A couple of weeks after the Flyers locked up their top center and franchise player to an eight-year extension, the team has now tied up another one of its talented young centers for a few more years.
Per Anthony SanFilippo, the Flyers and 20-year old Sean Couturier have agreed to a two-year extension worth a total of $3.5 million ($1.75 million per year against the cap) that will begin in the 2014-15 season. He’ll make $1.5 million in the first season and $2 million in the second season, and the team will retain his restricted free agent rights when it ends.
At first glance, this looks like a very nice deal for Paul Holmgren and the Flyers. We’ve written a lot of words on this site about Couturier’s fantastic defensive ability before, and chances are the string of bad luck he had offensively last season won’t hold up in future seasons and we should, in turn, expect him to score a bit more frequently than he did in the shortened season.
Where and how he’ll fit in the lineup is still a point of discussion since the team’s acquisition of Vincent Lecavalier, but for his talents, this is an excellent bridge contract and one that should help this team through any cap problems they may have in the near future.
More analysis to come.
