Philadelphia Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher continued his busy offseason on Tuesday, trading a second-round draft pick in 2019 and a third-round pick in 2020 to the San Jose Sharks for defenseman Justin Braun.
Braun is a nine-year veteran having spent his entire career with the Sharks. He became expendable shortly after San Jose secured Erik Karlsson with a massive eight-year, $92 million contract on Monday.
The 32-year-old is a stay-at-home defenseman, having never recorded more than 33 points in a season. He posted two goals and 14 assists in 78 games last season while logging an average of 20:18 in ice time per game.
More importantly, is his vast playoff experience having appeared in 84 postseason games during his career.
It’s just the latest move by Fletcher to overhaul the Flyers’ defense, which was one of the franchise’s largest weaknesses last year.
Philadelphia allowed 281 goals last season, third-most in the NHL thanks to that sieve-like defense and a shaky goalie situation that finally found some stability with Carter Hart.
Since the end of the 2018-19 season that saw the Flyers post just 81 — their lowest output in over a decade — Fletcher has parted ways with familiar faces to change things up.
Andrew MacDonald was placed on unconditional waivers while Radko Gudas was traded to the Washington Capitals for veteran blueliner Matt Niskanen.
Niskanen, 32, provides even more experience compared to Braun with a little more offensive flair to his game. Regardless, the two will be vital for the development of fellow right-handed defenseman Philippe Myers.
The Flyers remain high on the 22-year-old Myers, who played in 21 games last season.
“We’re bullish on Philippe Myers’ upside,” Fletcher said during a conference call over the weekend (h/t NBC Sports Philadelphia). “Going forward, we feel we have an in-house player in [Myers] that can come in and take on some of that role. He’s only played [21] games in the NHL, so there could be an adjustment period, but having the ability to maybe slot Philippe into that third slot on the right side, we feel is a real proper place for him to potentially start his NHL career.”
Should Myers be the favorite as the No. 3 right-side defenseman behind Niskanen and Braun, the Flyers will have more work to do to clear the blue line up. Robert Hagg and Samuel Morin could be made expendable seeing as Shayne Gostisbehere, Travis Sanheim, and Ivan Provarov were top-four defensemen last year.
Braun is under contract through the 2019-20 season before hitting unrestricted free agency.
