The Philadelphia Flyers are only getting younger as another young prospect joins the squad.
Announced by the team on Wednesday morning, the Flyers have signed forward Massimo Rizzo to a two-year, entry-level contract which begins next season. The team originally acquired Rizzo’s rights in a deal last August along with a fifth-round pick next year in exchange for the Carolina Hurricanes acquiring the rights for David Kase.
The 22-year-old center had a sensational 2023-24 season with the University of Denver Pioneers which saw the team win the NCAA National Championship on April 13 over Cutter Gauthier and Boston College. Rizzo, who now has two NCAA National Championships to his credit, had 10 goals to go along with 34 assists for 44 points during what turned out to be his final year of his collegiate career.
He was second on the Pioneers for assists and third in points while being tied for fifth in scoring in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) this past season. These statistics are even more impressive when you realize Rizzo missed 14 games with the Pioneers late in the season due to a lower-body injury. Over his Pioneers years Rizzo had 126 points in 107 games, resulting in a Hobey Baker Award nomination in for the 2022-23 season and a finalist for NCHC Rookie of the Year in 2021-22.
The forward, drafted by Carolina in the seventh round of the 2019 NHL draft, would most likely attend the Flyers rookie development camp this summer as well as the Flyers’ rookie camp in September. It’s unclear where Rizzo would begin the 2023-24 season but it’s a good bet he will start the season in the AHL with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Of course, if he has a stellar rookie camp and gets a look in the Flyers’ training camp that could change. Regardless, it’s another bright spot looming on the horizon of this ongoing Flyers rebuild.
