The Flyers have reached an agreement with another one of their restricted free agents, as they’ve reportedly signed forward Jordan Weal to a one-year contract extention. Via CBC’s Tim Wharnsby, here are the terms of the two-way deal:
Jordan Weal & #Flyers Have settled:
NHL Salary: $650,000
AHL Salary: $200,000
Guarantee Salary: $250,000— Tim Wharnsby (@TimWharnsby) July 11, 2016
Weal had filed for salary arbitration last week, meaning he and the team were bound to reach an agreement at some point between now and his hearing (which of course will no longer be necessary).
Brought on board in the deal that sent Luke Schenn and Vincent Lecavalier to Los Angeles, Weal was a guy who had generated a bit of excitement at the time of that trade, thanks largely to a very strong AHL resume. He never really got off the ground in Philadelphia, though, as he only played in three regular-season games between the trade and the end of the season and was stuck in the press box otherwise.
The Flyers never sent him to Lehigh Valley despite clearly not wanting him on the ice at the NHL level, likely due to the fact that he would have had to clear waivers and the Flyers didn’t want to risk losing him for nothing. Short of a truly outstanding camp and preseason that pushes him onto the team’s third line (as he’s unlikely to fit the mold of what Dave Hakstol would want in a fourth-liner), it’s hard to see how he would factor into the opening-night lineup. But it’s certainly possible that the team once again keeps him around as a press box player/injury fill-in.
And if the team wants to send him down to the AHL, they should have an easier time of it in the fall during training camp, when every team is sending AHL/NHL tweeners similar to Weal through waivers as well. It’s still possible they’d lose him then, but the risk of it happening would be lower in any case. And if the Flyers are serious about making the Phantoms a threat this year — and many of their moves since July 1 would indicate that they are — Weal would certainly help their efforts there.
