Justin Braun and the Toronto Maple Leafs
Justin Braun is a right shooting defenseman for the Philadelphia Flyers. With the club currently in 14th in the conference without much hope to qualify for the playoffs, Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher is sure to be in sell mode. One of the players he will look to offload is Braun who is currently on an expiring contract.
The Leafs will be interested in Braun because he adds something they’re looking for, defense. At 35-years-old, he playing with a $1.8 million cap hit, a reasonable price that the Leafs shouldn’t have too much trouble being able to fit under their salary cap.
One of the considerations to every potential deal will be how much an acquisition is being paid. According to CapFriendly, The Leafs are up against the cap with just $522,043 available.
Braun’s possession metrics are far from impressive and he isn’t the splashy name that Leafs fans would hope to see but he is a player that makes sense for the team. Braun would help improve the bottom pairings and could be had without making a significant downgrade to the offense.
This season, Braun has four goals and nine assists in 49 games though his game is mostly defensive. Interim Flyers coach Mike Yeo has put Braun out on the ice 60.5 per cent of the time for a defensive zone start.
Braun is very similar to the player the Leafs just acquired, Ilya Lyubushkin – both have extremely high defensive metrics, and zero offense. This would be a very nice depth add.