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Flyers Sign Laughton to Two-Year Deal: Two RFAs Remain

July 13, 2019, 7:50 AM ET [126 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
On Friday, the Flyers announced that they have signed center Scott Laughton to a two-year contract extension that will carry a $2.3 million cap hit. The agreement pre-empts an arbitration hearing that had been scheduled for July 30. At the conclusion of the new contract following the 2020-21 season, Laughton can become an unrestricted free agent.

The Flyers now have two remaining players to sign: restricted free agent right winger Travis Konecny and restricted free agent Ivan Provorov. Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher reiterated on Friday morning that both negotiations are in a holding pattern. The latter negotiation is something of a triangular stalemate, because Columbus (Zach Werenski) and Boston (Charlie McAvoy) are also locked in a situation where the organizations and the players' agents are waiting for someone else to make the first move and set the market price.

Laughton received a salary bump that is in the same generic ballpark as what players such as LA's Alex Iafallo (two years, $2.46 milion AAV) and Montreal's Joel Armia (two years, $2.65 million) received in their recently agreed-upon deals. Laughton also get the security of an extra year in his contract as compared to a one-season arbitration award.

Per CapFriendly.com, the Flyers currently have $13.41 million of remaining cap space for 2019-20. That should be sufficient for eventually getting deals done with Konecny and Provorov, and having a bit left over under the ceiling of $81.5 million. A slew of NHL teams are in the same boat or are in worse cap shape.

By the time Laughton reaches UFA status, the Flyers should have a better sense of what German Rubtsov's NHL role may be and players such as Morgan Frost, Joel Farabee and Isaac Ratcliffe will have two years of pro experience under their belt. In the meantime, they know they have a dependable forward in Laughton as either their fourth-line center or as a versatile bottom-six center/wing swingman.
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