Brian Elliott signs one-year contract with Flyers

Brian Elliott will be back for another season after the Flyers announced his re-signing.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Brian Elliott will be returning for another season in Philadelphia. The Flyers have re-signed the veteran goaltender to a one-year contract. He will actually be making $500K less than his previous contract.

That alone makes it clear that he wanted to stay with the team. Elliott provided a veteran leadership and has given Carter Hart a strong mentor to learn from. The two work well together and have formed a solid duo between the pipes.

And it was clear Hart wanted to continuing learning from Elliott. He said just that a few weeks ago. With the familiarity the two have with each other, the Flyers appear to have taken that into account.

After dealing with injuries previously, this was a healthy season for Elliott. And he provided stable goaltending behind Hart. He even showed he could take over when need be, filling in admirably when Hart went down with injury in January.

Overall it was a solid season for Elliott. He appeared in 31 games for the Flyers this season, posting a 16-7-4 record. His save percentage (.899) was slightly down from a season ago but his goals-against average (2.87) did improve a little.

He also appeared in three playoff games this season, posting a 1-1 record. That went along with a 2.15 GAA and a .911 SV%. Two of those were starts as he came in relief of Hart during the Montreal series.

This will be Elliott’s fourth season with the Flyers after originally signing as a free agent in 2017. He has played in 100 games with the team and holds 50-29-12 record.

The Flyers aren’t left with too much space to sign their remaining restricted free agents in Philippe Myers and Nolan Patrick. This move gives them just $4.74M to spare. It all but closes the door on their unrestricted free agents if they don’t make any sort of move after.

But wrapping a bow on the goaltending was an important move that the Flyers needed to make. There were other names out there, but with a flat cap, getting Elliott to agree to a pay cut was certainly a key in his re-signing.