Flyers acquire Maxence Guénette for Dennis Gilbert in AHL defenseman trade

Now he’s back in the Ottawa Senators organization, right where he was when the 2024-25 season concluded.

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The Flyers announced today that they have traded Gilbert, a 29-year-old left-shooting blueliner and veteran of 111 NHL games, to the Senators for 24-year-old right-shooting blueliner Maxence Guénette in a one-for-one trade. Gilbert had not played in a game for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (he was ejected on October 12 after not appearing in either of the Flyers’ first two games) since suffering a lower-body injury on October 29 against the Laval Rocket. Now, that will be his last game in the Flyers organization.

The decision to ship Gilbert is simple: Given his status as a quality AHL/NHL swingman (Gilbert appeared in 29 NHL games last season during stints in Buffalo and Ottawa), he had fallen low enough on the Flyers’ depth chart that NHL time seemed unlikely for him with the club, barring a series of injuries on the back end.

Noah Juulsen clearly won the battle of veteran depth options in camp and has since solidified his spot as head coach Rick Tocchet’s preferred third RHD pair in Rasmus Ristolainen’s absence. Emil Andrae has quickly established himself as an option in the NHL lineup on a nightly basis. Adam Ginning remains with the big club and would presumably have the first opportunity to replace Juulsen or Andrae in case of injury. Egor Zamula remains in the NHL mix. Ristolainen is about to return to action. Top prospect Oliver Bonk will need plenty of AHL minutes once he is cleared.

Gilbert would have had a steep hill to climb if he wanted to get back into the NHL roster mix with the Flyers. Ottawa, on the other hand, lacked NHL-caliber depth on the left side, especially with the recent injury to Thomas Chabot and the loss of Donovan Sebrango on waivers to Florida in mid-October. Furthermore, they knew Gilbert well from his time at the club last season; He appeared in four games for the Sens after being a supporting piece in the trade that also brought Dylan Cozens to Ottawa. Essentially, Ottawa is simply reacquiring its defense depth from the 2024-25 stretch for another go-round.

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Guénette, a seventh-round pick by Ottawa in 2019, has had his opportunities with the Senators organization, even appearing in seven NHL games for the club in 2023-24. But his place in the Sens was no longer clear. After 2019 first-round pick Lassi Thomson returned from a one-year stint in Sweden to (likely) rejoin the Bellevue Senators (Ottawa’s AHL affiliate), Guénette apparently decided his time in the organization was up. He did not sign an extension with the club this summer despite Ottawa retaining his RFA rights and, according to Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch, Guénette also requested a trade in the offseason.

On Monday, senators finally agreed.

The Flyers quickly signed Guénette, out of contract, to a one-year, two-way contract once the trade was finalized, officially adding the 24-year-old to their organization. And Guénette brings some advantages to the table. He’s five years younger than Gilbert and still counts as a prospect given his minimal NHL experience. Additionally, he has put up quality offensive numbers at the AHL level: 116 points in 236 games. Right-handed defensemen with size (6’2 and 209 pounds) and some skill will always have value in NHL organizations.

That being said, Guénette might struggle to find regular playing time at the AHL level, even in his new organization. In Lehigh Valley, there are already three right-shooting defensemen on the roster — Helge Grans, the newly recovered Ethan Samson and the newly acquired Christian Kyrou — and Bonk is also close to returning to action. Even if the Phantoms move one of their RHDs to the left side temporarily, a clear logjam is emerging for the surprisingly competitive Phantoms.

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However, the Flyers clearly see a potential role for Guénette, or at least want to make a low-risk bet on his talent while removing from their organization a player in Gilbert who was no longer a clear fit, but who would potentially fill a need for another NHL club.