The Philadelphia Flyers and Nick Cousins have agreed to terms on a one-year, two-way contract. According to Flyers’ general manager Ron Hextall, Cousins accepted his qualifying offer which comes with a $840,000 cap hit at the NHL level and a $70,000 cap hit at the AHL level per Cap Friendly.
Per #Flyers GM Ron Hextall, Nick Cousins has accepted his Qualifying Offer for a contract for the 2016-17 season → https://t.co/nunlqczQXX
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) July 14, 2016
Cousins was one of the AHL’s better players last season prior to his call-up to the NHL. While playing with the Flyer’s affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, Cousins led the team in scoring with 12 goals and 38 points in 38 games. His impressive play earned him a call-up to the NHL for the second time in his career, where he was able to log quality minutes with the club, averaging 10:43 of ice time to finish out the year. The young center also posted 6 goals and 11 points in 36 games for the Flyers last year.
Cousins clearly earned the trust of his coaches as he played in all six games of the Flyers’ first-round playoff series against the Washington Capitals last year. While the Flyers were heavy underdogs matched up against the President’s trophy winning Capitals, Cousins was able to amass some very important experience. Playing in the post-season helps develop players better than anything as every single shift counts exponentially more than they would in a regular season game.