Matthew Phillips leaves Flames organization, signs with Capitals

So long, top prospect.

Matthew Phillips, leading scorer the last three seasons for the Calgary Flames’ AHL affiliate, has signed a one-year contract with the Washington Capitals worth $775,000, the NHL minimum salary.

It’s a one-way deal, meaning the 25-year-old will collect the full amount of his contract even if he’s demoted to the minors. A two-way contract would’ve meant he’d collect around 10 percent of his NHL salary while in the AHL.

The Flames were reportedly offering a two-way deal to Phillips, their sixth-round pick in the 2016 NHL Draft.

Phillips, who became an unrestricted agent on July 1, played three NHL games the past two seasons in brief call-ups.

Mitch Love, Phillips’ head coach in the AHL the past two seasons, joined the Capitals as an assistant coach on June 22.

NEWS | The Capitals have re-signed goaltender Hunter Shepard to a two-year, two-way contract, defenseman Dylan McIlrath to a two-year, two-way contract, forward Pierrick Dubé to a two-year, two-way entry level contract and forward Matthew Phillips to a one-year, one-way contract.

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) July 2, 2023

Trio of prospects re-sign

Restricted free agent Martin Pospisil and unrestricted free agents Dryden Hunt and Colton Poolman all re-signed with the Flames today on two-way contracts.

Hunt, a trade deadline acquisition in March from the Toronto Maple Leafs for Radim Zohorna, signed a two-year deal while Pospisil and Poolman inked one-year pacts. Each contract is worth $775,000.

Trio of veterans depart

As expected, Milan Lucic, Trevor Lewis and Troy Stecher all signed deals with other NHL teams yesterday.

All three were unrestricted free agents at the end of the season.

Lucic returns to the Boston Bruins, the team that drafted him in 2006, on a one-year, $1-million contract.

Lewis goes back to his original team the Los Angeles Kings, for whom he played 12 seasons, on a one-year deal worth $775,000. Stecher, who the Flames acquired from the Arizona Coyotes at the trade deadline this past season along with Nick Ritchie, signed a $1.1-million deal to return to Phoenix.