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.
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.
For the latest updates, follow Frank Seravalli on Twitter: @DNFlyers
Comments (55)
So what do Hockey inksters do when they don't do what they are paid for (write), do they wash windows and take out the trash or what? If they can't figure out what to write about then why go they get paid? Just sayin'...— DJ- Sorry, after the comparison of Rick Nash to Wade Redden, I meant to emulate your 4 exclamation points. Here they are: !!!!— 1980
- FlinFlon, geez, try the decaf. Nash doesn't necessarily make the NYR better. Accepted wisdom around the league is that his productivity is on the decline, and unless they win a cup within the next 2 years he's going to be a Wade Redden-like cap anchor around their figurative neck. Regarding the soph slump (which, by the way, doesn't get capitalized by anyone other than you), I assume that by "dozens of victims every year" you mean "a handful of victims in the history of the NHL", right? No way will Hartnell equal his career year, but it's a given Lundqvist will, right? And the 51-24-7 regular season NYR should strike terror in our hearts, ignoring their 10-10 playoff record? I'm not saying there's a smooth straight road ahead for the Flyers, but the looming disaster you see is, in my opinion, not something that we need to PANIC PANIC PANIC ABOUT OMIGOD OMIGOD OIMIGOD ITS ALL OVER SURRENDER DOROTHY. In my opinion.— 1980
- Enough of the FALSE OPTIMISM people. Despite all the effort, Holmgren failed miserably this offseason.
We are entering 2012-13 WITHOUT our top 3 defencemen from last October (Pronger, Carle, Tommonen) for a variety of reasons. If anyone thinks Luke Schenn is the answer, get serious. He is a poor man's Luke Richardson and Flyer fans know what that means. Briere is going to have another soft regular season and no way Hartnell will repeat his "career" year. We are going to score LESS not MORE this year without Jagr & JVR and our Defence got WORSE, not better. With Bryz in net and no reasonable (Leighton?) back-up goalie option, I see nothing less than a DISASTER looming. Brayden Schenn + Couturier won't catch anyone by surprise this year and are perfect candidates for the infamous NHL Sophomore Slump that claims dozens of victims every year.
You don't need to look very far...the Rangers were 6-0 against us and they just got better with Nash onboard. Hopefully we can somehow wiggle out of the Briere anchor contract ($6.5M for 3 more seasons!!!!)
I bleed orange 'n black but we're going BACKWARDS next year.— FlinFlon-Tim - why not sign Brian Campbell to a modest deal,...he won't cost any players and his signing will still keep some cap space,....he's a good puck carrying defenseman and he has a ring— SyddBarrett
- how do you reply??... because this is aimed at flyers1000... had holmgren waited till next year to get weber he may have been a flyer for life, or possibly a pen for life, that woulda been nice. the move didn't work unfortunately but we did sucessfully keep weber in the west as opposed to the rangers or penguins..... or islanders, lol, jk— kylebrunson1
- Good D, good attitude, great offensive potential. Very good move.— jking91
- Voracek is the second highest paid forward on the team. $10.7 million dollars for 34 goals (Briere 16, Voracek 18)
The Flyers should start working on signing up Giroux for a decade at $9 million per. I bet there are a few teams in the NHL that are itching to sign him to an extremely expensive offer sheet (I am guessing Nashville would love to stick it to Holmgren!!)— Hexy4GM - They just did what? Giroux's contract is up after next season (not this one, but the one after). I don't think you want him to get to the RFA stage. The franchise is getting a huge deal right now, so lock him up for a long time. — Hexy4GM
- Texasyankee...dont go overboard on giving KUDO"S to Homer...he did in fact sign BRYZ for 9 years which may cripple the franchise for years if he plays this year like last..huge mistake....he overplayed his hand on WEBER...if he had waited till WEBER was a FA at the end of this year Weber would have been a Flyer for life.....He is aggressive give him that much but his moves have been both very good and very bad— flyers1000
- A lot of pressure was put on Giroux and JVR to step up this past year. Now its Voracek's turn to be saddled with that responsibility. I believe he has the SKILLS to jump up his game more like Giroux answering that bell. I hope he is less like JVR in being unable to reach his potential. I believe. Go get 'em Jake!— Neebo
- great signing. thought they'd have a chance to be able to get him for 3-3.5 per year, but 4.25 is fine...he's earned it and hopefully it'll pay big dividends later. this guy has nowhere to go but up.— Zero
- phew. voracek will be a star.— KYS24
- Wow, the idiotic comments are at a minimum for once, that will change later I'm sure...We are in great hands with Homer, he has done everything right hich ain't easy. So we didn't get the FA's we wanted, boohoo..We didn't give up the pieces that will surely fuel this club for many years to come..and I like the fact that all these young players Homer acquired are still with us...Good young talent on the cheap, and we will contend this year even as the team is now, bet on it— TexasYankee
- Semind signed with Canes. 1 year 7M deal. I wonder how Caps fans feel about that. Not that I care.— Nitroglycerin
I've been saying this from the get-go, but it really rings true now that those deals all fell thru: We should've signed Jagr.
The Jagr signing was a successful experiment for our club! And even if he'd played only half to 2/3rds of the games next season, it would've been worth it for locker room presence and mentoring for Giroux, Hartnell, Couturier, and Voracek (fellow countryman). it's easy to imagine that he'd move on to a position in teh front office after retirement. But not now, after only one year.
Indeed, that one got away from us!- Great signing...most people agree, but those saying he's overpaid--he rec'd market value. Because he is 22, you maybe could make the case he should have got south of 4 mill...but after losing out on 3 players this summer, I don't care that we "MAYBE" overpaid by a couple of hundred K's...who cares? This guy is absolutely needed on this team....therefore, a good deal is market value. DO NOT TRADE HIM or we lose all credibility with signing guys longer than a year!
- Glad he's signed, but not sure he's worth $4.25M per year. Seems steep......but he's young and hopefully continues to improve.— Tar Heel 1
- This kid has lots of potential I like his energy and effort always giove 100%...couldnt afford to lose him...still need major help on D and in goal...unfortunately little they can do about it right now— flyers1000
- The opening bid from Homer for Weberwas Read, Mez and the Flyers' first three picks in next years draft. (HTML deleted)— olneyboy
- The opening bid from Homer for Weberwas Read, Mez and the Flyers' first three picks in next years draft. (HTML deleted)— olneyboy
- The opening bid from Homer for Weber
was Read, Mez and the Flyers' first
three picks in next years draft.— olneyboy - Terrific capture by Mr Holmgren ! johnnyu— john ullman
- Great Job Homer....No matter what any of these armchair hockeyexperts say...... I think your doing a great job. Our core players are very good and I believe capable of taking us far if just given the chance...this is a good time to see what the farm system has produced— fbpdplt
- 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
- Welcome to Holmgren's trading block Voracek.
Comment removed.- Comment removed.
- Agree with the posts here, Jake is fast, gritty, big, good skater and young. He will be our top right winger next season.— flyerdommo
- 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
- 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
- good job, jake is a stud.— main liner
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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.
- Comment removed.
- We still a goaltender.— farley
- great move, id rather the flyers extend their young players than waste millions on FAs then be unable to retain their youth— HDemetriou
- Absolutely one of my favorite players since bouncing back (almost immediately) after getting destroyed by Kronwall.— Mike Boryla
- It's about time. The only consistent offense Philly had in the Jersey series came after "Lavy" finally pulled the boat-anchor Jagr off of the Giroux line and replaced him with Voracek. Once those two develop some chemistry, they could be fun to watch.— icarus
- Well said feudal_nobility09— iggles23
- Good signing. He's only 22 and should improve. Playing with Giroux will help that happen.— NYluvsPhylers
- Nice signing and about time the $$ a little more than I thought but 4 years is good. Now let him play with Giroux and see him score 25 goals and 65-80 points this coming season if the CBA gets done before Sept 25th.— srcdaddy1216
- I wish he can improve his shot. If he does he will score 30/30— Nitroglycerin
- Works for me...
— 7xChamp - Excellent move, Paul Holmgren is a great GM. It has been a disappointing off-season but not from lack of effort. I feel like the Flyers are in good hands for many years to come. I really appreciate his efforts and the people assisting him in those efforts.— feudal_nobility09
- Great move. Happy to finally see a deal done. He is already a good player and has the potential to be truly great.— jpatt6
- Great skater and a high energy guy. If he had a more accurate shot he would be a star.— Vituperator
- Good move, he is a good young player.— Paul SoTX
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Reach Frank at seravaf@phillynews.com.
Frank Seravalli
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