(Kate Frese/Sports Talk Philly)
By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 
The two moves that may define the Flyers offseason came on the same night — at the NHL Draft when the Flyers selected Nolan Patrick and traded Brayden Schenn.
But their most valuable offseason move may have come six days later. With Schenn out of the picture and Patrick needing to recover from sports hernia surgery and have a tremendous camp to make the team, re-signing Jordan Weal became a top priority. GM Ron Hextall got it done on Thursday night, inking Weal to a two-year, $3.5 million deal.
What makes the Weal signing so important is that the Flyers had seemingly been protecting against losing a player for nothing. If the Flyers could not retain a promising player like Weal and lose him for nothing, it could prove costly.
The Flyers had a deficiency at left wing after trading Schenn. The Flyers now can put Weal in a top-six left wing spot, still have solid lower depth at the position and still leave room for Oskar Lindblom, should his camp prove worthy of a roster spot.
Another case for prioritizing Weal’s signing was his efficiency at the end of the season. In 23 games, Weal had eight goals and four assists, but had 11 of those points in the final 16 games of the season, including a five-game points streak and four-game goal streak.
Sure, 23 games is a small sample size, but in his first extended stretch of games at the NHL level — Weal had just 14 NHL games under his belt entering last season — Weal looked ready for the stage.
By all standards, Weal was an AHL superstar. He had back-to-back seasons with 69 and 70 points with the Manchester Monarchs while with the Kings organization. In 2014-15, the Monarchs won the Calder Cup and Weal was an MVP, posting 10 goals and 12 assists for 22 points in 19 playoff games.
When Weal joined the Flyers, he would need to pass through waivers in order to play for the Phantoms right away, so the Flyers held him as a healthy scratch and he played four games in 2015-16. When the 2016-17 season started, Weal did go to the AHL and started on a familiar path with 15 goals and 32 assists for 47 points in 43 games.
That’s when the Flyers came calling and things changed from there. By the end of the season, Weal was an NHL regular. That has been even further affirmed by his new contract.
Now that he is a fixture of an NHL team, Weal needs to show his worth in all areas. Of his 12 points at the end of last season, 11 came at even strength. Weal didn’t get much exposure to the power play, an area where he could thrive with more time.
As Ron Hextall said as the last week progressed, the upcoming season is going to be a chance for youth to thrive and take advantage of an opportunity. That is mainly true for newcomers and rookies like Oskar Lindblom, Nolan Patrick, Sam Morin and Robert Hagg, but it’s also true for players like Weal as well.
For Weal, the opportunity isn’t a roster spot, it’s increased playing time. It’s seeing the ice in new situations.
He may have only been given a small sample, but 12 points in 23 NHL games is nothing to overlook. If Weal can produce at a similar level, he could the Flyers most valuable offseason move.
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