On Thursday the Philadelphia Flyers signed Jakub Voracek to an 8 year, $66 million contract, an average annual value of $8.25 million.
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Voracek, who led the Flyers with a career-high 81 points last season, still has one year left on his four-year, $17 million contract. Since being drafted by the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2007, Voracek has been one of the more consistent, durable players in the National Hockey League, only missing eight games in his entire career. That said, the Czech star has scored at least 45 points in five straight years, including 62 during the 2013-14 campaign, before tallying almost a point per game last season.
Giving a player a monster contract extension after his breakout year always comes with some risk.
The other major part of the Flyers’ return for Carter was a top-10 pick that the team used to select forward Sean Couturier.
“Jake was a first-team All-Star last year and I think we all know how good Claude is, so they’re a tandem that I think when you prepare to play the Philadelphia Flyers the first thing you’re probably looking at is that tandem”, Hextall said.
“The Jake Voraceks of the world are few and far between”, Hextall said.
Since 2012-13, only two wingers have more points than Voracek and they are Alex Ovechkin and Phil Kessel.
Voracek’s former teammate and fellow Svoboda client Jaromir Jagr, who turns 44 next season, will earn $5 million if he appears in 45 games for the Panthers. He is one of the rare players to rocket to the top of league scoring after playing 500 NHL games, reaching a new level of maturity.
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Relatively speaking, though, the deal is somewhat fair. “We certainly didn’t expect to get him at a low number”.
