Flyers sign free-agent enforcer Nic Deslauriers, bring back Justin Braun

As free agency opened Wednesday, the Flyers continued to address the holes on their blue line by signing a familiar name, Justin Braun, and added to their forward depth by signing physical left winger Nic Deslauriers.

With first-pair defenseman Ryan Ellis’ status still uncertain after a “multilayered” pelvic injury he suffered last year during training camp, Keith Yandle’s pending retirement, and the Braun trade to the New York Rangers at the trade deadline, the Flyers were left with three open spots in their defensive corps. They filled one when they traded for Tony DeAngelo on Friday.

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Now, Braun has returned to fill the hole he left behind when he was traded, joining the Flyers on a one-year, $1.75 million contract. He is coming back to a similar locker room but with a different coach, with John Tortorella now at the helm.

“Justin Braun’s a guy that we know that was able to come in on an affordable contract and provide depth and help our penalty kill,” general manager Chuck Fletcher said.

Last season, Braun started off slotted into the third pair but stepped up when injuries forced him to move up the lineup. He spent a lot of time on the first pair with Ivan Provorov and worked often with young defenseman Cam York.

With five goals and 11 assists in 61 games for the Flyers, Braun, normally regarded as a stay-at-home defenseman, posted a career high in goals last season. Despite the Flyers’ well-documented struggles, he finished with a plus/minus of plus-3 and was one of the team’s most reliable players before being dealt to New York on deadline day.

While the Flyers’ brass has said that they believe Ellis will play again, they have not given a definitive response about whether it will be this season. Braun’s return to Philadelphia shows they’re prepared for Ellis to miss a substantial period of time.

“Right now, we felt we had some major holes on defense with the uncertainty around Ryan Ellis,” Fletcher said. “He’s progressed, but there’s no guarantee when he’ll be back.”

After addressing the blue line, Fletcher turned his attention to building depth, the best he could do without the salary-cap space to sign a star.

“It was more about depth signings, getting guys who make us a little bit harder to play against and making sure we have some players on two-way contracts that can move between Lehigh Valley and Philadelphia,” Fletcher said.

The biggest name of the group was Deslauriers, who signed a four-year, $7 million contract ($1.75 million average annual value) and adds another veteran presence to the Flyers locker room.

“There was a pretty aggressive market for him,” Fletcher said. “Players like Nic Deslauriers are hard to find.”

At 31 years old, the rugged winger has played nine NHL seasons and 506 games split between the Montreal Canadiens, Buffalo Sabres, Anaheim Ducks, and Minnesota Wild.

Deslauriers started last season with the Ducks before being traded to the Wild on March 19. Over 81 games (61 with the Ducks, 20 with the Wild), Deslauriers scored eight goals and had five assists, finishing with a minus-11 rating.

The 6-foot-1, 220-pound Deslauriers’ game is predicated on physicality, as he ranked in the top 10 in the league in hits (263), penalty minutes (113), and fighting majors (13). A prototypical Tortorella-type player, Deslauriers gets in on the forecheck and throws his big body around, something Tortorella and Fletcher want to see more from the Flyers this season. He also fits into the team’s aspirations to get bigger and “harder to play against,” a priority that was apparent at last week’s NHL draft.

“With the number of young players that we expect to be on our roster next year and in a division where there’s a lot of big, physical players, we thought Nic Deslauriers would help our group and bring an element that we feel we need to allow the rest of our group to play to their capabilities,” Fletcher said.

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Tortorella described Flyers defenseman Nick Seeler as the type of player he really likes, especially after seeing a clip of one of Seeler’s fights. Coincidentally, Deslauriers fought Seeler last season when the Flyers played the Wild in Minnesota. He most likely will slide in somewhere in the Flyers’ bottom six.

The big question surrounding the move for Deslauriers will be the term of his contract. A four-year deal will see Deslauriers on the Flyers’ books through his age 34 season, a worrying thought given Deslauriers’ style of play and the wear and tear he puts on his body.

Fletcher’s other depth signings included three new players and two familiar players. He brought back defenseman Kevin Connauton, who played in 26 games for the Flyers and had one goal and two assists last season. Connauton will be on a two-year, two-way deal with an AAV of $750,000.

Cooper Marody, a center he signed from the Edmonton Oilers, also has a history with the organization. The Flyers drafted him in the sixth round in 2015. The 25-year-old has played in two NHL seasons for a total of seven games. Marody is on a two-year, two-way deal.

With goaltender Ivan Fedotov held in Russia for a year completing his mandatory military service, Fletcher also had to address the backup goalie situation, and he did so by signing Troy Grosenick, a 32-year-old with four NHL games under his belt. Grosenick is on a one-year, one-way deal. Fletcher also said he hopes Samuel Ersson, who was injured last season, will compete for the spot along with Felix Sandström.

Fletcher kept bulking up the organization’s center depth by also signing 26-year-old Adam Brooks to a two-year, two-way deal worth $762,500 a year. He has played in 43 NHL games across three NHL seasons and four teams.

Finally, Fletcher added one last piece to the blue line with Louis Belpedio, a 26-year-old right-handed defenseman. Belpedio has played in four NHL games and is on a one-way, one-year contract.

After the Flyers placed Oskar Lindblom on waivers with the intention of a buyout on Tuesday, it took Lindblom just over 27 hours to land with a new team. On Wednesday, the San Jose Sharks announced they signed the beloved former Flyer to a two-year deal with an AAV of $2.5 million.

Lindblom, 25, notably overcame a battle with Ewing’s sarcoma in 2019. In all, Lindblom played five seasons with the Flyers, putting up 50 goals and 97 points in 263 career games. In 2021-22, Lindblom scored 12 goals and had 26 points in 79 games.

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Martin Jones, the Flyers backup in 2021-22, also is headed to the West Coast. The 32-year-old, who played 35 games for the Flyers last season, signed a one-year, $2 million deal with the Seattle Kraken. Former Flyer Nic Aubé-Kubel, who recently won a Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche, signed a one-year, $1 million contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs.