According to Tim Panaccio of CSNPhilly.com, the Flyers have re-signed restricted free agent defenseman Braydon Coburn to a two-year deal equaling $6.4 million.
The deal, which gives 25-year-old Coburn a reasonable salary cap hit of $3.2 million, makes the Flyers blue line the most expensive in hockey at over $22 million. But it also might make it the most effective.
Coburn, 6’5, 220 lbs., was the eighth overall pick by the Atlanta Thrashers in the 2003 draft and was acquired from Atlanta in exchange for veteran defenseman Alexei Zhitnik at the 2007 trade deadline. The lopsided deal appeared to give the Flyers one of the better young blue-line talents in the NHL when Coburn collected nine goals, 27 assists and a plus-17 rating in the 2007-08 season. However, that production would decline as Coburn earned just seven goals and 14 assists and a plus-7 rating in 2008-09 and fell even further in 2009-10, scoring just five goals and 14 assists with a minus-6 rating.
Despite a poor regular season, Coburn upped his game immensely in the 2009-10 playoffs, helping the Flyers reach the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1997.
Phila.Bright 