Michael Del Zotto and the Philadelphia Flyers will not be going to arbitration. The team announced Thursday that they have come to a “multi-year” agreement with their restricted free agent defenseman.
The Flyers are petulant children when it comes to actually announcing the important part of the news — how long the contract is and how much money they’re giving the player — so we’ll have to wait a few minutes or whatever until it leaks elsewhere.
Update: Oh hey, it took less than five minutes for the details to leak.
MDZ: 2 years, 3.75 and 4. 3.875 AAV
— WAR On Ice (@war_on_ice) July 16, 2015
This is a pretty fair agreement. The cap hit with the deal is $3.875 million over two years, and for a guy who probably be in the Flyers’ top four for those next two years, that’s a good deal and about right given comparable contracts around the league. Maybe a touch high, but not egregiously so. They didn’t go too long, which you wouldn’t want to do with any defenseman right now given the prospect pipeline on defense. That’s the most important thing.
MDZ, Mark Streit and Nick Schultz will all be UFAs in 2017, by the way, if you want to put a date on when to expect the youth movement.
An arbitration hearing was scheduled for July 21.
Couldn’t be more thrilled to be a part of the flyers organization for another 2 years. #flyguys https://t.co/JtwkZVKWwJ
— Michael Del Zotto (@MichaelDelZotto) July 16, 2015
