The Philadelphia Flyers have signed center Sean Couturier to a six year extension worth $4,333,333 per season, which will begin in 2016-17 after his current deal ends.
Put it this way, if Couturier actually does wind up being a 50+ point NHLer, $4.33m/yr is gravy. Delicious, succulent gravy.
— Mikey D, O&BP (@MikeyD_OandBP) July 28, 2015
People forget how young Sean Couturier is. At 22, he isn’t close to reaching his ceiling. Cartwheels, Philly. Cartwheels.
— Andy Dudones (@ADudones) July 28, 2015
Now I don't want to be a downer; it seems like a fine deal and hopefully Couturier can spread his offensive wings under new head coach Dave Hakstol. But with Brayden Schenn a pending RFA and Jakub Voracek heading for unrestricted free agency, plus Couturier's pending pay bump, look for the super happy contract fun times to continue in Philadelphia.
And now the news.
Central Division
If you're into dynasties and/or painful watches, the Chicago Blackhawks are pushing their 2015 Stanley Cup Champions movie:
The opening of the @NHL‘s Championship movie = #feels Own it tomorrow on Blu-ray, DVD & Digital HD! https://t.co/QNV6UtyLg6
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) July 27, 2015
Joey Hishon has had just a miserable time since being drafted in 2010. He finally managed to play some NHL games last season, and with a new one-year, two-way contract worth $890,000 he'll be a cheap depth option for the big club. (Denver Post)
Pretty cool news as Dallas Stars alumni are set to play a charity exhibition game against the Israeli National Team. (Dallas Morning News)
Much like Matt Cooke before him, Matt Dumba reached out to Derek Boogaard's family about wearing #24. (The Hockey News)
Our Nashvillian friends look at their abundance of bodies for the bottom six. (On The Forecheck)
Speaking of lineup looks, it sounds like St. Louis could have very significant changes in how they roll out their forward corps. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
Peter Tessier wants to trade Byfuglien and replace him with Cody Franson. Paul Postma gets no respect. (Hockey Buzz)
And All The Rest
Connor McDavid will have one game on NBCSN. Something seems amiss about that. (Yahoo! Sports)
Speaking of Edmonton, retired forward Ryan Smyth is thinking of housing McDavid for the upcoming season. (NHL)
New Jersey GM Ray Shero thinks that newly extended Adam Larsson has "only scratched the surface of the kind of player he's going to be". (Fire and Ice)
If I'm Ottawa, I'm sort of relieved that Mike Hoffman is only asking for $3.4 million. (ProHockeyTalk)
In case you missed it, the Pittsburgh Penguins traded Brandon Sutter and a 3rd round pick to Vancouver in exchange for Nick Bonino, Adam Clendening and a 2nd round pick. More on this later. (NHL)
The trade and then subsequent signing of Eric Fehr made for a good day of depth building for Pittsburgh. (Yahoo! Sports)
Vancouver's post-trade news consisted of signing RFA Sven Baertschi to a one-year, one-way deal worth $900,000. It may be a prove-it contract, but GM Jim Benning's faith in Sven has been pretty evident for a while now. (The Province)
Our Flyers friends are pretty happy with the Sean Couturier deal. Something something defence something something young something something no more Craig Berube. (Broad Street Hockey)
And finally, the NHL is set to potentially lose one of its best names, with Lubomir Visnovsky reportedly looking at options in Europe. (ProHockeyTalk)
Thanks for reading! Be sure to say in the Comments section what you think of possibly signing Cody Franson.
