PhHN Daily: Flyers Roster; Big Money Kirill; Hughes Robbery

Welcome to the first Philly Hockey Now Daily of October!

The NHL regular season begins this month, and the Philadelphia Flyers’ roster is starting to take shape. Philly has made a flurry of roster moves in the last 24 hours, leaving the final Flyers’ roster battles more clear than ever.

Elsewhere around the league, two big-time contracts were handed out within the last day. One deal provides a team a great sigh of relief that the deal has been done. The other, well, it certainly raises some eyebrows.

Get it all on the 10/1 edition of the PhHN Daily.

Philadelphia Flyers

The Philadelphia Flyers made a round of cuts on Tuesday, accompanied by the move to reassign Jacob Gaucher to Lehigh Valley. Not counting the injured players, the Flyers’ roster currently stands at 24 players, 28 if you include Oliver Bonk, Ethan Samson, Lane Pederson, and Karsen Dorwart.

Assuming the injured players don’t have a chance at the roster, the team has one cut to make. The decision ultimately boils down to one cut between Jett Luchanko, Adam Ginning, Dennis Gilbert, and Noah Juulsen. Do the Flyers go 13 forwards and 8 defensemen, or 14 forwards and 7 defensemen?

With just two preseason games remaining, we will soon get our answer.

Read More: The Final Push: Flyers Roster Battle

NHL Rumors and News

MN Wild: Kirill Kaprizov got PAID. The Minnesota Wild and their star winger agreed on an eight-year, $136 million extension to keep him in the State of Hockey. Kaprizov was set to be one of the many star players in the upcoming free agency class. Instead, he inks a deal with the AAV ever given out in NHL history. He had been rumored to reject a deal worth $16 million annually earlier in the offseason.

This absolutely sets the stage for some of the biggest names in the game to get paid this coming year. Will any of them beat $17 million AAV? Other than McDavid, probably not. It certainly makes things interesting.

NJ Devils: Another big-time contract handed out. As of Wednesday morning, the New Jersey Devils and RFA defenseman Luke Hughes have agreed on a seven-year contract worth $9 million annually.

That is absolute robbery by Hughes. He and the Devils were in a long-time standoff during their contract negotiations this summer. They ultimately settled on what feels like a fantastic deal for Hughes, but a terrible one for his team. The Devils were seemingly betting on the future, as well as his last name, when handing out this deal. Make sure to check out James Nichols’ story on the extension over at New Jersey Hockey Now.

That leaves Luke Evangelista as the last big RFA unsigned.

Read More: PhHN Daily: Flyers in Hershey; Should VGK Say No on Hart?