Flyers officially give Lupul contract extension

Courtesy of the Philadelphia Flyers

The Philadelphia Flyers announced today that they have signed 6’1”, 205-pound right wing Joffrey Lupul to a four-year contract extension, according to club General Manager Paul Holmgren. Per club policy, financial terms were not disclosed.

“With the way that the salary cap is structured, we felt it was an opportunity to lock up another one of our young players and move forward,” said Holmgren in making the announcement. “He is one of our young, core players that we are really high on and we look for good things to come from Joffrey.

“Our team had very good chemistry right from the start of training camp last year. If you have the ability to keep a core group together for a long period of time, it can only help in the building process of trying to create a winning team.”

"I am really happy and excited,” said Lupul. “It is not something that I was really expecting this summer. The Flyers kind of reached out to us after July 1. It was a great surprise and I am really thrilled. I have one year left on my contract and then these additional four more, so five more years with Philadelphia is great.”

“The Flyers put a big commitment in me and a lot of other young guys for years to come. It is pretty exciting that way (with other guys signing) we can continue to grow these relationships both on and off the ice. We took some big strides last year to becoming an elite team in the league and with a lot of our younger guys healthy and one more year experienced, we should be a team that contends for the Stanley Cup for years to come.”

Lupul, 24, recorded 20 goals and 26 assists for 46 points and 35 penalty minutes in 56 regular season games for the Flyers this past season. His 26 assists were a new career high for assists in a season. He also registered 10 points (4G,6A) and two penalty minutes in 17 playoff games for the Flyers.

Among the highlights of his season, was a hat trick against the Pittsburgh Penguins in an 8-2 home win on December. Lupul also came up huge by posting the game-and-series-clinching overtime tally in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinal series against the Washington Capitals.

He was acquired by the Flyers, along with Jason Smith, from the Edmonton Oilers, in exchange for Joni Pitkanen, Geoff Sanderson and a third round pick in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft on July 1, 2007.

In four NHL seasons with Anaheim, Edmonton and the Flyers (2003-04 through 2007-08), Lupul has recorded 77 goals and 84 assists for 161 points and 156 penalty minutes in 293 regular season games. He was originally drafted by Anaheim in the first round (seventh overall) of the 2002 NHL Entry Draft.