Free agency has been pretty quiet for the Flyers, but it sure hasn’t been entirely silent. After making a couple of depth signings over the weekend, the Flyers are back today with… another depth signing.
DONE DEAL: We have signed defenseman Marc Staal to a one-year, $1.1 million contract. https://t.co/QKORGSnCvj
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) July 3, 2023
The Flyers announced this morning that they’ve signed defenseman Marc Staal to a one-year contract which will earn him $1.1 million. Staal is coming off of an appearance in the Stanley Cup Final with the Florida Panthers, and he totaled three goals and 15 points with them over his 82 games played with them.
And this signing, if we want to get into the Real Analysis is… fine… we guess.
Marc Staal (1×1.1, PHI), destroyer of [some] offence. pic.twitter.com/wzu7EUFaCp
— Micah Blake McCurdy (@IneffectiveMath) July 3, 2023
Staal’s certainly slowing down and his on-ice impacts last season were a net-negative, not absolutely abysmal, but not stellar either. But it is, at its core, just a depth signing. This helps the Flyers fill out their defense, which is now without Ivan Provorov and looks like it will also be without Tony DeAngelo in a few days’ time, as long as that trade goes through as expected – in short, the Flyers need bodies, and Staal is one.
He doesn’t move the needle tremendously, but he does give the Flyers a veteran option if training camp rolls around and it’s looking like the kids really aren’t ready to make the jump and take on a bunch of minutes with the big club. And if the kids are ready to take those NHL roles and run with them, Staal’s contract is buryable in the minors, or they could keep him up as someone who rotates in and out of the lineup and then they look at flipping at the trade deadline.
Having flexibility is the name of the game here, and we’ll see how this one shakes out, come the fall.
