As expected, the Philadelphia Flyers announced that they have signed goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov to a nine-year, $51 million contract.
The move comes immediately on the heels of news that the Flyers traded forwards Jeff Carter and Mike Richards to the Columbus Blue Jackets and Los Angeles Kings respectively – a move that freed up roughly $11 million in salary cap space for a team that had less than one million in cap space when they acquired the negotiating rights for Bryzgalov from Phoenix two weeks ago.
The contract will give the Flyers a cap hit of roughly $5.7 million each season for one of the best goaltenders in the league in recent years. Last season with the Coyotes, Bryzgalov posted 36 wins along with a 2.48 goals against average and a .921 save percentage – some of the best stats of his career.
With the salary cap increasing by roughly $5 million for next season, the Flyers still have $7.57 million in cap space left with 18 players under contract and their moves today.
