How much has the Flyers’ Sean Walker boosted his trade value this season?

Credit: Sean Walker (© Kyle Ross-USA TODAY Sports)

With just over one month remaining until the NHL’s March 8 trade deadline, we’ve got you covered at Daily Faceoff with at least one trade-focused story every day until Deadline Day.

Today we continue our player profile series with Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Sean Walker, who ranks No. 7 on our Trade Targets board.

2024 Trade Deadline Countdown: 31 Days

SEAN WALKER
Right Defense, Philadelphia Flyers
Shoots: Right
Age: 29
Height: 5-foot-11 | Weight: 196 lbs
Cap Hit: $2.65 million
Term: Pending UFA
2023-24 Stats: 51 GP, 5 G, 13 A, 18 Pts, 19:33 TOI
Career Stats: 6th season (Los Angeles, Philadelphia), 283 GP, 21 G, 64 A, 85 Pts
Best Year: This year, on track to set new career bests in goals, assists, points, hits, shots, blocks, plus/minus
Playoffs: 1 appearances, no rounds won, 2 GP, no points

Archetype and Ideal Role

Mobile Defenseman, 2nd / 3rd Pair

Eight months after being cast off by the Los Angeles Kings as a salary cap casualty, Walker has emerged as a quality depth addition ahead of the deadline. He’s been a pleasant surprise in just about every way for the Flyers, who are hoping to now cash in. Walker can kill penalties and potentially chip in on a second power play unit, but will be a strong fit on a team that prioritizes skating.

Scouting Report

One scout compared Walker to Dan Boyle – but without the offensive upside. It’s an intriguing comparison. They are the same size. They’ve both blossomed playing under John Tortorella. And like Boyle, Walker played four years of college hockey in Ohio, joining the Kings organization in 2017 as an undrafted free agent out of Bowling Green.

But the Boyle-Walker comparison is intriguing more so because of their effortless skating. Both backwards and forwards, Walker scores in the 75th percentile or higher in every skating metric on NHL EDGE puck and player tracking. His top skating speed of 23.04 mph is in the 90th percentile.

Any team that coaches its defensemen to skate forwards and “surf” across the ice will love Walker. He is elite in shifting his weight when skating backwards and covers 85-feet (the width of the ice) with ease skating east and west.

In the offensive zone, Walker reads openings to creep in toward the slot, where he properly anticipates loose pucks on the weak side – which can either create scoring chances, or equally important, keep zone time alive. Along the blueline, he doesn’t overcomplicate plays and can sift pucks through holes toward the net.

That skating also allows him to join the rush. This year, Walker is tied for the league lead with two shorthanded goals scored by a defenseman, alongside Carolina’s Jaccob Slavin. Four of Walker’s five goals were scored off the rush. He jumps and anticipates openings and at times, throttles his speed to be out of sight, which shows poise.

Walker’s shot is underrated and he loves to put floaters on net for tips and deflections.

Buyer Beware

Outside of his skating, there isn’t one facet of Walker’s game that really stands out – which isn’t always a bad thing. Sometimes, out of sight and out of mind is just fine for a defenseman.

One area that Walker routinely struggles with is his gap control, which is interesting for such a strong skater. His larger gap that he allows to opposing forwards is one reason why he doesn’t kill many plays – either in the neutral zone or just after crossing the blueline. Part of that could also be the Flyers’ 1-2-2 system as employed by John Tortorella.

Like many strong skaters, Walker does tend to drift during plays. He doesn’t realize and likely figures he can adjust. That sometimes gets him into trouble, allowing opposing forwards to get better net presence. Though, if Walker is skating forward more (and “surfing), or playing in a more aggressive system in the neutral zone, some of that may be avoided.

Physicality isn’t Walker’s strong suit. He relies on his skating for positioning, which at least puts him in the middle of the pack for creating loose pucks via stick checks.

One other thing to keep in mind: Walker has next to no Stanley Cup playoff experience. He’s only played in two games, last spring with the Kings, and he was a healthy scratch for four of those games (in favor of Alex Edler) before being traded to Philadelphia in June.

Potential Suitors

Boston Bruins: If the Bruins had the assets, they’d be a fight to have him play over Kevin Shattenkirk.
Dallas Stars: Jani Hakanpaa is a totally different player, but it would depend how much Dallas thinks Walker is an upgrade over Nils Lundkvist, whom they already gave up a first-round pick to land.
Edmonton Oilers: Like Dallas, it would depend how much the Oilers see Walker as a clear upgrade over Cody Ceci.
Florida Panthers: The Cats could use one more right-shooting defenseman to spell Dmitry Kulikov.
Tampa Bay Lightning: The Bolts are in the market for another defenseman.
Toronto Maple Leafs: Brad Treliving is clearly in the market for defensemen but the Leafs don’t have a second-round pick until 2027. Walker could be re-signed to fit beyond this year.
Vegas Golden Knights: No one is really sure what the Golden Knights are cooking up, but they have their picks and potentially some cap relief, so they should be considered.
Vancouver Canucks: Could Walker be the depth guy that helps put the Canucks over the top?

Comparable Trade Returns

June 24, 2023
To Arizona: Sean Durzi
To Los Angeles: 2024 2nd Rd Pick

The Flyers are reportedly asking for a first-round pick in exchange for Walker. Here’s where it gets tricky: There doesn’t seem to be enough market evidence to support that asking price.

Since 2023, here is the list of defensemen who have returned a first-round pick: Erik Karlsson, Ivan Provorov, Jakob Chychrun, Dmitry Orlov, Filip Hronek, Vladislav Gavrikov, Mattias Ekholm, Rasmus Sandin and Jake McCabe. It’s pretty clear that Walker isn’t nearly as impactful as most of those blueliners.

However, Walker is seven years older than Sandin at the time of his trade from Toronto to Washington, and Sandin had first-round pick pedigree. McCabe is probably not much more impactful than Walker, but he had two years remaining on his deal and the Blackhawks retained half to knock him down to a $2 million AAV, which warranted the first.

It’s not exactly an apples-to-apples comparison because Durzi was dealt hastily in the summer as opposed to the trade deadline. But 10 out of 10 teams would take Durzi over Walker, who is also younger, under team control, and significantly more productive offensively.

Summary

Walker will be a sneaky solid depth addition for any contending team, but only at a depth price point. He shouldn’t command a premium, even though he plays a premium position and has a reasonable salary cap hit that shouldn’t require much gymnastics.

Daily Faceoff analyst Jon Goyens contributed to this report. Find him on Twitter: @gourmet_hockey

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