Flyers sign five players to two-way contracts for AHL depth

The Philadelphia Flyers turned out to be minor players in the free-agent market. Chuck Fletcher made most of his moves via trade and only signed Keith Yandle, Martin Jones, and Nate Thompson as free agents.

On Wednesday evening, the Flyers announced that they signed five players to two-way contracts.

The following three players were signed to one-year, two-way contracts worth an average annual value (AAV) of $750,000:

Ryan Fitzgerald (Forward)

Fitzgerald, 26 (10/19/1994), appeared in 28 games for the Flyers’ American Hockey League affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, during the 2020-21 season. He led the Phantoms with 12 goals and was second on the roster with 21 points on the abbreviated season.

Prior to joining Lehigh Valley, he played parts of four seasons for the Providence Bruins, Boston’s AHL affiliate, after a four-year career at Boston College. A fourth-round pick (120th overall) of Boston in 2013, Fitzgerald has 55 goals and 69 assists for 124 points in 223 career AHL games.

Adam Clendening (Right Defenseman)

Clendening, 28 (10/26/1992), has spent the past three seasons in the Columbus Blue Jackets organization. He spent most of the 2020-21 season on Columbus’s taxi squad but did appear in nine games for their AHL affiliate, the Cleveland Monsters, where he picked up a goal and three assists.

Clendening has appeared in 90 NHL games for Columbus, Arizona, the New York Rangers, Edmonton, Pittsburgh, Vancouver, and Chicago. He has recorded four goals and 20 assists for 24 points in the NHL while picking up 40 goals and 203 assists for 243 points in 370 career AHL games. Clendening was selected by Chicago in the second round (36th overall) of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft.

Nick Seeler (Left Defenseman)

Seeler, 28 (6/3/1993), appeared in 12 NHL games for Minnesota and Chicago during the 2019-20 season and six more contests for Minnesota’s AHL affiliate, the Iowa Wild. He was drafted by Minnesota in the fifth round (131st overall) of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft and turned pro in 2016 after two years in the USHL and three at the NCAA level, two with Nebraska-Omaha and one with Minnesota.

Seeler made his NHL debut in the 2017-18 season and spent the entire 2018-19 campaign with the Wild, picking up two goals and five assists for seven points in 71 games. Seeler has two goals and 10 assists in 105 career NHL games and two goals with 17 assists in 112 career AHL games.

Gerry Mayhew (Forward) signed a one-year, two-way contract worth an AAV of $800,000.

Mayhew, 28 (12/31/1992), comes to the Flyers from the Minnesota Wild organization, where he has played the past five season. Mayhew has spent the bulk of that time with Iowa of the AHL, where he posted nine goals and nine assists for 18 points in 19 games last year.

After two years with Cedar Rapids in the USHL and a four-year college career with Ferris State, Mayhew signed an AHL contract with Iowa in 2016 and then earned an NHL contract with Minnesota in 2019. He has two goals and an assist over 17 career NHL games with Minnesota, all over the past two seasons, and he also has 97 goals and 81 assists for 178 points in 228 career AHL games, all with Iowa.

Cooper Zech (Left Defenseman) signed a one-year, two-way contract worth an AAV of $875,000.

Zech, 22 (12/18/1998), split the 2020-21 season between Nitra MHC in Slovakia and the Providence Bruins, where he returned upon the commencement of the AHL season.

He signed an AHL contract with Providence as a free agent on March 21, 2019 after finishing his freshman season at Ferris State University, where he led the Bulldogs in scoring with eight goals and 20 assists for 28 points over 36 games. Zech has appeared in 78 career AHL games, all with Providence, scoring three goals and adding 22 assists for 25 points.