UPDATE 7/31, 1:42 AM – Tollefsen will make $600,000 this upcoming season. It’s a one year contract.
The Philadelphia Flyers have signed free agent defenseman Ole-Kristian Tollefsen to a one-year contract. The banged up former Columbus Blue Jacket was in the Delaware Valley over the weekend and passed a physical with team doctors, but as recently as Tuesday, general manager Paul Holmgren denied that a signing was imminent, saying only that Tollefsen was a “player of interest.”
Here’s what we had to say the other day when we first reported that 24-year-old defenseman had met with the Flyers.
Tollefsen, currently an unrestricted free agent, has played for the Columbus Blue Jackets since being drafted 65th overall in 2002. He played in just 19 games last year before a January knee injury ended his season. He is a big, bruising defenseman who accumulated 37 penalty minutes in those 19 games last season, and 111 PIM in 2007/08. He plays a physical game, is very aggressive in the defensive zone, and has good defensive instincts. Some say that he hits too often, however, and that he needs to learn how to reign in his physical game.
He has been injured every year of his NHL career. Here’s a synopsis of his injury history.
- December 2006, broken nose, missed 1 game
- Early February 2007, broken ribs, missed 1 game
- Late February 2007, elbow injury, missed 2 games
- April 2007, hip injury, missed final 3 games of season
- November 2007, hand injury, missed 4 games
- December 2007, neck injury, missed 11 games
- February 2008, concussion, missed 3 games
- March 2008, upper body injury, missed final 7 games of season
- December 2008, head injury, missed 16 games/
February 2008, knee injury, missed final 27 games including 4 playoff games
Tollefsen will make $600,000 this upcoming season, a $75,000 pay cut from his cap hit last season. It’s been rumored that the pending deal between the Flyers and Tollefsen is the writing on the wall for Randy Jones’ exit from Philadelphia. There has been no official confirmation of those rumors of course, but one would have to assume that signing Tollefsen is in some ways a salary dump and that the Flyers will look to move another defenseman, with the ultimate goal being to use the extra cash to pick up another offensive player from the free agent market.
