Thursday, May 17, 2007

Flyers Kukko for Kukkonen

By Michael Rushton
Phanatic Magazine

The Philadelphia Flyers kept a young piece of their new-look defense in the fold as the club has signed defender Lasse Kukkonen to a two-year contract. Terms were not disclosed.

The 25-year-old had five goals and nine assists in 74 games with both the Flyers and the Chicago Blackhawks. He failed to record a point in any of his 20 games with Philadelphia after being acquired by the club from Chicago along with third-round pick in the 2007 draft for Kyle Calder.

However, Kukkonen led all rookies with 151 blocked shots.

"We felt that Lasse was a nice addition to our team when we acquired him in February,” said General Manager Paul Holmgren. “He showed that he can move the puck extremely well and that he is a really steady defender. We look forward to him being part of our defense for the next two seasons."

Kukkonen becomes the third Flyer to re up with the club in the last two weeks as the franchise has also re-signed forwards Scottie Upshall and Ben Eager. Upshall also come over to the Flyers by trade last year.

The team also announced that it has signed right wing David Laliberte to a three-year entry-level contract. The 21-year-old had 50 goals and 98 points in 68 games with the Prince Edward Island Rocket of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League last year.

He was originally a fourth-round pick of the Flyers in 2004.

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