Noah Cates signs a four-year extension with the Flyers

Noah Cates is locked in — in more ways than one.

After a standout season, the forward and the Flyers agreed to a four-year, $16 million contract extension that carries an average annual value of $4 million. Cates could have become a restricted free agent on July 1, and, according to a source, there is no trade protection in the contract.

“I’m very excited for my future and the future of this team,” he said at his end-of-season news conference in April.

Cates, 26, started the season as a healthy scratch — which he called “humbling” — but by January, he was centering the Flyers’ most reliable line. The 2017 fifth-round pick posted a career high in goals (16) and finished one point shy of his career high in points (37).

Alongside Tyson Foerster, who signed a two-year bridge deal on Thursday, and Bobby Brink, the trio was known for its puck support and usage of the key foundation of offensive-zone hockey: the triangle.

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According to Natural Stat Trick, across 568 minutes, 31 seconds of ice time at five-on-five, they outscored opponents, 29-23. The Flyers had 52.2% of the scoring chances when they were on the ice and 58.1% of the high-danger chances. They were always around the net; the Flyers generated 47 rebound attempts with those three on the ice.

And they did it while playing against the NHL’s top lines. On Feb. 25, they stopped Sidney Crosby’s line and scored three times while playing more than nine minutes against it. Overall, the trio combined for four goals and 10 points that night.

“That kind of makes me smile because to have that type of line, whether I use that line like that or whatever, but the language you just said, the triangles, the reloads,” new Flyers coach Rick Tocchet told The Inquirer in May of the Cates line. “But there are also certain things I can help them with, and my staff too. Is there something that can help them with creativity? Are there other ways to explore?”

Despite starting his NHL career as a winger and shifting back and forth to center — which he did in college at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, too — Cates has earned the nickname around Voorhees of “Coots Jr.,” in reference to Sean Couturier, while building a strong 200-foot game as a middle-six pivot.

He was one of just five Flyers with a positive plus-minus (plus-3) on the season while averaging 15:53 of ice time. Cates had a stretch in late December in which he scored a goal in five straight games. Cates wants to work consistency and faceoffs on moving forward. This season, he won 44.6% of his faceoffs.

Called a big part of the Flyers’ future by Couturier, Cates will be 30 when his new contract expires. There were rumors that he wanted a one-year, show-me deal, but the Flyers preferred to lock him in for a longer term. And why not after interim head coach Brad Shaw called him a glue guy at the end of the season? The Minnesotan became a quiet leader on the Flyers this season. He does it in the room with his demeanor and professionalism and on the ice with his game.

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“Catesy, he’s been good all year, but off the ice, I think he’s been involved in some leadership group meetings, and kind of embracing that role,” Couturier said at the end of the season. “He’s more of a quiet guy, but the way he leads by example and gets himself ready for games, practices, there’s nothing to worry about [with] him, so he can rub off on some younger guys the way he goes about his business.”

One of the Flyers’ top defensive-minded players, he also was a key contributor on the penalty kill, where he skated the most time of any forward on the team. He took that puck pressure from the penalty kill and translated it effectively when skating with his linemates.

“Confidence,” Cates said at the end of the year about the difference for him this past season. “Just finding that confidence, finding the line, finding chemistry. I was confident in the part that I brought to our line, and confident in those guys every night that they would bring that offensive spark, and defensively, they’d help me out.

“So confidence just with the pieces that we had on our line, and that we’d push, and that we’d play hard for each other every night.”

With Cates, Foerster, and defenseman Helge Grans signed, Cam York, Jakob Pelletier, Zayde Wisdom, and Elliot Desnoyers are the Flyers’ remaining restricted free agents.