Flyers Acquire D Justin Braun from Sharks for 2 Draft Picks

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

The wheeling and dealing continued for Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher on Tuesday. He made another addition to the blueline with his latest.

The Flyers have acquired defenseman Justin Braun from the San Jose Sharks for the Flyers 2019 second-round pick (41st overall) and a 2020 third-round pick.

Braun, 32, scored two goals and had 16 points last season for San Jose in 78 games. In his nine-year NHL career, Braun has 24 goals and 130 assists for 154 points in 607 games.

Braun has typically played in a Top-4 role for the Sharks, averaging between 20 and 21 minutes of ice time in the last six seasons.

Braun has one year remaining on a five-year, $19 million contract. His cap hit is $3.8 million. The Sharks re-signed Erik Karlsson to an eight-year megadeal on Monday and with Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Brent Burns all with high salaries on the blue line, a domino was bound to fall.

The cost of this acquisition for the Flyers is a second-round pick in this year’s draft at 41st overall and a third-round pick next year, which allows them to retain their first-round pick at 11th overall this season to still be able to select a valuable prospect.

Braun now joins Matt Niskanen as new additions to the Flyers blue line. Fletcher is also working to make a deal with free-agent Kevin Hayes, who he acquired from Winnipeg on June 3. That would be three new players in the Flyers lineup come October if a deal does indeed get done.

And that’s not to say that’s the last of Fletcher’s wheeling and dealing just yet.