The Philadelphia Flyers have signed forward Sean Couturier to an eight-year contract extension worth $62 million, a $7.75 million salary cap hit.
The contract kicks in for the 2022-23 NHL season.
He’ll have a full no-movement clause for the first seven years of the deal and for the eighth year he’ll have a list of 10-teams that he’d accept a trade to.
The 28-year old was drafted 8th overall in the 2011 draft by the Flyers.
Puck Pedia: Courturier salary breakdown.
2022-23: $1.75 million salary and a $6 million signing bonus
2023-24: $4 million salary and a $5 million signing bonus
2024-25: $4 million salary and a $5 million signing bonus
2025-26: $4 million salary and a $5 million signing bonus
2026-27: $1.75 million salary and a $6 million signing bonus
2027-28: $1.5 million salary and a $5 million signing bonus
2028-29: $1.5 million salary and a $5 million signing bonus
2029-30: $1.5 million salary and a $5 million signing bonus
Stephen Whyno: Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher: “Sean’s our best hockey player right now, and he’s the key guy. And if Sean had left, that would’ve changed the direction of the franchise. To lock him up was incredibly important for the short and long term.”
Thoughts from the media
Charlie O’Connor: “One underrated aspect of this — Couturier being willing to sign before he even sees how the 2021-22 season plays out for the Flyers says a lot about how the returning veterans viewed Chuck Fletcher’s offseason.”
Charlie O’Connor: “Honestly, the cap hit is way lower than I thought it would be. Obviously going 8 years is the big risk given Couturier’s age, but that’s a very reasonable number in the short term.”
Anthony Mingioni: “I honestly had Couturier pegged at close to $9 mil if he went to UFA. To get him locked up long term now at that number says quite a bit about what his thinking is regarding Fletcher’s acquisitions and the Flyers contention status going forward.”
Stephen Whyno: “Couple of thoughts after Chuck Fletcher’s video news conference:
- Flyers happy with $7.75M cap hit, were willing to go to 8 years to get that number for Sean Couturier
- This is a big season to determine Claude Giroux’s future. That’s about his play and team success”
This Couturier extension projects to be pretty fair value for most of it before it trails off at the end, as you might expect. pic.twitter.com/XOeU4ZIdzF
— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) August 26, 2021
The Philadelphia Flyers have re-signed Sean Couturier to eight-year extension with $7.75M per year. This is good deal in our eyes. At least for the first five years of that contract Couturier still should be legit 1st line center. Right now, he’s a TOP10 center in the NHL. pic.twitter.com/RnXY5tZ7Hy
— Andy & Rono 📊 (@HockeyStatsCZ) August 26, 2021