(Update: Tim Panaccio of CSN Philly reports that the deal is a two-year deal worth $600,000 per year. Original post below.)
Restricted free agent defenseman Oliver Lauridsen has re-signed with the Flyers on a two-year deal, the team announced Wednesday afternoon.
No word on the money, but as was the case with the signing of RFA Erik Gustafsson on Tuesday, we’d expect just a slight raise on the $650,000 Lauridsen earned on his entry-level deal. Gus earned a $100,000 raise on his $900,000 entry-level salary, if you’d like that for comparisons sake.
We don’t know if it’s a one-way or a two-way contract for Lauridsen, but it’s likely a two-way deal. Lauridsen is exempt from waivers — unlike Gustafsson — so he can go up and down between the AHL and the NHL freely without the Flyers having to worry about losing him for nothing.
The Flyers are jam-packed on the blue line at the NHL level — Gus brings the team to nine NHL defenders — but remember that Lauridsen only got a shot at the NHL last season thanks to injuries. Despite acquitting himself in those 15 NHL games in 2013, he’s almost certainly not a factor in the Flyers equation again this year unless those injury woes repeat themselves. Put good money on Lauridsen starting and probably finishing the 2013-14 season in Adirondack.
Eric Wellwood and Brandon Manning remain the only two RFAs under Flyers control without contracts for 2013-14.
