June 26: The Flyers have officially announced the contract, though they provided very few details. The team revealed it is a “multi-year” deal, and did not give any financial details.
June 22: GM Ron Hextall of the Philadelphia Flyers confirmed today that the team has agreed to re-sign Samuel Morin to a three-year contract. Stephen Whyno of the Associate Press reports the deal will carry an average annual value of $700K. Morin is expected to miss a good chunk of the season after a knee injury suffered in the AHL playoffs, but is now locked up for the next few years.
Morin, 22, was selected 11th overall in 2013 but still hasn’t quite turned into the dominating shutdown presence they had hoped for. The 6’6″ defenseman is still obviously in the team’s plans, but has plenty of competition from players like Travis Sanheim, Robert Hagg, Ivan Provorov, and Philippe Myers. With Shayne Gostisbehere already signed long-term and Radko Gudas still an effective option, it’s not like there is ample opportunity on the Philadelphia blue line going forward. That’s the tough part for Morin, who played just 15 games this season and is set to miss another huge chunk of development time with this latest injury.
Still, the Flyers have now locked him up almost at a risk-free cost to the organization. At worst he’s a minor league stud for the team at a cap hit that can be completely buried, and at best he forces his way onto the NHL roster and is an undervalued asset for the team moving forward. Morin will turn 23 in a few weeks, and would actually qualify for Group VI free agency in the summer of 2021 if he doesn’t get into another 77 games. That won’t be hard to do if he’s healthy, but there’s no guarantee on that at this point.