General manager Daniel Brière announced that the Philadelphia Flyers signed forward Rodrigo Ābols to a one-year, two-way contract worth $775,000.
Standing in at 6’4” and 205 pounds, the 28-year-old hails from Riga, Latvia and was originally drafted by the Vancouver Canucks in the seventh round of the 2016 NHL Entry Draft.
He spent his draft season with the Portland Winterhawks of the WHL where he tallied 20 goals and 49 points in 62 games, and then played the majority of his draft+1 season with the Acadie-Bathurst Titans of the QMJHL where he scored 18 goals and 50 points in 52 games.
Ābols then went to the Swedish Hockey League and joined Örebro HK in 2017-18 while also playing out on loan with BIK Karlskoga. His signing rights with the Canucks expired but he would find his way back with an NHL club after signing a two-year, entry-level with the Florida Panthers in 2019. He scored 7 goals and 23 points in 36 games for the Springfield Thunderbirds of the AHL and 4 points in 4 games for the Greenville Swamp Rabbits of the ECHL.
With the pandemic ravaging the league and the new season not expected to start until mid-to-late November, Ābols returned to Sweden and was then released by the Panthers in 2021. He remained with Örebro HK until the end of the 2022-23 season tallying 110 points in 145 games played between 2020-21 and 2022-23. In 2023-24, Ābols joined Rögle BK of the SHL and finished the season with 14 goals and 26 points in 50 games before adding 5 goals and 12 points in 15 playoff games.
Internationally, Ābols has represented Latvia in 14 different tournaments including the IIHF Men’s World Championship in 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024, the Winter Olympics in 2022, and the IIHF World Junior Championship in 2013. He won a gold medal at the 2014 U18 World Junior Championship Division 1A, silver medal at the 2014 U20 World Junior Championships Division 1A, bronze medal at the 2015 U20 World Junior Championships Division 1A, and gold at 2016 U20 World Junior Championships Division 1A. Most recently he won bronze at the 2023 World Championships.
Ābols scored 5 goals and 7 points in 10 games at the 2023 World Championships and helped Latvia capture the bronze medal as co-hosts of the tournament.
Ābols is now the second international free agent signing the Flyers have made in the last two-plus months, joining Swedish forward Oscar Eklind.
