With training camp fast approaching for the 2022-23 NHL season, the Philadelphia Flyers have signed their last remaining restricted free agent by striking a two-year deal with Hayden Hodgson.
OFFICIAL: We have signed forward Hayden Hodgson to a two-year, two-way/one-way contract with an average annual value (AAV) of $800,000. https://t.co/BtgA5hzP0K
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) August 29, 2022
The 26-year-old is now under contract with a deal that counts 800K against the NHL’s salary cap at the highest level, but is a two-way deal that allows the forward to be sent down to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in the American Hockey League.
Hodgson played six games for the Flyers last season as part of the rotating door of bottom six try outs, scoring a goal and chipping in two assists in limited action — 13:12 of ice time.
The appeal of Hodgson to general manager Chuck Fletcher and head coach John Tortorella would have to be size as the forward comes in standing at 6-foot-2, 210 pounds and is capable of a downhill style of play that the Flyers clearly prioritized this offseason.
Hodgson joins a couple of heavyweights already penciled into the Flyers’ lineup in free agent signing Nic Deslauriers and the fellow restricted free agent retained Zack MacEwen — though those two are more or less going to make the opening night roster while Hodgson will be competing to stay with the big club in all likelihood.
The Flyers open the season in 45 days at the Wells Fargo Center against the New Jersey Devils.
