Sean Couturier Is Now The Heir Apparent, Signs An 8-Year $62M Deal To Stay In Philly
Joe Sargent. Getty Images.Earlier today the Carolina Hurricanes re-signed Andrei Svechnikov on an 8-year, $7.75M AAV extension. At the time I thought that was a great deal for Carolina. Svech is a great, young player and locking him in at that value for 8 more years is going to look like a total bargain in a few more seasons.
Then Chuck Fletcher went out and signed the 2020 Selke Trophy winner to that exact same deal and holy shit, the Svechnikov deal still looks decent but this might just be the deal of the summer for the Fletchdog. Sean Couturier is currently 28-years-old. He has finished top 10 in Selke voting in 5 out of his 10 seasons in the league. He finished 2nd in Selke voting in 2017-18, and won the award in 2020. Obviously last year was a total shit storm for the Flyers all around so he had a bit of a drop off there. But the moral of the story is that he is widely regarded as one of the best 2-way centers in the league and he's just entering that part of his career where Patrice Bergeron started to rack up the Selke every other year.
And on top of it all, he's got hands of silk…
And he also has hands of stone.
He's a guy who scored 5 points in a playoff game against Pittsburgh while playing on a torn MCL. He's everything you could ever possibly want in an NHL captain. Which is exactly what he'll be at some point throughout this new 8-year deal.
I don't think there has ever been any doubt that Couturier would be the next captain of this club. He's been on that path for the past few seasons now. But to now have him locked in through the end of the 2029-30 season further solidifies it. Claude Giroux has one more year left on his contract right now. I'd imagine at 33 he'd probably take a shorter deal on his next contract whenever that is. And once the time comes, the torch gets passed to Coots. And if we're just closing our eyes and picturing a Flyers captain hoisting Lord Stanley's Cup over their head for the first time in most of our lifetimes…
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Well the resemblance is uncanny. What a player. What a signing.
P.S. - The Flyers signed Derick Brassard yesterday. Great low risk signing to bring in some quality veteran depth. Plus he'll clearly fit right in since he'll join the likes of Alain Vigneault, Kevin Hayes and Keith Yandle from that 2014-15 New York Rangers squad.