UPDATE: The Flyers have confirmed the signing. Original post from Monday night is below.
No time like the present (while a Flyers game is happening) for some Flyers news to break! Salary cap/contract site CapFriendly appears to be reporting that 2017 fourth-round pick Maksim Sushko has been signed to a three-year entry-level deal:
Maksim Sushko #Flyers
2017 4th RD pick (107th overall)3 year ELC starting in 2018-19
$804,166 caphit2018-19: $700,000 Base + $82,500 SB
2019-20: $700,000 Base + $87,500 SB
2020-21: $750,000 Base + $92,500 SBhttps://t.co/3Snt1JniCi— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) March 13, 2018
(The Flyers themselves, as of this writing, have not yet announced the news, but team website writer Bill Meltzer has chimed in on it on Twitter, essentially confirming CapFriendly’s report.)
Sushko, the 107th pick in last June’s draft, turned 19 last month and is in the middle of his second OHL season. After modest production in his draft year, Sushko has taken a notable step forward in his second season with the Owen Sound Attack, having posted 30 goals and 25 assists in 57 games so far this season.
Sushko also was named to Belarus’ U20 World Juniors team this past December and January. While he won’t get a chance to come back next year (Belarus was relegated from the tournament’s top tier this year), Sushko put forth an excellent showing, serving as the team’s captain and putting up two goals and six assists in six games for Belarus.
He will not make the Flyers next year and will presumably be sent back to the OHL, but Sushko is now on track to start playing at the pro level in the 2019-20 season. With this signing, four of the Flyers’ eight picks from the 2017 draft have been signed to contracts: Nolan Patrick, Morgan Frost, Isaac Ratcliffe, and Sushko. (Among CHLers, who must be signed by June 1, 2019, only fellow fourth-rounder Matthew Strome is yet to receive a contract.)
