The Philadelphia Flyers and Ottawa Senators have made a one-for-one swap for defenseman and got a little younger in doing so.
The Philadelphia Flyers and Ottawa Senators have made a one-for-one swap for defenseman and it makes one team younger but with less certainty, and the other one with some stability in the blue line depth chart.
Announced by the team on Monday afternoon, the Flyers have traded defenseman Dennis Gilbert to the Senators in exchange for defenseman Maxence Guenette. It’s a blockbuster, we know.
Gilbert was a free agent acquisition by the Flyers this summer as someone who can at the very least be a minor-league depth veteran on the blue line. And, well, he was exactly that. The 29-year-old defenseman was on the NHL roster for a very little bit but never played in a game, and was always clearly just someone signed to just hang around the lower half of the depth chart just in case of injuries or underperformance from someone like Adam Ginning or Egor Zamula (well, they did underperform and he was still in the AHL).
Since being cut from the roster, Gilbert has appeared in six games for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms and earned a total of one assist. On a blue line with other more prominent prospects like Hunter McDonald and Ethan Samson, Gilbert wasn’t really needed a whole lot in the minors.
So, the Flyers have traded him to one of the teams that he played for just last season as an extra defenseman. And in return, the Flyers received a 24-year-old blueliner that has put up solid AHL numbers but hasn’t really figured it out in the NHL yet.
Other than immediately having one of the best names in the Flyers organization, Maxence Guenette adds an interesting wrinkle to the Phantoms blue line. He is clearly an offensive player with 25 goals and 116 points in 236 games through his last four seasons, and just came off a solid 2024-25 season with AHL Belleville where he finished second in scoring among defensemen with 23 points in 58 games. There is more of that edge that Gilbert ever provided.
Guenette was an unsigned restricted free agent and has not played in a game yet this season. Just last week reports came out that he asked for a trade out of the Sens organization since he was clearly not viewed as a key piece there, despite being an alternate captain for their AHL team. Now, he gets to be added to an already talented Phantoms team who are on the rise with a very exciting group of young players like Alex Bump, Denver Barkey, and Alexis Gendron lighting the lamp.
But, there is a little bit of a problem. Guenette shoots right and the Phantoms already have a lot of those dudes laying around.
Helge Grans and Christian Kyrou are two right-handed defenseman who are at the top of the Phantoms blue line. And then factor in that Ethan Samson made his return to the ice after missing the start of the season due to injury.
Whether it’s another trade or maybe the Flyers really want to give someone like Kyrou (who has been red hot since Philadelphia acquired him earlier this month) or Grans a shot in the NHL — but, Emil Andrae and Noah Juulsen are certainly an above-average bottom pairing right now. We’ll all find out soon enough what the solution is,
For now, the Flyers got a new young(ish) defenseman and as a plus, he’s ginger.
Sep 19, 2025; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; New York Yankees pitcher Mark Leiter Jr. (56) throws during the eighth inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Kucin Jr.-Imagn Images Daniel Kucin Jr.-Imagn Images
To tender or not to tender, that is the question facing New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman. According to CBS Sports’ R.J. Anderson, Cashman has until Friday to tender contracts for the 2026 season to players not already under guaranteed deals.
On the other hand, Cashman can cut ties with those players and make them immediate free agents, which is likely to happen for several arbitration-eligible players.
That could include right-hander Mark Leiter Jr., who went 6-7 with a 4.84 ERA in 59 appearances last season for the Yankees.
“Leiter is a better pitcher than his bloated 4.84 ERA indicates. Need evidence? He ranked in the 92nd percentile in average exit velocity and he struck out roughly a quarter of the batters he faced,” Anderson notes.
“Unfortunately, that lead-in sentiment has applied for most of his career — and that’s not a good sign when you’re talking about a right-handed reliever nearing his age-35 campaign,” Anderson adds. “The Yankees are skilled enough at finding cheap relief arms that I think they part ways here. Prediction: Non-tendered.”
The Yankees acquired Leiter from the Chicago Cubs before the 2024 MLB trade deadline. He made six postseason appearances for New York over the last two seasons, going 1-0 with a 1.69 ERA.
Leiter, who went to high school in Toms River, N.J. and attended New Jersey Insititute of Technology, comes from a long line of Leiters to take a big-league mound.
His father, Mark Leiter, spent 11 seasons in the majors and pitched for the Yankees in 1990.
His uncle, Al Leiter, was a two-time All-Star and two-time World Series champion, winning titles in 1993 with the Toronto Blue Jays and in 1997 with the Florida Marlins. Leiter made his MLB debut in 1987 with the Yankees and later pitched for the New York Mets from 1998 to 2004. Leiter finished his 19-year career with the Yankees in 2005.
Al Leiter’s son, Jack Leiter , currently is a starting pitcher for the Texas Rangers. Jack Leiter attended Delbarton School in Morristown, N.J. with current Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe.
The Yankees selected Jack Leiter in the 20th round of the 2019 MLB Draft, but the right-hander opted to honor his commitment to Vanderbilt University. The Rangers selected Leiter with the No. 2 pick overall in 2021.
Leiter made his MLB debut in 2024 and became a rotation mainstay for Texas in 2025, going 10-10 with a 3.86 ERA in 29 starts.
As for Mark Leiter Jr., MLB Trade Rumors projects he will make $3 million if he goes to arbitration.