Flyers tough guy Zac Rinaldo gets two-year extension

Without much salary-cap space to improve his team through free agency this summer, Philadelphia Flyers GM Ron Hextall is banking on his players to flat out improve.

In fact, he's hoping his young forwards' maturation is the biggest addition to the team as training camp rolls around in a couple weeks.

"You've always got to get better from within," Hextall said last week in an interview with the (Cherry Hill, N.J.) Courier-Post. "Our young forward group, that's our focus, is getting better from within. I think it starts with being in the best shape you can be in, and I think there's another level we can get to."

There was no mention in that conversation about Zac Rinaldo, though. The fourth-line winger is hardly part of the core group, yet he still earned a two-year extension with the Flyers.

Rinaldo, 24, plays a physical, energy game, not the offensive, puck-possession game Hextall has been preaching a lot this summer.

The Mississauga, Ontario, native has seven career goals in 165 NHL games, all with the Flyers. His extension is worth $850,000 per season, a raise from his current deal, which gives him $750,000 per year.

Rinaldo still has another year to go on his current pact, which would have made him a restricted free agent after the 2014-15 season. It's strange to see the Flyers lock Rinaldo down with a new contract so early when his role with the team probably won't be all that substantive. They wouldn't have had much trouble doing the deal next summer, if they wished to retain him.

Now he's under contract until July 2017. Even Rinaldo himself didn't suspect the timing.

"I'm surprised that we'd even started to talk about it so early, but I am thrilled," Rinaldo said in a statement. "Philadelphia is where I started my NHL career, and this is where I want to be, so I am really happy. This definitely gives me a lot of confidence by the Flyers showing that they have confidence in me. I know they want to see me get better as a player, and this is the place to do it."

The 2008 sixth-round pick has been taken under the wing of assistant coach Ian Laperriere to be more disciplined and considered for a penalty-killing role. So far in his career, Rinaldo is known just as much for taking penalties as he is for anything else. He has 470 career penalty minutes, including 153 last season.

His biggest assets are his hits. He had the second-highest total on the team last year with 231.

He did it in only 7:42 of ice time per game, while team leader Luke Schenn averaged 16:32 per game.

As for being in Hextall-approved shape for this season, Rinaldo already has been in town a while prepping for training camp by taking part in informal skates at the team's practice facility.

Dave Isaac writes for the (Cherry Hill, N.J.) Courier-Post