Flyers re-sign depth center who will look to join his brother in push for spot

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With a new deal, Jackson Cates will officially join his younger brother Noah Cates in vying for playing time on the Flyers.

The club re-signed the older Cates to a one-year, two-way, $775,000 contract Monday. He'll be a restricted free agent again when his deal expires next summer.

Cates, who turns 25 years old next month, is a defensively responsible center and can play some winger. In 11 games with the Flyers last season, he scored his first career NHL goal and played 9:05 minutes per game.

The Minnesota Duluth product finished with 10 points (two goals, eight assists) in 37 games at AHL affiliate Lehigh Valley. His season ended in early March with the Phantoms when he took a hit and scary spill into the end boards at full speed. He was stretchered off the ice.

Cates will push to be a bottom-six candidate for the Flyers throughout the 2022-23 season. He has 15 career games with the big club and is a smart player who can be trusted defensively.

Cates played collegiately for the Bulldogs alongside his brother and won the 2019 national title. Noah Cates, a 2017 fifth-round pick, has developed into one of the Flyers' better prospects. The 23-year-old winger had a promising 16-game audition (five goals, four assists) at the end of last year and could make a run at a spot in the team's season-opening lineup.

Owen Tippett, Zack MacEwenMorgan FrostIsaac Ratcliffe and Tanner Laczynski were restricted free agents that have also inked new deals this summer. Wade Allison, Hayden Hodgson and Linus Hogberg are the Flyers' remaining RFAs in line for their new contracts.

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