Dave Isaac

@davegisaac

PITTSBURGH — Was it really a surprise that Flyers general manager Ron Hextall said Friday night “we’re not buying” at Wednesday’s trade deadline?

It shouldn’t have been.

The team was five points out of a playoff spot at the time, two points further away than it was a year ago through 60 games. There hasn’t been much evidence that the team can go on a run, let alone start scoring goals at a decent clip.

Three defensemen with expiring contracts likely won't be re-signed, and two goalies are pending unrestricted free agents. Hextall has five expiring forwards whose contracts are up, too, but Jordan Weal will almost certainly be re-signed and RFAs Nick Cousins and Roman Lyubimov aren’t going anywhere.

Hextall has a prime opportunity to sell and get some draft picks on top of the nine he already has, even though the 2017 draft, by all accounts, is not expected to be deep.

“We’ll be making calls and getting calls and we’ll see what’s out there and see where we’re at as a team in the standings and make the appropriate moves,” the third-year GM said.

“I like our team. We’ve got some good players, but the consistency part, we have to level that out for sure, especially from now to the end of the year.”

It goes beyond that.

What changes will the Flyers have next season if they stay the course and maybe trade Mark Streit or Michael Del Zotto or even a goalie for spare parts? None of those players will garner a big return, and one thing that has become obvious this year is that the Flyers need help at center.

Hextall could get a head start on next year with a move by Wednesday. He has the pieces to get a quality center in a trade because the list of free-agent centers is rather pitiful. It begins and ends with Arizona’s Martin Hanzal.

So who could come this way in a trade?

Colorado’s Matt Duchene sticks out like a sore thumb because he has been the subject of rumors all season. At $6 million through 2018-19, he's expensive on the salary cap, but the Flyers can pry him away from the Avalanche because they have the defensive and goaltending prospects who are coveted.

Not all of Felix Sandstrom, Carter Hart, Anthony Stolarz, Alex Lyon, Matej Tomek and Merrick Madsen can tend goal for the Flyers.

Similarly, Robert Hagg, Sam Morin, Travis Sanheim and Philippe Myers won’t all advance to the NHL simultaneously.

If not Duchene, perhaps someone like Anaheim’s Rickard Rakell. The 23-year-old center has scored 20 goals in back to back seasons, is on the third line with the Ducks and has a contract with a cap hit under $4 million until 2022.

Scoring centers are hard to find, and with how they are constructed now the Flyers have no one who can come in and help out to score from that position.

The constant movement of Brayden Schenn from center to wing and back again shows they still don’t know what he is. They’ll say he’s “versatile,” but what that really means is they don’t feel strongly enough that he can contribute better at one position than the other.

Claude Giroux needs some help, and not just at getting healthier, which seems like a work in progress despite Hextall saying the captain and Shayne Gostisbehere have shown no ill effects from hip and abdominal surgeries last June.

“You try to do the best you can do to help the team,” Giroux said. “Right now it’s not going in. I really believe we’re playing some good hockey, playing the right way and we’re going to get rewarded soon.”

Although Giroux is referring to goals and wins, one reward would be some help if Hextall could pull it off.

Why now instead of the summer?

It’s true that most teams are still hovering around mediocrity to the point where GMs aren’t sure about their playoff chances and it may provide for a less-than-thrilling deadline. But what about the team that does want to buy? What if that team is in the Flyers’ division?

Of course Hextall isn’t in a position to be the traditional definition of a “buyer,” but acquiring a piece for the future and giving up young assets for a rental player are two different things.

Dave Isaac; 856-486-2479;disaac@gannett.com