The Philadelphia Flyers signed forward Noah Cates to a two-year contract with an annual average value of $2.625 million, the team announced Monday.
Cates tallied 13 goals and 38 points in 82 games last season as a rookie. He was a restricted free agent and had filed for arbitration Wednesday.
The 24-year-old impressed defensively in his first NHL season. Cates' 6.5 defensive goals above replacement at even strength ranked third among forwards, behind only Radek Faksa and Patrice Bergeron, per Evolving-Hockey.
Noah Cates, signed 2x$2.6M by PHI, is a pure shut-down centre who put up some pretty remarkable defensive results in tough second-line minutes on a crummy team this year. Will have to learn how to win faceoffs to get more Selke love, though. #Flyers pic.twitter.com/oQmtxBMmJm
— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) July 10, 2023
The Flyers drafted Cates 137th overall in 2017. He played four seasons at the University of Minnesota Duluth - where he won the national championship in 2019 - before he turned pro at the end of the 2021-22 campaign.
