The Philadelphia Flyers have announced that they have officially re-signed forward and pending RFA Bobby Brink to a 2-year contract worth $3 million at a cap hit of $1.5 million per season, according to General Manager Daniel Brière.
Brink was one of two restricted free agents that was tendered a qualifying offer, the other being defenseman Egor Zamula. They chose not to tender qualifying offers to defensemen Mason Millman and Will Zmolek and goaltender Carter Hart.
The soon-to-be 23-year-old in Brink played in 57 games last season where he tallied 11 goals and 23 points. He averaged 13:48 TOI, finished with a +1 rating, fired 81 shots on goal, had accrued a shooting percentage of 13.6, and blocked 24 shots to his 36 hits.
It was an up-and-down season for Brink, who spent some time with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms after being demoted in January. He found his way back to the big club after a month of marinating in the minors, where he scored 7 goals and 13 points in 13 games.
Leading up to his demotion, Brink had scored 7 goals and 18 points in 38 games and upon his return scored a goal in his first 2 games back. He struggled to maintain consistency, looked a little lost at times, and wasn’t playing with the same fire that saw him collect 10 points in a 13-game stretch at the beginning of the season.
He finished the year with 4 goals and 5 points in 19 games, was often placed in the bottom-6, was only averaging a shade over 12 minutes a night but the expectation is that Brink will bounce back in 2024-25 after some growing pains during his rookie campaign.
The Flyers drafted the youngster out of the second round in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft, where he then committed to the University of Denver between 2019-20 and 2021-22. He scored 27 goals and 92 points in 84 games, including a scintillating 57 points in 41 games in his final year. He made the leap to the Flyers at the end of the 2021-22 season, where he collected 4 assists in 10 games.
Brink underwent hip surgery in July of 2022 and didn’t make his return to the ice until January of 2023. The Flyers opted to play him in the minors that season to allow him to get his feet back after missing so much time. He scored 12 goals and 28 points in 41 regular season games and added an assist in 3 post-season contests.
Brink should have a spot in the top-9 this season barring any unforeseen trades or moves coming from Brière. The right-winger has the talent to make a difference, he plays the style of hockey that John Tortorella expects from his players, but he just needs to stick to it and be allowed a little more freedom in 2024-25.
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