Flyers sign Tippett to 8-year, $49.6M extension

Forward Owen Tippett signed an eight-year, $49.6 million contract extension with the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday, the team announced.

The deal kicks in beginning next season.

Tippett, who was moved to injured reserve this week with a lower-body injury, is in the midst of what could be the best season of his young career. The 24-year-old winger is on pace to finish with his first 30-goal season and is projected to finish with 52 points.

If those figures hold, it would see Tippett surpass what he achieved in his first season with the Flyers in 2022-23, when he scored 27 goals and 49 points in 77 games.

“We believe he’s going to keep improving,” general manager Daniel Briere told reporters. “At his age, it’s not like he’s played in the NHL since he was 18. Me, personally, I kind of like the fact that he had to go through some tough times. It made him realize that he can fight through. I think that’s something good that he has on his side. We believe there’s more upside there.”

Re-signing Tippett gives the Flyers their sixth player who has more than three years remaining on their current contract. He joins a group that also includes Sean Couturier, Ryan Ellis, Joel Farabee, Rasmus Ristolainen and Travis Sanheim.

A first-round pick by the Florida Panthers in 2017, Tippett was projected to be a top-six winger. He had 14 goals and 33 points in 94 games with the Panthers where he also averaged less than 13 minutes in ice time.

The Panthers traded Tippett, a 2023 third-round pick and their 2024 first-round pick to Flyers in 2022 in the deal that saw long-time Flyers forward Claude Giroux go the other way.

Tippett was able to carve out a greater role with the Flyers. He had four goals and seven points in 21 games after the trade while also averaging more than 15 minutes in ice time.

With the Flyers in a rebuild, it presented players such as Tippett with an opportunity. He took advantage of those circumstances by having the type of breakout season that saw him finish second on the team in goals and third on the team in points while averaging more than 17 minutes in ice time.

At the time of his injury, his 18 goals rated second on the Flyers while being tied for third in points for a team that went from openly being in a rebuild a year ago to one that could reach the playoffs for the first time since the 2019-20 season.

The Flyers also agreed to a deal with center Ryan Poehling, Briere confirmed. Multiple reports said the deal is for two years, $3.8 million extension. Poehling, whose new deal is worth $1.9 million over the next two seasons, is with his third organization at age 25. He has flourished as a depth forward and penalty killer playing for coach John Tortorella.

“He’s been a great fit,” Briere said. “It’s a contract that’s fair for both sides. It’s not super long. Gives him the chance to maybe even solidify himself and achieve a bigger contract if he performs well down the road. For us, it gives us a couple years to see him and let him grow with our young core.”

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.