Noah Cates was one of the handful of Flyers restricted free agents due for a new contract, and he didn't have to wait all that long to get to it.
The 26-year-old center signed a four-year contract extension with the Flyers, the team announced on Tuesday morning, that will be worth an annual $4 million to keep Cates in Philadelphia through his prime.
Cates, a fifth-round draft pick from 2017, signed with the Flyers out of college late into the 2021-22 season and carved out a steady role for himself as a hard-checking, two-way center in the several years since.
This past season marked a significant step forward for him, as he clicked centering a line with wingers Tyson Foerster and Bobby Brink to produce a career-best 16 goals and 37 points.
That line, through 62 games, also stood as the most consistently effective among a thin and struggling Flyers roster, skating with an expected goals rate of 58.3 percent, per MoneyPuck, to lead Philadelphia forward lines that played a minimum of 150 minutes together– Cates, Brink, and Foerster played 570.9 minutes together.
Moreover, Cates became a more prominent leader within the locker room this past season, which the Flyers are expecting him to take increasing responsibility for now that former longtime figureheads like Scott Laughton and Joel Farabee are no longer there.
The Flyers see Cates as a key piece in their rebuild, and now they've ensured that he'll be here to see it through, and on a pretty reasonable term, all things considered.
ARCHIVED: Cates is stepping up for the Flyers with the 'door open' at center
Foerster, another core piece, signed a two-year, $3.75 million extension last week. Brink, as the other part to that line, has one more year left on his current deal at $1.5 million.
Defenseman Cam York is an arbitration-eligible RFA, and so is winger Jakob Pelletier, who the Flyers acquired in the Farabee-Morgan Frost trade with Calgary back in late January.
Brink, defensemen Jamie Drysdale, Egor Zamula, and Emil Andrae, along with goaltender Sam Ersson are the RFAs on the horizon for the Flyers in 2026, per PuckPedia.
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