Coburn given contract extension; Pronger in lineup
The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - Flyers Report: Broad Street Bull
Coburn given contract extension; Pronger in lineup
Sam Carchidi, Inquirer Staff Writer
TAMPA _ Defenseman Braydon Coburn and the Flyers agreed to a four-year contract extension Wednesday that will pay him $18 million, a $4.5 million yearly cap hit.
He currently has a $3.2 million cap hit.
Coburn, 26, could have been an unrestricted free agent after this season.
Coburn's wife, Nadine, gave birth to a daughter, Rory, in October.
"I hit the jackpot," Coburn said of recent developments.
In 14 games this season, Coburn has three assists and is plus-1. He is the longest-tenured Flyer on the roster.
* * *
Chris Pronger, who has missed six games with an eye injury, will be in the lineup Wednesday night in Tampa.
The Flyers have only six defensemen on the trip. Erik Gustafsson, who was plus-6 in his last game against Columbus, did not make the trip because he is bothered by an apparent wrist injury.
Gustafsson's injury is not serious, and there is a chance he could play later in the trip, a team source said.
Later in the week, Gustafsson, Brayden Schenn and Blair Betts will join the Flyers in Naples to take part in their bonding trip.
In tonight's game, the defensive pairings figure to look like this: Pronger-Matt Carle; Coburn-Kimmo Timonen; Andreas Lilja-Andrej Meszaros.
* * *
Tonight's 7:30 p.m. game matches two of the NHL's best players, Claude Giroux (19 points, nine goals) and the Lightning's Steven Stamkos (15 points, 10 goals).
Tampa will be without key defensemen Victor Hedman and Mattias Ohlund. Both are injured..
Get exclusive videos and analysis in our new app for iPhone and Android. Download it here.
- Have not looked at that vid, but the one I like on YouTube is him flattening Crosby in the season opener in the Penguins' new arena last year. And nice scrap just now with Downie on a day he got his extension. Contrast that with Carter who just coasted around when he got his extension and hit the bars to celebrate...for the rest of the season.
No worst deals are those that were not made. Not getting Roy from Montreal in 1995 was awful. Not signing Tim Thomas was bad. Not trading for Antti Niemi was equally bad. SPE
Good signing. Coburn struggles sometimes in the reg. season but he always turns it up in the playoffs when it matters most. He is good for the Flyers and, as Coburn realized today, the Flyers are good for him and he didn't pursue free agency. saskflyer1


