On the heels of missing out on Shea Weber the Philadelphia Flyers turned their attention to re-signing their own restricted free agent, Jakub Voracek, which they were able to do on Thursday morning.
The deal is a four-year contract that will reportedly pay him $4.25 million per season and runs through the end of the 2015-16 campaign.
He will be eligible for unrestricted free agency when the contract expires.
"We are happy to have Jake under contract and look forward to him being a big part of our future," said genera manager Paul Holmgren in a team statement.
The Flyers acquired Voracek last summer from the Columbus Blue Jackets, along with the No. 8 overall pick in the draft which they used to select Sean Couturier, in exchange for forward Jeff Carter. In his first full season with the Flyers Voracek appeared in 78 games and scored 18 goals to go with 31 assists, while also averaging nearly a point-per-game in the postseason. He scored his first career playoff goal in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinal against Pittsburgh in overtime to complete a Flyers comeback.
The No. 7 overall pick in the 2007 draft, Voracek has scored 57 goals in 319 games over his first four years in the NHL.
With the Flyers having lost James van Riemsdyk (via trade to Toronto) and Jaromir Jagr (via free agency) this summer it should create an opening for Voracek to take on an expanded role in the Flyers lineup and perhaps play a more regular role on one of their top lines. In fact, when speaking to the media on Wednesday Holmgren basically said that he anticipates Voracek skating next to Claude Giroux to fill the hole left by Jagr's departure to Dallas.
"We envision Jake playing with Claude next year so," said Holmgren. "That's the way we look at it, so I don't see that as a big hole."
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