The Philadelphia Flyers announced that they have signed forward Ryan Poehling to a two-year, $3.8MM contract extension. Poehling has appeared in 44 games with the Flyers this season, netting 14 points, six penalty minutes, and a -8.
Poehling is in his first year with the Flyers, moving away from the rival Pittsburgh Penguins. He’s earned a pay raise over the one-year, $1.4MM deal he’s on with Philadelphia, settling into a comfy role on the third-line and penalty kill. With this two-year extension, the 25-year-old will get his first chance to settle into a role since making his NHL debut with the Montreal Canadiens at the end of the 2018-19 season. He spent the next three seasons between Montreal’s NHL and AHL lineup – ultimately totaling 85 games and 22 points with the club. His year with Pittsburgh was his first spending an entire season with the NHL lineup. Poehling was part of a very strong late-first round in the 2017 NHL Draft, getting selected a few picks after Robert Thomas and Filip Chytil and just before Jake Oettinger and current teammate Morgan Frost.
Poehling signed his two-year extension on the same day that teammate Owen Tippett signed an eight-year extension with the Flyers. Tippett has become a favorite for Philadelphia’s top brass, largely thanks to the 18 goals and 30 points he has through 46 games this season. Tippett has become a force under head coach John Tortorella, scoring 27 goals and 49 points in 77 games last season and seemingly only getting better. It’s an exciting surge forward for the 24-year-old, who had yet to really get it going. Tippett was also a part of the 2017 Draft class, rounding out a top 10 that yielded Cale Makar and Elias Pettersson.
Kevin Kurz of The Athletic was the first to report the extension.
Okay why this though.
Laughton is on his way out.
This kid got a hatty his first game
I think they like him and it’s only 2 years just under $2 mil per. Gives them some continuity in the lower 6 and it’s an easily movable deal. The Flyers are at a point of transition anyway. The next time this team is a true contender won’t be for a few years as they make use of all their high picks, Michkov comes over, Drysdale keeps developing.
Penguins are desperate for serviceable bottom-6 players. Maybe they and their fans kind of gave up on the guy a little too soon…
That’s a good point. Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek in the summer talked about the Maple Leafs keep cycling a lot of their bottom 6 and it’s caused issues. It’s good to have stars locked in, but if you have no consistency with the lower 6 you can still have problems
I like it, looks like a shrewd move. I think he shows a good upside/potential. More than Frost, possibly even Foerster (sp?), though Foerster looks like he could become really good if his physical and defensive game get nurtured well.