Flyers sign restricted free agent forward Tanner Laczynski to a two-year deal

The 25-year-old has only played six games for the Flyers and 42 for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms over the past two seasons due to multiple hip surgeries.

Flyers forward Tanner Laczynski shoots the puck during team development camp drills at the Flyers Skate Zone in Voorhees, New Jersey in 2021.Read moreYONG KIM / Staff Photographer

by Olivia Reiner

Published July 27, 2022, 1:03 p.m. ET

Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher continued to bring the team’s restricted free agents back into the fold on Wednesday, signing forward Tanner Laczynski to a two-year, two-way/one-way deal with an average annual value at the NHL level of $762,500.

Laczynski, 25, has dealt with a number of injuries since making the jump to the professional level during the 2020-21 season after completing a prolific college career at Ohio State. He had surgery in April 2021 on a torn labrum in his right hip and was sidelined during training camp last season after undergoing surgery on his left hip. Laczynski missed the previous training camp while recovering from core muscle surgery.

In February, Laczynski returned to action with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. He played 28 games with the Phantoms and scored seven goals to finish with 17 points. Laczynski was recalled to the Flyers for one game against the New York Rangers on April 13.

In total, since he was selected by the Flyers in the sixth round of the 2016 draft, Laczynski has played in six games over the course of two seasons and is still seeking his first NHL point.

Before joining the Flyers, Laczynski racked up 143 career points in 138 games at Ohio State and twice was named an All-Big Ten selection. He is expected to compete for an NHL roster spot in training camp but most likely will start the season with the Phantoms.

The Flyers extended qualifying offers to nine of their restricted free agents in the middle of July — Wade Allison, Jackson Cates, Morgan Frost, Hayden Hodgson, Linus Högberg, Laczynski, Zack MacEwen, Isaac Ratcliffe, and Owen Tippett. So far, the Flyers have signed Laczynski, Frost, and Ratcliffe to new contracts. MacEwen has a salary arbitration hearing scheduled for Aug. 8.