Did Provorov's Decision to Avoid Pride Night Damage His Trade Value?

In past seasons, for their annual Pride Night game, the Flyers have had the option to use rainbow colored tape on their stick blades during the games warmup session to show their support for the LGBTQ+ community. This year they took it even further, not only giving players the stick blade tape option, but also implementing a warmup jersey that all the players in the lineup would wear during the pre-game warmups. The jersey's would then be auctioned off after the game with the proceeds benefiting Flyers Charities. It was the first time the Flyers had showed legit support for the LGBTQ+ community since the You Can Play movement began several years ago.

I'm sure when the talk about the decision to have the team wear the jerseys was being discussed and decided on the executives in charge of bringing the plan to fruition never imagined they'd have a player outright refuse to wear the jersey. Unfortunately, that's the hand they were dealt when defenseman Ivan Provorov refused to participate in the event stating his religious beliefs for his reason behind not participating in the teams annual pride night activities.

This is not the first time it's been reported that Provorov has been difficult. In the midst of the second half of the disaster that was last season media reports surfaced saying that Provorov was being difficult in the locker room with his teammates. In the midst of that reporting it was also disclosed that he and his girlfriend had been complaining about fans disliking certain social media posts and voicing their opinions about the posts within the specific posts respected comments section.

Earlier this season, it was reported Provorov was one of the players the Flyers could potentially be looking to move out of town by seasons end. Not only has Provorov been a PR nightmare in the last couple of years, but he has also failed to take "the next step" on the ice. Even this season, despite having Tony DeAngelo and Cam York as partners at various times, he has not been the #1 defenseman the Flyers believed he could be when they drafted him back in 2015, and with Cam York, Egor Zamula, and others on the cusp of moving up and possessing the potential to be top-4 NHL defenseman, a move is going to have to be made sooner or later, with the Flyers seemingly leaning toward "sooner". Reports said the team was potentially looking at having Provorov be one of those moves.

However, after last night's latest PR disaster it very well could have derailed that option from happening any time in the near future. If it has, the Flyers could have three options:

1: Continue to deal with his inconsistent play and just wait for his contract to expire in 2.5 years(his contract runs through the 2024/25 season.)
2) Buy him out in the off-season and just be done with him.
3.) Waive him and banish him to the AHL.

Each of the above options would come with a bit of a price for the Flyers to handle. Option one means they're just stuck with him; they have no options they deem appropriate and can't do anything with him. The second option would leave them with a cap hit that extends beyond when his contract and subsequently his cap hit would end if they just leave things as they currently are. The third and final option is possible because Provorov thankfully does not have a NM/NTC in his contract, but the front office would then have to weigh whether they really want him in the AHL potentially causing issues with their young prospects who are the potential future of the organization.

As of this writing there is no word on what other teams front offices think or feel on his refusal to wear the Pride Night jersey, so this is all truly just a "think" piece, but if Provorov has successfully destroyed his trade value then option one would seem like the Flyers best bet. After all, at this point, the damage has already been done. The organization has done their best to make it clear with their post-game statement that Provorov's views are his own and do not represent the organizations views(except for where they didn't scratch him from the game which would have been whole heartedly within their rights), and there's not much else they can say or do at this point.(Except maybe make sure he doesn't play in either of the next two pride games if he is indeed still with the team.)

Only time will tell truly how much this mess has hurt his trade value and exactly what the team's ultimate decision will be.