PHILADELPHIA — Sam Gagner sat in his locker stall and looked up at the TV, which of course was turned to coverage of the trade deadline.

Even the players that don’t usually follow media activity can’t help but watch on the day of the trade deadline. As Gagner unwrapped tape from his shin, there was his photo on the left side of the screen with the words “IN PLAY?” beneath it.

“Yeah, I’ve been on a lot of teams that have been sellers so I’ve seen my face up there every year,” said Gagner, who was with the Arizona Coyotes last year and the Edmonton Oilers for the seven before that. “It just kinda is what it is. I was gonna call in. I actually don’t like my headshot this year, but it’s something you deal with as a hockey player and you just kinda get used to it.”

He was able to joke and laugh and after 3 p.m. he was able to breathe regularly again. Flyers general manager Ron Hextall didn’t make a trade. Gagner will stay with the Flyers for the rest of the season and that’s just fine with him.

“I think we have a good chance to make the playoffs and that’s something that I haven’t done in my career so far,” said Gagner, a pending unrestricted free agent. “Good group of guys in here, so I feel like I’m just continuing to try to establish a role where I can help the team every night. I’ve got to continue to push and hopefully see that.”

Even Flyers who weren’t rumored to be trade bait were happy with the decision to stand pat. The team’s win on Saturday got them temporarily one point out of a playoff spot. They’re still chasing that goal, but figure they’ve got a group of people that can make it work.

“We’ve been playing a lot of good hockey,” captain Claude Giroux said. “As the year went on we learned a lot. We had a lot of mistakes, but we learned from it. We’re a better team than at the start of the year. We like our team. It’s not my decision to make.”

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