Justin Braun
In a poll conducted by The Athletic ranking NHL front office confidence levels based on fan input, the Flyers ranked dead last, 32nd in the NHL.
The NHL Draft has come and gone, blink and you missed free agency. The final piece of the Flyers offseason outlook is to focus on line combinations for the upcoming season.
The Flyers tried to move cap space, but couldn’t clear enough for Johnny Gaudreau to sign with his hometown team. The Flyers instead added forward Nicolas Deslauriers and brought back defenseman Justin Braun.
On Wednesday, you saw that the current regime is incapable of handling a rebuild. They insisted upon an aggressive retool for a fast fix, not the necessary rebuild needed. Now it’s time to start that rebuild anyway, but focus on the front office that has so clearly set the Flyers back.
As the trade deadline passes and the Flyers open up a few roster spots, it presents more of an opportunity for younger players to get more of a look at increased roles in the NHL. GM Chuck Fletcher used Sunday’s game as an example of what he hopes to see for the rest of the season, “energy, hard work, young players playing a bigger role and getting an opportunity to show what they can do for next year.”
The guys discuss Claude Giroux’s 1,000th NHL and the Flyers trading the captain to the Florida Panthers two days prior to the deadline. They also look at deadline day deals for Justin Braun and Derick Brassard, as well as break down the team going forward with the addition of Owen Tippett.
The Flyers moved Justin Braun at the trade deadline to the New York Rangers for a 2023 third-round pick. So was Derick Brassard, who heads to the Edmonton Oilers for a 2023 fourth-round pick.
The 2022 NHL Trade Deadline is just a few hours away, and with the Flyers trading their longtime captain on Saturday, what will they do on Monday?
“We signed Claude eight years ago to a lengthy, superstar type of contract, which he earned, and as part of that contract he had a no move clause and he earned that right to decide, to have a big say in where he would go, I think is the best way to put it,” Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher said. “I did have a very limited market in terms of the teams I could speak with.”
In the end, Giroux ultimately held the keys to his destination. Florida was where he wanted to be. That left the Flyers limited in what they could get in return. If nothing else, the return in the Giroux deal is more of a reality of what the state of the Flyers is and remains after this trade, and the result of years of shortcomings by the organization.
