PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The Flyers re-signed defenseman Marc-Andre Bourdon to a multi-year contract extension on Wednesday, and agreed with center Scott Laughton on an entry-level contract.
The news comes a day after Philadelphia's defense took another hit, when Andrej Meszaros underwent surgery to repair a torn Achilles tendon. Meszaros is out indefinitely.
Bourdon, 22, was selected by the Flyers in the 2008 third round. He made his NHL debut with the Flyers last season, posting four goals and seven points in 45 games. He finished with a plus-4 rating. He spent parts of the past three seasons with the Adirondack Phantoms, Philadelphia's top minor-league affiliate, where he had 33 points in 125 games.
Laughton, 18, was the Flyers' first-round selection in June. He has played the past two seasons for the Oshawa Generals of the Ontario Hockey League, where he had 33 goals and 76 points in 127 games.
Meszaros was injured last week during summer training in Slovakia, and had surgery in Philadelphia on Tuesday, adding to the laundry list of problems on the blue line for general manager Paul Holmgren. The Flyers lost free-agent Matt Carle to Tampa Bay last month, and captain Chris Pronger, who was limited to 13 games last season, is facing an uncertain future. An attempt to snare restricted free agent Shea Weber from Nashville was stopped, too, when the Predators decided to match the $110 million deal last month.
Meszaros missed 20 games last season and the first 10 of Philadelphia's 11 postseason games. He had back surgery on March 21, to remove a disc fragment that was impinging on a nerve root, and returned for Game 5 of the second-round series against New Jersey. That was Philadelphia's final game of the season.
The Flyers advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2010, but have been stopped in Round 2 the last two seasons.
