash cost to us,” said Maloney, via Puck Daddy’s Josh Cooper. “We feel we added an important defenseman to our team and continue to try to work on building our roster.”

The flyers have turned Mike Richards, Darroll Powe and Nick Grossmann into Wayne Simmonds, Brayden Schenn, and Sam Gagner — Michael Kinky (@michaelkinky) June 30, 2015

With Gagner benefitting from the change of scenery in Philadelphia, along with Arizona enjoying early success with their youthful pool of talent, both sides won’t deny their satisfaction, even with Grossmann seeing 18:13 of average ice time through six games. And while Gagner’s $3.2 million AAV may as well be $3.7 million, it’s been a hit worth taking.

According to NHL Numbers, Gagner’s pair of goals rank him fifth among teammates in goals scored per cap hit, which turns in at 0.417. His 0.208 average of assists against his AAV is a bit lower, but still ahead of players who are logging more minutes, such as Nick Schultz.

In weighing points per cap hit, Gagner comes in at 13th with 0.625 points per salary hit. As mundane to average as that sounds, keep in mind that he not only hasn’t appeared in every game, but will also likely see improvement in these numbers with more games added to the sample size.

After all, he outranks Claude Giroux in all three categories, although Giroux’s $8.725 AAV requires a tad bit more production.

With his contract set to expire, Gagner certainly doesn’t lack incentive to carve his place in Philadelphia. His 45.57 percent five-on-five SAT percentage is lower than every teammate except for Schultz and Brandon Manning, but a 57.69 percent SAT percentage Close, shoots him up the list to fifth.

That’s a good sign for a team that’s projected to be a playoff bubble team.