Wanna blog? Start your own hockey blog with My HockeyBuzz. Register for free today!
 

Flyers Sign Neuvirth to Two-Year Contract

July 1, 2015, 5:56 PM ET [622 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
FLYERS SIGN FREE AGENT GOALTENDER NEUVIRTH

Thus far, the Philadelphia Flyers' only move in the free agent market has been to sign 27-year-old unrestricted free agent goaltender Michal Neuvirth to a two-year contract carrying a $1.625 million cap hit. In real dollars, he will make $1.5 million in 2015-16 and $1.75 million in 2016-17.

Neuvirth's cap hit is $625,000 more than the Flyers spent in re-signing Ray Emery to a one-year contract last summer. However, Neuvirth is younger, healthier and moves around his net better than the savvy and game but somewhat physically limited Emery at this stage of their respective careers.

In the past, when he was a young goaltender in Washington, Neuvirth had stretches where he seemed to be on the brink of competing for the number one job but bouts of inconsistency hurt his cause. He publicly chafed at the idea of being a backup goaltender, and infamously told Czech publication iSport.cz in 2012 that he considered Braden Holtby his "weakest competition" in Washington relative to Semyon Varlamov or Tomas Vokoun.

In the years since that time, Neuvirth has seemingly matured. He dealt with a tough team situation last season as a member of a woeful Buffalo Sabres club and also dealt well with being a backup to Jaroslav Halak on the New York Islanders.

Said Flyers general manager Ron Hextall of Neuvirth, "We’re excited about it. He’s a proven goalie, he’s a good goalie, and one of the attractive things for us with a backup goalie is God forbid something happens to Mase, he can carry the load. He’s done that in the past. We think we brought in a real good goalie that’s going to give us a real solid backup and I’m sure he’s probably going to play more than the typical backup.

"There’s a lot of guys around the league that if they’ve got to pop in for a month or two they can do it and do it a good job, maybe not over the course of the year. I’m not referring to Michal there, because I think Michal is capable. He’s won championships in the minors, back to back, and obviously spent enough time in the minors to bring his game up to the NHL level. He’s had a successful NHL career. I don’t think Mase necessarily needs to be pushed, but when you can upgrade at any position, you take advantage of it, and this is an opportunity for us."

In Philadelphia, Steve Mason is the undisputed number one starter. He has said that he hopes to play as many as 60 games next season. However, in the event of injury to Mason or a busy stretch of games on the schedule, Neuvirth is quite capable of stringing together a series of strong starts when given the chance.

The Flyers are still in the market for an AHL-NHL swingman to serve as the third goaltender on the depth chart. Incumbent Phantoms starter Rob Zepp remains an unrestricted free agent as of this writing.

In other Lehigh Valley Phantoms-related news, Jason Akeson signed as unrestricted free agent with the Buffalo Sabres and veteran forward Zack Stortini signed as an unrestricted free agent with the Ottawa Senators. Stortini received a two-way, two-year deal. The Phantoms already lost veteran Andrew Gordon to Swedish team Linköpings HC.

After recently signing Aaron Palushaj as an AHL and depth NHL signing, the Flyers added three other depth players on the first day of free agency: Tim Brent and Davis Drewiske signed respective one-year, two-way contracts while Chris Connor signed a two-year, two-way deal.

Brent, a 31-year-old center and winger, has spent the last two seasons in the KHL, including the 2014-15 season with Metallurg Magnitogorsk. Veteran defenseman Drewiske, 30, was an alternate captain with the AHL's Hamilton Bulldogs last season. Veteran winger Connor, 31, posted 52 points in 61 AHL games for the Hershey Bears in 2014-15 and also dressed in two NHL games with the Washington Capitals.
Join the Discussion: » 622 Comments » Post New Comment
More from Bill Meltzer
» Flyers Gameday: 3/28/24 @ MTL
» Wrap: Flyers Lose 6-5 OT Game to Rangers
» Flyers Gameday: 3/26/24 @ NYR
» Quick Hits: Flyers-FLA Wrap, Flyers Daily, Phantoms, Bigger than Hockey
» Flyers Gameday: 3/24/2024 vs. FLA; Phantoms Update