The Atlanta Thrashers signed defenseman Freddy Meyer to a one-year, two-way deal that will pay him $500K if he remains in the NHL and $105K if he stays in the minors, according to Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Here is a little bit of background information on the small-but-feisty defenseman via Ben Wright of the Thrashers’ official team blog Blueland Blog.
The 29-year-old Boston University product signed as a free agent with the Flyers in 2003-04 and spent some time in the AHL before putting up the best numbers of his career in Philly as a rookie in 2005-06 when he scored six goals and added 21 assists. In 266 NHL games Meyer has 19 goals and 71 points, with 11 goals and 39 of those points coming in his 178 games as an Islander.
In 64 games last season Meyer averaged 16:46 of ice time with 1:51 of it being on the penalty kill. At 5'10″ he isn’t huge but he’s a solid 192 lbs and likes to hit. Despite being limited to 64 games last season he led New York in hits with 178. That would put him second on last year’s Thrashers team behind Zach Bogosian and his 196 hits (next up was Schubert with 150).
Wright points out the fact that Meyer has missed a considerable amount of time thanks to abdominal, groin and back injuries; he missed 41 games in the 08-09 season because of groin injuries and played in 64 of 82 games in 09-10.
Meyer might not be a perfect player - his size keeps him from being a menacing presence despite his penchant for hits and he isn’t a world-beater offensively - but it seems like a decent depth move for the Thrashers. The jury’s out on whether or not new GM Rick Dudley’s muscle-oriented methods will work, but the madness is far more entertaining than the middling efforts of GM-turned-team-president Don Waddell.