A new team, a new look and a new opportunity.
The Philadelphia Flyers announced Saturday that they have signed Moose Jaw Minor Hockey product Rhett Gardner to a two-year, two-way National Hockey League contract worth $1.5 million, or an average annual value of $775,000.
The deal marks the first time Gardner will be outside of the Dallas Stars organization, the team that introduced him to the NHL after four standout seasons with the NCAA’s North Dakota Fighting HAwks.
Gardner has played the majority of the last two season with the Stars’ American Hockey League affiliate, including all of the 2022-23 campaign where he had 10 goals and 40 points to go along with 75 penalty minutes and a +26 plus-minus through 71 games.
The latter category is what likely helped stoke the Flyers’ interest, as Gardner’s defensive game led to the third-best plus-minus on the team, tops among forwards.
Gardner also had a solid showing the post-season for Texas, put up four goals and eight points in eight games.
Gardner played four games for Dallas in 2021-22 and was held without a point, but had his longest stint in the NHL during the Bubble season, where he played 28 games and had a goal and an assist.
The former Moose Jaw Generals standout parlayed a successful Sask Male AAA Hockey League career into two solid seasons with the AJHL’s Okotoks Oilers from 2013-15 and landed at the University of North Dakota immediately after.
Gardner served as an alternate captain during his junior and senior seasons, was named the 2017-18 NCHC Defensive Forward of the Year, a season after helping the Fighting Hawks capture the NCAA National Championship.
