from Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer,

The Flyers are counting on veteran defensemen Matt Niskanen and Justin Braun having bounce-back seasons with their new team.

If they don’t, the Flyers probably won’t make the playoffs.

If they do, well, the Flyers have a decent chance to make it for just the fourth time in the last eight seasons.

“They’re exactly what we thought when we made the trades,” said Flyers coach Alain Vigneault....

The Flyers sent Radko Gudas to Washington to acquire Niskanen on June 14. Four days later, they dealt second- and third-round draft picks to San Jose for Braun. Both are minutes-eaters on a relatively young defensive unit.

Braun played in 84 playoff games with San Jose, which qualified in eight of his nine seasons with the Sharks. Niskanen has played in 125 playoff games in his career -- his teams qualified for the post-season the last nine seasons -- and his Capitals won the Stanley Cup in 2018.

read on