The Flyers have signed Blair Betts to a two-year contract extension worth $1.4 million, CapGeek.com originally reported last night.
The deal, worth $700,000 per season, is a one-way deal with a cap hit of that same $700,000 number. It's a raise from Betts' current one-year deal that he signed at the end of training camp this season after joining the club on a try out basis during that camp.
He's making $550,000 this season, just $50,000 above the league minimum salary, and the Flyers were able to sign him at that menial contract because essentially nobody else took his bait in free agency last summer. This contract extension does not have any affect on the salary cap this year.
It's a slight, $85,000 raise over the contract he received from the New York Rangers in 2007, another two-year deal. He made $615,000 a season in each of those years while notching six goals and four assists in 81 games in the second year of that contract.
Looking at his stats alone, you'll likely draw the conclusion that Betts deserves this raise. He's put out the same exact amount of production in forty less games this year and he's a plus-6 instead of the minus-4 rating he had with the Rangers a year ago. He's played about 2:30 extra per game compared to last season and he's even playing against above average competition this season with a qualcomp of 0.040 compared to last year's -0.024.
His injury issues are a minor concern, but not enough to not give the guy this extension. He's earned it, as the stats above indicate, but he's proven to be an extremely valuable bottom line player on this team as well as an excellent penalty killer. It's a very smart move for the Flyers to get him locked up.