Mon, Mar 2, 2015 at 3:10am

BOLTS BOOST THEIR BLUELINE WITH COBURN

The Tampa Bay Lightning acquired defenseman Braydon Coburn from the Philadelphia Flyers for defenseman Radko Gudas, a conditional first-round draft pick in 2015 and a third-round draft pick in 2015.

What does it give the Tampa Bay Lightning
This deal appears to be a slight overpayment for the Lightning, but they clearly needed another solid blueliner in order to make a lengthy playoff run this spring. Coburn is valuable because he can see a lot of minutes and play on either side of the line. Coburn is 30 years old, signed through 2015-16 and can even play a shutdown role. He's also familiar with former Flyers teammate {P Matt Carle}, a potential blueline partner in Tampa Bay.

What does it give the Philadelphia Flyers
What a coup here for Philadelphia GM Ron Hextall. He was able to land two high draft picks for the upcoming 2015 draft--though the first rounder could turn into the Rangers' pick (instead of Tampa Bay's) should the Bolts miss the playoffs and win the draft lottery. That's not likely to happen. Hextall also receives an aggressive defenseman in Gudas here, although the latter is currently on injured reserve and done for 2014-15. After this deal, the future is much brighter in Philly.

Fantasy impact
Coburn's fantasy value remains steady after the deal, though his plus/minus rating should get a significant boost. Gudas, on the other hand, doesn't really own much fantasy value (beyond his PIM value) and is not going to return this season. So the fantasy consequences in this move are significantly lower than reality.