The Philadelphia Flyers made a trade Sunday night. It didn’t move the needle much, but hey, a trade is a trade. The deal sent defenseman Roman Schmidt, who had been playing with Lehigh Valley, to the Minnesota Wild in exchange for left winger Boris Katchouk.
TRADE ALERT: We’ve acquired forward Boris Katchouk from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for defenseman Roman Schmidt. Katchouk will report to the @LVPhantoms (AHL). https://t.co/gR5The0rWn
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) March 2, 2026
Katchouk, 27, has been tossed around a bit this season in terms of trades. After spending most of last season with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in the American Hockey League, Katchouk became a free agent and signed with Tampa Bay last July. He played three games with Tampa this year but spent 21 games with Syracuse, scoring four goals and adding six assists for 10 points. In December, just after the Christmas break, Katchouk was traded to Minnesota in exchange for Michael Milne.
The winger brings size (6’2″, 212 lbs) but has been up and down throughout his career. A second-round draft pick of Tampa Bay back in 2016, Katchouk spent most of his career with the Chicago Blackhawks, playing 117 of his 179 games in the National Hockey League for Chicago. He’s also had a brief stint with Ottawa before his second stint with Tampa Bay earlier this season. As shown above, Katchouk is heading to Lehigh Valley to help the Phantoms and most likely won’t be making his debut with the Flyers anytime soon barring a rash of injuries. In his NHL career Katchouk has 15 goals and 21 assists for 36 points.
As for Schmidt, 23, it appears that the glut of defenseman in the pipeline might have been the reason why he was dealt. Schmidt played 16 games for the Phantoms and had no goals and no assists in that time. Earlier in the year Schmidt played for the Syracuse Crunch and was known far more for his rather imposing size than anything else. At 6’5″ and 225 pounds, Schmidt wasn’t exactly mistaken for a speed demon. However, his size could be something a team like Minnesota sees as a reclamation project, particularly give how he is still rather young in his hockey career.
Again, it’s not a huge deal but it might be a forerunner of what’s to come in the coming days before the NHL trade deadline concludes on Friday afternoon. It did involve a defenseman moving out of the Flyers organization, just probably not the one a lot are anticipating.
