The Flyers re-signed veteran defenseman Erik Johnson to a one-year, $1 million contract extension, a team source said. Johnson, 36, will begin his 17th NHL season after he was originally acquired by the Flyers for a fourth-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft from the Buffalo Sabres last March.
In 17 games with the Flyers after the trade, Johnson posted two goals and one assist. He has 987 games of NHL experience with the St. Louis Blues, Colorado Avalanche, Sabres and Flyers, putting him on track to reach the thousand-game milestone next season.
Johnson will essentially fill the role that veteran defenseman Marc Staal provided in 2023-24: a sixth or seventh defenseman that doesn’t necessarily have to play every night but can help guide some of the younger players, acting essentially as an extension of the coaching staff.
The Flyers will lean heavily next season on defensemen like 23-year-old Cam York and 22-year-old Jamie Drysdale, and Johnson, who admitted after the Flyers acquired him that “my best years are behind me,” seemed content to serve in that capacity in his brief time with the team.
“It was a pleasure for me to be a part of it,” Johnson said after the Flyers’ season finale. “I really enjoyed these guys, the group and the organization. … Really enjoyed the locker room, one of the best I’ve been in in my career, and I’m not just saying that to blow smoke.”
