Philadelphia Flyers Overpay Jakub Voracek

Prior to last season, Jakub Voracek was only known in smart hockey sources. He was an up-and-coming player for the Philadelphia Flyers, along with many other young forwards wearing the orange and the black. Last season, however, he absolutely exploded.

After two months, Voracek was leading the league with 32 points. He was playing at a torrid pace, one many thought he wouldn’t be able to keep up with. He ended the season with 81 points, good for fourth in the league. He was tied with Alexander Ovechkin in points, and only six points behind the league leader Jamie Benn. He definitely deserved to get paid more than $4.25 million he was making, but to almost double that is ridiculous.

Voracek just signed an eight-year, $66 million contract that will keep him in the Flyers organization until 2024. That is a lot of money for a player who probably isn’t even the best player on the Flyers. One could argue it isn’t hard to get 59 assists when Claude Giroux is scoring goals next to you. If something happened to Giroux, would Voracek be able to take over the scoring duties for the first line?

The problem with this deal is you now lock over $16 million between two players for the foreseeable future. That will hurt when you want to upgrade the blue line, something all Stanley Cup contenders are doing right now. Then there is the fact that Steve Mason is only signed through 2016. He will either show himself as the wrong choice in net, or he will be asking for a raise.

Voracek is an important piece to the Flyers’ puzzle, but he is the clear winner in this deal. The Flyers could have definitely waited on this deal. Voracek would have accepted the same deal in January if he was able to continue his amazing stats this season. He is only 25 years old, so there aren’t any indications that he should get worse, but this is a lot of money to give a player who never scored 30 goals. The Flyers will see the error in their ways soon.

Nick Villano is the NHL feature writer for Rant Sports. He also adds to the site’s NBA, MLB and NFL content. You can follow him on Twitter or add him to your Google circle.