Justin Braun trade may set the market for TJ Brodie
By Ryan Pike
4 years agoThe National Hockey League trade market is often very quiet until a move is made and dominoes quickly begin to topple. The San Jose Sharks’ signing of Erik Karlsson has seemingly triggered some other moves around the league, most notably for the Calgary Flames the trade of Sharks defenseman Justin Braun to the Philadelphia Flyers. Because of their similarities, the value the Sharks got for Braun could be a good indicator of what the market looks like for a potential TJ Brodie trade.
The Sharks are in a bit of a cap crunch, like the Flames, only San Jose’s jammed up against the cap after signing Karlsson’s monster deal and were in a situation where they had to accept whatever value they could get to move out some salary. Braun, 32, is entering the final year of his current contract (with a $3.8 million cap hit). His career offensive high was five goals and 33 points in 2017-18, but generally he’s been good for around 20 points and is typically used as a tough-minutes defender paired with either Marc-Edouard Vlasic or Brenden Dillon.
There are a few factors that suggest that the Flames could get more for Brodie than the Sharks did for Braun:
- They’re in less of a cap bind than the Sharks, so they could merely wait for an offer that’s too good to pass up.
- Brodie’s younger than Braun by three years.
- Brodie plays more on special teams than Braun and is more of an offensive threat, generally counted on for around 35 points a season.
Brodie’s cap hit is $850,000 more than Braun’s, which likely brings his trade value down a bit. Brodie’s prominence on the Flames’ top pairing with presumptive Norris Trophy winner Mark Giordano could help him or hurt him. On one hand, reuniting Giordano and Brodie led to the captain’s best-ever season at age 35. On the other hand, Giordano has built a reputation over the years as somebody that is good enough to mask his partner’s flaws so it’s unclear if GMs would see Brodie as a guy that elevates his pairing or a guy that needs the right fit to play well.
The specifics of a deal would depend on the team that Brad Treliving is potentially chatting with, but generally-speaking the Braun swap should set the expectation that the Flames could get back a second round pick and potentially another asset (likely a lesser draft pick or a secondary prospect).
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