PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 8 (UPI) -- The Philadelphia Flyers Thursday retained two depth players, re-signing defenseman John Slaney and goaltender Neil Little to multi-year contracts.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
A veteran of 264 NHL contests, Slaney enjoyed his best season in 1997-98 as a member of the Phoenix Coyotes, collecting three goals and 17 points in 55 games.
Selected ninth overall by Washington in the 1990 draft, the 30-year-old Slaney has 22 goals, 67 assists and 99 penalty minutes. Acquired from Pittsburgh for Kevin Stevens in January 2001, Slaney has appeared in just one game for the Flyers.
He won the Eddie Shore Award as the American Hockey League's best defenseman and was named to the AHL's first All-Star team for two consecutive years.
"John had a lot of interest from teams in Europe," Flyers assistant general manager Paul Holmgren said. "We did give John the opportunity to look around at other teams in the league to see if there was a real interest in giving him a chance to play, specifically in the NHL. He decided to come back here. He likes it here. He likes what is going on here and he likes what he thinks is going to take place in the future here."
Slaney also has spent time with Colorado, Los Angeles and Nashville in a nine-year career.
After being drafted in the 11th round in 1991, Little finally made his Flyers' debut last season, dropping a 4-1 decision to Carolina on March 28. The 30-year-old has a 174-136-42 record and a 3.00 goals-against average in 384 professional games.
