According to multiple reports, the Philadelphia Flyers have signed defenseman Nick Seeler to a four-year, $10.8 million extension ($2.7 million AAV).
Seeler’s new Flyers contract includes a full no-trade clause in the first and second years of the deal, and the 30-year-old blueliner will receive $2.5 million in signing bonuses across those two years.
Seeler, 30, is in the final year of a two-year, $1.55 million contract he signed with the Flyers on May 19, 2022. The rugged shot-blocking defenseman was nearly done with hockey after sitting out for the 2020-21 season, and the Flyers have now rewarded him with a long-term contract that will pay him nearly double his $5.9 million career earnings to this point.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Flyers traded Seeler’s trusty defense partner, Sean Walker, to the Colorado Avalanche for a 2025 first-round pick and Ryan Johansen, who the Flyers subsequently put on waivers.
With Walker now out of the picture and Seeler on injured reserve, the Flyers will have to continue along with some fresh faces on defense. Ronnie Attard and Adam Ginning are likely to make their season debuts with the Flyers having no other healthy defensemen available at the time of this writing.
This also means that Marc Staal and Egor Zamula will be forced to take on the minutes Seeler and Walker have left behind, at least for now. It’s currently unclear if or when the Flyers will get Rasmus Ristolainen or Jamie Drysdale (upper-body) back this season.
For now, though, the Flyers will be happy to keep an important player like Seeler for several more years. Seeler is one of the hardest-working guys on the ice every night, lays his body on the line, and has earned a tremendous amount of respect from coaches and teammates alike.
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