NHL has blocked a trade between Flyers and Hurricanes.

If you're a fan of the Philadelphia Flyers with your finger on the pulse of what is going on around your team, this weekend likely proved to be a rather frustrating one for you.

The Flyers were strongly linked to not one, but two, big trades over the course of the weekend but for a variety of reasons neither of those deals has yet come to fruition. The big rumor was of course regarding Flyers forward Kevin Hayes who was reportedly part of a deal that would have sent both him and Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for Blues defenseman Torey Krug and a first round pick, although there have been reports that there may have been even more pieces in this deal.

The other, and slightly less talked about rumor, was a rumored trade between the Flyers and Carolina Hurricanes involving veteran defenseman Tony DeAngelo. In this case, we are now learning that the National Hockey League itself may have played a significant role in blocking the trade due to concerns around cap circumvention.

From NHL insider Pierre LeBrun:

But my understanding is that the NHL took issue with DeAngelo going back to Carolina within a year of his trade from the Hurricanes. There’s language in the CBA about a player returning within 12 months, especially on a retained salary, as being possible circumvention.

This would make the trade sound like a done deal as far as the Hurricanes and Flyers are concerned, and it sounds like both teams may be pressuring the NHL to give this one the green light. The Flyers and Hurricanes are reportedly arguing that, both the fact that DeAngelo's deal was signed after he was traded by the Hurricanes and the fact that Chuck Fletcher was general manager of the Flyers at the time should make them exempt from this ruling.

It's not clear yet which way the NHL is going to lean on this one, but an answer is expected as early as this week.