‘I think it went exactly as we expected’: Breaking down the Flyers’ trades of Claude Giroux, Justin Braun and Derick Brassard

By the time the 3 p.m. trade deadline came and general manager Chuck Fletcher was forced to put his proverbial pencil down, three veterans and two young players were no longer in the Flyers’ system.

In three separate deals, Fletcher traded away longtime captain Claude Giroux, defenseman Justin Braun, forward Derick Brassard, 2016 fourth-round pick Connor Bunnaman, 2016 22nd overall pick German Rubtsov, and a 2024 fifth-round pick.

» READ MORE: ‘Him and the Flyers go hand-in-hand’: Claude Giroux leaves Philadelphia as an all-time great

In return, the Flyers acquired winger Owen Tippett and four draft picks (a first-rounder in 2024, two third-rounders in 2023, and a fourth-round pick in 2023). According to Fletcher, assistant general manager Brent Flahr preferred draft picks in 2023, which is expected to be a deeper draft than 2022.

“I think it went exactly as we expected,” Fletcher said. “We’ve been receiving a lot of calls on Justin Braun, so we expected that we would be able to move him. Derick Brassard, obviously a versatile, veteran forward who’s played an awful lot of playoff games, I expected we would move him as well. At this point, we’re carrying 18 [skaters] and two [goalies]. So I think we’re happy moving those two players and picking up a third- and a fourth-round pick.”

There were a couple of pending unrestricted free agents on the roster that Fletcher didn’t move, namely goalie Martin Jones and defenseman Keith Yandle. Fletcher said that he had conversations with teams regarding some of his other players, but ultimately nothing materialized.

With the Phantoms competing for a playoff spot and two of their three goalies dealing with injuries, Fletcher decided to hold on to Jones. Had he received a significant offer for Jones, Fletcher said he would have looked at it.

Now, the Flyers have six picks in the 2022 draft, nine picks (three in the third round) in 2023, and seven picks (including a conditional first-rounder) in 2024 as Fletcher looks to “aggressively retool” for next season.

On Saturday, the first trade-deadline domino fell for the Flyers when they traded Giroux, Bunnaman, Rubtsov, and a 2024 fifth-round pick to the Florida Panthers in exchange for Tippett, a conditional first-round pick in 2024, and a third-round pick in 2023.

The condition for the 2024 first-round pick is if it falls in the top 10, the Flyers will receive Florida’s 2025 first-round selection instead.

The Flyers retained 50% of Giroux’s salary-cap hit in the deal, which essentially helped Fletcher increase the return. Yes, increase.

» READ MORE: Chuck Fletcher wants to use last 20 games as building blocks for the Flyers future

At face value, for a player of Giroux’s caliber, the haul Fletcher negotiated in exchange for Giroux seems small. However, one must consider the realities of the scenario that Fletcher was in.

Giroux had a full no-move clause and a source confirmed to the The Philadelphia Inquirer that Giroux was only willing to waive the no-move clause to join the Panthers.

“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,” Fletcher said on Sunday. “I did have a very limited market in terms of the teams I could speak with. I spoke with several teams, but not all of those teams I would have been able to complete a deal with.”

Last month, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli told The Inquirer that the return for Giroux would likely be in the “first-round-pick-and-top-prospect world.” The 2024 first-round pick is not ideal — “We got the best one we could,” Fletcher said — but the Panthers don’t have their 2022 first-round selection (traded away for Sam Reinhart last summer) nor their 2023 first-rounder (traded to the Montreal Canadiens to acquire defenseman Ben Chiarot on March 16).

Still, Fletcher views the first-round pick as a “great chip for us on the draft floor.” The return for Giroux is similar to what the St. Louis Blues received for rental forward Paul Stastny from the Winnipeg Jets in 2018 — prospect Erik Foley, a conditional first-round pick in 2018, and a conditional fourth in 2020.

Tippett is not exactly a prospect. Drafted 10th overall by the Panthers in 2017, he’s an NHL-ready winger who had yet to become a mainstay in their deep lineup. Acquiring a player that could slot into the Flyers’ lineup immediately was Fletcher’s “first priority” as opposed to acquiring an additional draft pick or a prospect still in college or juniors.

The return itself isn’t necessarily the issue — the bigger issue is that the Flyers were in a situation in which they had to trade the face of the franchise after he made it clear he wanted to be a Flyer for life. Had the Flyers’ season not gone off the rails, Giroux could still be a Flyer.

But given the team’s reality and Giroux’s contractual right to control his destiny, the outcome works for both parties. Giroux could have stayed with the Flyers through the end of the season and signed as an unrestricted free agent elsewhere, giving the Flyers nothing in return for their longtime captain.

Around 12:30 p.m. on Monday, the Flyers traded Braun to the Rangers in exchange for a 2023 third-round pick. The Flyers did not retain any of Braun’s salary in the deal.

Like Giroux, Braun, 35, is set to become an unrestricted free agent in the offseason.

A second-round pick would’ve been an ideal return for Braun given the value of right-shot defensemen and his playoff experience (100 career postseason games). The Canadiens received a conditional second-round selection in 2022, a 2024 seventh-round pick as well as 26-year-old defenseman William Lagesson in exchange for left-shot defenseman Brett Kulak.

However, Kulak is 28 years old and is considered to be a second-pairing defenseman. The Canadiens also retained half of Kulak’s salary cap-hit in the deal. Braun, although he played 50 games on the Flyers’ top pairing due to injuries, projects more as a third-pairing defenseman.

Meanwhile, the Detroit Red Wings picked up a 2023 second-round pick, 27-year-old center Oskar Sundqvist, and 26-year-old defenseman Jake Walman from the Blues in exchange for 31-year-old left-shot defenseman Nick Leddy and 31-year-old defenseman Luke Witkowski. The Red Wings also retained half of Leddy’s salary.

In their final move, the Flyers flipped forward Derick Brassard to the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for a 2023 fourth-round pick. The Flyers retained half of Brassard’s salary cap-hit in the deal.

Brassard, 34, is another rental slated to become an unrestricted free agent in the offseason. He missed 31 games this season due to a nagging hip injury.

Fletcher acknowledged that he wasn’t entirely sure he would be able to deal Brassard due to his recent injury history. In 31 games with the Flyers, Brassard (6 goals, 16 points) served as a versatile forward who could play either center or wing on any line and chip in on the power play.

The most comparable deal was the San Jose Sharks’ trade of forward Andrew Cogliano (half of salary cap-hit retained) to the Avalanche for a 2024 fifth-round pick. Both forwards are the same age and are depth players, however they will hold different roles — Cogliano (4 goals, 15 points in 56 games) is more of a defensive player and penalty killer.

Brassard is also a proven playoff performer, as he’s averaged .58 points per game over 117 games.Cogliano has averaged .29 points per game over 100 playoff games.