Philadelphia Flyers add depth to offence, defence; sign Ruslan Fedotenko and Bruno Gervais -NHL Update
Philadelphia Flyers made some free agency acquisitions of their own as the National Hockey League (NHL) franchise signed on forward Ruslan Fedotenko and defenseman Bruno Gervais to respective contracts on Thursday, July 5, 2012.
Flyers’ general manager, Paul Holmgren, needed to add some offensive depth after the loss of Jaromir Jagr, who signed on with Dallas Stars over the week, along with a solid defenseman.
Holmgren is known for having attempted to bring on Fedotenko a number of times over the past few seasons and was finally successful this time around.
“Moving forward here, we’re still a pretty young group. I think the opportunity to add Ruslan, and his ability to play a lot of different roles on a team… he can play any wing, he can probably play center if you need the fact that he’s won a couple times,
the fact that he’s been here before, both played into the decision to move forward with him," GM Holmgren said. "We’ve actually tried to sign Ruslan a couple times over the last few years and we’ve always missed out. I like him, and I think he’s going to bring
a lot to our team in terms of leadership, and I think he’s a winner, I really do.”
Being on the New York Islanders for a major part of his career and having spent a single season with Tampa Bay Lightning, Bruno Gervais was looking for a team that would be able to take him to the ultimate goal of any player, a Stanley Cup, which he thinks
the Philadelphia Flyers will be able to do. Getting to the finals is a team effort and Gervais definitely has that part ticked off.
Ruslan Fedotenko, a former New York Ranger now, signed on to a one-year contract for $1.750 while Gervais agreed to a two-year deal which will be paying him a cool $1.650 over the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 regular season.
Both players will become unrestricted free agents by the end of their contracts.
Fedotenko put up 20 points (9 goals 11 assists) last season while Gervais had 13 (6 goals, 7 assists) in 50 games played.
Tags: