Provorov goes to Blue Jackets in 3-team trade with Flyers, Kings

Ivan Provorov was traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday in a three-team deal also involving the Philadelphia Flyers and Los Angeles Kings.

Provorov, along with forward Hayden Hodgson, were traded to the Kings for goalie Cal Petersen, defenseman Sean Walker, defenseman prospect Helge Grans and a second-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft. The Flyers also traded defenseman Kevin Connauton to the Blue Jackets for the Kings' first-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft and a second-round pick in the 2024 or 2025 NHL Draft.

Provorov was then traded to the Blue Jackets for Connauton.

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Provorov, a 26-year-old defenseman, had 27 points (six goals, 21 assists) in 82 games with the Flyers last season and led them in average ice time per game in each of his seven seasons. He has two seasons remaining on a six-year, $40.5 million contract ($6.75 million average annual value) he signed with Philadelphia on Sept. 12, 2019.

Selected in the first round (No. 7) of the 2015 NHL Draft, Provorov has 217 points (65 goals, 152 assists) in 532 regular-season games and 11 points (three goals, eight assists) in 22 Stanley Cup Playoff games.

"The last couple of weeks, I've had a few different discussions on Ivan," Flyers general manager Daniel Briere said. "There's other teams that were involved, but it really seemed like the best fit was with Columbus and the interest was really, really high on Columbus' side. So, we started focusing on that a little bit more in the last couple of days."

The Blue Jackets went 25-48-9 this season, finishing last in the Eastern Conference and 31st in the NHL, ahead of only the Anaheim Ducks. Brad Larsen was fired as coach April 15 and no replacement has been named.

"Improving our blue line has been a priority for us and acquiring Ivan gives us an established left-shot defenseman who is still a young player with his best seasons in front of him," Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said. "He immediately improves our group on defense as he is durable, has great skill, skates well, is an excellent passer with an accurate shot and can effectively play at both ends of the ice."

The Flyers (31-38-13) missed the playoffs for the third straight season, finishing 17 points behind the Florida Panthers for the second wild card from the East. They hired Keith Jones as president of hockey operations for the Flyers on May 11 and named Briere the GM, removing the interim tag. Briere had been interim GM since March 10, when Chuck Fletcher was fired as GM and president of hockey operations.

Philadelphia currently has 10 picks in the 2023 Upper Deck NHL Draft on June 28 and 29 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, starting with No. 7 in the first round.

"We have the chance to get a really good player when you're drafting in the top 10 this year, in this crop," Briere said. "But it's a deep draft and we felt we wanted to acquire another pick in the first two rounds, not having a second-rounder this year. So, having a chance to get in at No. 22 was critical to the deal for us."

Petersen, who finished the first season of a three-year, $15 million contract ($5 million AAV), was loaned to Ontario of the American Hockey League in November after he cleared waivers; he was 5-3-2 with a 3.75 GAA and .868 save percentage in 10 games (nine starts) with the Kings this season.

Selected in the fifth round (No. 129) of the 2013 NHL Draft, Petersen is 44-42-10 with a 2.92 GAA, .905 save percentage and four shutouts in 101 regular-season games (94 starts).

Pheonix Copley, who was recalled from Ontario on Nov. 27, went 24-6-3 with a 2.64 GAA and .903 save percentage in 37 games (35 starts) with Los Angeles, and Joonas Korpisalo, who was acquired in a trade with the Blue Jackets on March 1, was 7-3-1 with a 2.13 GAA and .921 save percentage in 11 games with the Kings.

Walker had 13 points (three goals, 10 assists) in 70 games for the Kings last season. The 28-year-old defenseman has 67 points (16 goals, 51 assists) in 232 regular-season games.

Grans, 21, who has yet to make his NHL debut, had nine points (two goals, seven assists) in 59 games in the AHL this season.

The Kings (47-25-10) finished third in the Pacific Division and lost to the Edmonton Oilers in six games in the Western Conference First Round.

Connauton, 33, has 360 games of NHL experience (28 goals, 52 assists) with six NHL teams but did not play in the League this season.

Hodgson, 27, has three points (one goal, two assists) in seven NHL games.

NHL.com deputy managing editor Adam Kimelman contributed to this report