VOORHEES, NJ — The Flyers opened Day 1 of NHL free agency by adding some depth at forward.
The club signed Ryan Poehling to a one-year, $1.4 million contract Saturday.
Poehling is a center who played 53 games for the Penguins last season. The 24-year-old recorded seven goals, seven assists and a minus-2 mark in 11:46 minutes per game.
The 6-foot-2, 196-pounder was drafted by the Canadiens during the first round at 25th overall in 2017. He made a bang in his NHL debut with Montreal, putting up a hat trick as the Canadiens finished the 2018-19 season. with a 6-5 shootout win over the Maple Leafs. Impressively, Poehling scored the winner in the skills competition, too.
In 2021-22, he scored a career-high 17 points (nine goals, eight assists) over 57 games for Montreal.
The rebuilding Flyers are not expected to be a major player in free agency.
“I don’t expect us to be super active,” general manager Danny Briere said Thursday after the NHL draft. “We don’t block our young guys, we want to give them the chance to play. We’re not looking for long-term contracts, either, at this point. Don’t expect too much in a couple of days on that.”
The Flyers have been focused on acquiring draft picks and trying to free up cap space for the future. But, while they’re looking to allow their younger players more opportunities, they did need some support at center. They’re thin at the position, especially after trading Kevin Hayes a day before the draft.
“It’s not a deal that we loved making,” Briere said. “Kevin’s a great guy, really loved by his teammates. The way things went last year wasn’t ideal. What was important for me was not taking a contract back; that opens some possibilities there. Shedding half of his salary, which, depending how you look at it, it’s not ideal, but it might be a way that we can weaponize it to add some assets down the road.”
Down the middle of the ice, Sean Couturier will be a major help to the Flyers and their younger players up front if he stays healthy. After not playing since December 2021 because of two back surgeries, he was feeling great at his end-of-the-season press conference in April.
“I feel like I’ve pretty much done a full offseason of training already and starting again,” Couturier said. “I’m already excited for camp.”
Behind Couturier, 24-year-olds Morgan Frost and Noah Cates round things out at center. Scott Laughton, as usual, will help at the position. Poehling is expected to play a bottom-six role, competing with Tanner Laczynski, among others, for minutes at center.