Voracek signs 4-year extension
Daily News Flyers blog
Voracek signs 4-year extension
On Wednesday, Paul Holmgren said it was “only a matter of time” before the Flyers were able to re-sign forward Jake Voracek.
He wasn’t kidding. It took less than 24 hours.
On Thursday, the Flyers signed Voracek to a massive 4-year, $17 million extension. He will carry an annual salary cap hit of $4.25 million, a substantial raise from the $2.25 million he earned last season, his first with the Flyers.
While that may seem like a decent chunk of change up front, the Flyers are banking on Voracek’s untapped potential toward the end of the deal.
Voracek, who turns 23 on Aug. 15, could put up a staggering number of points on the Flyers’ top line with Claude Giroux, which is where Holmgren expects he’ll skate this year.
Plus, his contract is very comparable to some of the deals signed recently. Florida locked up Kris Versteeg, who is 4 years older, to a 4-year deal at $4.4 million per year. St. Louis signed T.J. Oshie, who is 2 years older, to a 5-year deal at $4.175 million per year. Voracek’s stats are nearly identical to both - and he spent the first 3 years of his career on a brutally inept Columbus team.
Voracek has missed just 9 games over his first 4 years in the league. He netted a career-high 18 goals with the Flyers last year, just missing out on tying a career-high of 50 points. He also posted a career-high 190 shots on goal and tied a career-high plus/minus at plus-11. Interestingly, all 18 of Voracek’s goals came at even-strength.
Undoubtedly, Jaromir Jagr helped Voracek immensely in adjusting to Philadelphia. Voracek grew up idolizing Jagr in their shared hometown of Kladno, Czech Republic, and the two spent quite a bit of time together.
Now, Voracek will be counted on to replace his countryman in a big way. And he has the cash to prove it.
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he should put up big numbers with G. he's also a very good, strong defensive forward and should take some of that grinding away from G so he can focus on putting it in the back of the net more.- Everything is great, except for (wait for it) BRYZ. Remember if he does badly this year it's the fans fault, not his for being slow.— neddyflanders
- I always thought of Voracek as a soft and disinterested player when he was with Columbus. I was wrong. He showed me some fire this year. I agree he is a talented player with potential. I do think he needs to stand up for himself on occasion. He is run at too frequently because nobody expects retaliation.— Sheriff Bart
- Good deal for both parties. Just a suspicion that Voracek was a centerpiece of any possible trade with Nashville for Weber that in turn become the infamous offer sheet.— schultz08
- good job, jake is a stud.— main liner
- 18 goals, a career high, and he gets $4.25 Million a year ??? Never ever a 20 goal scorer and he gets $4.25 million a year, half as much as Sidney Crosby's cap hit and 65% of what Rich Nash's cap hit is and let's not forget 85% of Bobby Ryan's cap hit ......
If Homer's happy then I am too...guess it's just a sign of the times when a never scored 20 goals in my NHL lifer gets $4.25 a year...when do you start paying for production instead of promise ??— Apollotwo - I agree that its a lot for an 18 goal scorer, but contracts are also based on what players will do in the future. The fact that Homer gave him this might say Homer expects 20-30 goals from him now that he will get time on the top line. — kdawg
- Excellent move— DrumsAndBeer
- What the Pens do with their cap has nothing to do with a player's value to the rest of the league. And Voracek spent just one season outside of Columbus, so his "career" stats don't mean squat. He put up decent numbers for a guy who was initially viewed as a role player, shuffling from one line to another. If he had been a UFA, he'd probably be in Detroit right now.
— icarus - Sorry, DrumsAndBeer. Somehow this ended up here. It was meant for the Apollotwo post above. — icarus
- Agree with the posts here, Jake is fast, gritty, big, good skater and young. He will be our top right winger next season.— flyerdommo
Comment removed.- Comment removed.
- Welcome to Holmgren's trading block Voracek.
- Apollotwo - did you not read the article all the way through - Voracek is getting market value based on his stats, period. And comparing his cap hit to Crosby, Nash, and Ryan is just silly. You need to brush up on how salaries are calculated against the cap.— CTL
