Egor Zamula came to Philadelphia as an amateur tryout back in 2018. He turned that into a contract and has been with the Flyers ever since. He will now get another year to show himself as the team signed him to a one-year extension worth $775K.
Zamula impressed enough during training camp to earn himself a spot on the opening night roster. He played 11 games before heading down to Lehigh Valley for a bigger opportunity. He came back at for a three game stint toward the end of March as well.
"”I know I can make plays, but sometimes you need to like stay home. I can do too much in the first year here, so I need to grow up, grow up, grow up.” Zamula said after a particularly strong game on March 21."
John Tortorella spoke on the team’s decision to send Zamula down earlier in the year. They felt he wasn’t able to adjust to the speed of the game. So he went back down and did just about everything he could for the Phantoms. The focus they had for Zamula was to play aggressive and use his long reach.
And the knock on Zamula had always been that he wasn’t going to be able to withstand the physicality of the NHL level. It wasn’t a far fetched idea as despite Zamula’s height, he wasn’t built physically. He changed that, adding 12 pounds to his frame last offseason. He bulked up just like the Flyers asked him to.
Zamula was sent back to the Phantoms to end the season as Tortorella and the Flyers had a large focus on their development down there. They wanted those younger players to get that playoff experience. Unfortunately for Zamula, he would not play a game for the Phantoms during their playoff run that ended in the second round to Charlotte.
Zamula underwent shoulder surgery, though he is expected to recover in time for training camp this fall. And just like he did this season, Tortorella wants to add more youth to the Flyers lineup, especially on the backend.
"“I think some kids have progressed nicely there as far as our youth. I think the next spot is defense. I’d like to see some youth come into there and push some people because there’s no locks,” Tortorella said in his end of season media. “Not judged on the overall play of all those players are back there, there’s no locks there. I’m hoping some kids come in here. Certainly not going to be given – I’m certainly not going to disrespect the veteran guys and want to get them out of there. Everybody’s going to have to earn their spot.”"
Zamula should get that chance to make the team once again out of camp. And with his signing, that leaves Cam York, Morgan Frost, and Noah Cates as the other RFA’s the Flyers have left to sign.