Braydon Coburn and Kimmo Timonen. Andrew MacDonald and Luke Schenn. Mark Streit and Nicklas Grossmann, with Erik Gustafsson in reserve. That was the Philadelphia Flyers defense in the spring of 2014, which Ron Hextall then inherited when he took over the job as general manager after the season ended.
Everyone around the NHL would’ve told you this defense was a major issue for the Flyers. Timonen and Streit were old, and the rest of the group wasn’t much for puck carrying. The Flyers identified it as such a critical weakness that they gave Andrew MacDonald a $25 million contract to lock him up.