Drop The Puck!

Well, it's almost here. Less than an hour to go on the east coast and hockey kicks off for real.
Wait, have they already played some (NHL) games in Europe? I'm not even sure. Can never keep up with those things. But either way, tonight's the night, for reals.

It's been a long summer. Lot's of (off ice) action on the Hurricanes front (maybe I'll post an off-season review at some point). Lots happening across the league; some of it good, some of it not so much. I've been reading hockey blogs like a madman. Like a junkie searching for a fix. Haven't been posting much (obviously), but I've probably followed other blogs over the summer more than I ever have. Tonight, I'll settle down in front of the TV, and enjoy the action. I don't think I've ever looked forward to a season starting more than I do this year. But nothing will compare to tomorrow night at the RBC. I've got the whole day off, so there's definitely some serious tail gating in my immediate future.

Let's get this thing started. Montreal vs Toronto or Washington vs Boston? Which one do I watch and which one do I record? Hmmm...what a great dilemma to have!

Welcome back HOCKEY!

-m

Ruuuuuutuuuuuuu!

The news the Caniacs everywhere had all been waiting and hoping for came from the Carolina Hurricanes early this morning - Tuomo Ruutu has resigned with the Canes, inking a 3 year deal worth $11.4 million.

Ruutu, a Restricted Free Agent, had filed for salary arbitration earlier this summer, and had a hearing date set for July 30th. While both parties had emphasized all along that they hoped to avoid going all the way through to arbitration, little movement had been seen in the last few weeks. In the end the two sides agreed to a 3 year deal with salary increases for each season - Ruutu will be paid $3 million in 2009/2010, $4 million the following season and $4.4 million in 2011/2012.

In a statement released by the team, GM Jim Rutherford had this to say:

“We are very happy to have Tuomo under contract on a long-term deal and to avoid arbitration. He is still quite young at 26, and is one of the cornerstones of our team moving forward.”

Javier Serna over at Canes Now managed to track down Ruutu at his family's summer cottage in southern Finland via mobile phone (evidently, not the easiest thing to do) to get the player's take on his new contract:

“I definitely like the deal, I’m glad it’s not going to arbitration. I really wanted to stay in Carolina.”

Ruutu is coming off season in which he set career highs in goals (26), assists (28) and points (54). He also led the Hurricanes in hits with 228. But the winger thinks his future could/should be even brighter:

“I hope those numbers will go up. I don’t think I’ve reached my peak yet. That’s why I try to work out every day. I’m 26 [years old] and I still think I can get better.”

The Canes are banking on Ruutu continuing to improve as well:

“I would expect for him to be somewhere between that 25- and 35-goal range with this contract,” said Rutherford. “He’s certainly in the age where’s he’s coming into his prime.”

In the end both sides essentially got what they wanted in the deal. The Cames locked up one of their most important pieces for the next 3 years and Ruutu got the security he was looking for, in a place that he had come to love.


Wit this signing the 2009/2010 version of the Carolina Hurricanes is falling into place. Rutherford has managed to retain virtually all of the pieces he targeted, and has added some key free agent depth, toughness and versatility. There's still talk from the GM of adding another top-4 defenseman via either free agency or trade, and with Ruutu locked up the Canes front office can turn all of their attention to that final detail. The coming days and weeks still promise to be interesting, but I'm already chomping at the bit for training camp and the first puck drop of the new season.

-m

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BARRY!




Can't believe the guys over at Barry Melrose Rocks did not have something special for us on this momentous occasion.

-m

Length of Contract Is Sticking Point for Ruutu

(photo: CarolinaHurricanes.com)



Interesting article over at Tracking The Storm on Tuesday regarding the ongoing negotiations between the Canes and forward Tuomo Ruutu.

It appears that the main thing the two sides are haggling about at the moment is the length of the contract Ruutu is willing to sign. The Canes want to sign him to a multi-year (3) deal while the player and his agent are angling for a one year contract, so that they will be able to test the market as an UFA after next season.

Here's what Hurricanes GM Jim Rutherford had to say about the situation as it stands right now:

“Really I think what’s happening here is trying to decide if it’s a one-year contract and letting him go out as a UFA the following year or a longer-term contract. We really like Tuomo, we’d like him to stay here and we’d like to do this long-term.”

Interesting conundrum. While I understand Ruutu's desire for a possible larger pay day after next season, it could be risky to sign a one year deal - suppose there's an injury (which has been an issue at times in his career), or he does not put up quite the numbers he did this season. At that point the security of a long term contract might look pretty good in hindsight. Plus there's the real possibility that the salary cap could be reduced significantly next year, and there might not be as much $$$ being thrown around on the open market. A lot of the major market (big money) teams are likely to have some serious juggling to do when it comes to the cap heading into 2010/2011.

As of now, Ruutu's arbitration hearing is set for July 30th, and I would expect that neither side particularly wants to go through the process of a hearing, so something should be done by then either way.

Whether it's a one year contract or something longer term, I certainly hope that Ruutu is on the ice in a Canes sweater next season...and possibly for many seasons to come.

-m

Canes Sign Free Agent Tom Kostopoulos

(photo: Phillip MacCallum/Getty)


Ok. This one was a surprise.

The Carolina Hurricanes announced on Tuesday afternoon that they had signed free agent forward Tom Kostospoulos to a 3 year, $2.75 million contract. Hurricanes GM Jim Rutherford had this to say about the signing:

“Tom is a character player who adds grit to our lineup. He is a strong penalty killer and plays a high-energy game that will fit our team’s style of play.”

Kostopoulos is 30 years old and has played 7 seasons in the NHL, the last two with the Montreal Canadiens. He was originally drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft (7th round - 204th overall), and suited up with the Penguins in parts of 3 seasons. He then moved on to the the Los Angeles Kings for two years before ending up in Montreal.

Kostopoulos tallied 22 points (8 goals, 14 assists) for the Canadiens in 2008/2009, and was also 2nd on the team in penalty minutes (106) and hits (167), appearing in 78 games. He played in all 4 Hab playoff games last season, tallying 1 assist. For his career, Kostopoulos has tallied 105 points (40 goals, 65 assists) and 468 penalty minutes in 367 regular season games. He has 5 points (3 goals, 2 assists) in 16 career playoff games.

Kostopoulos is known as a gritty player, who is strong along the boards, has good speed, loves to get physical and is a solid and responsible 2-way player. He definitely fits the bill for the Canes getting bigger, stronger and perhaps a bit meaner.

This is probably a good signing based on talent, but the perplexing part for me is that all we have heard about over the last couple of weeks is how the Canes are in the market for a veteran, physical presence on DEFENCE. Instead we just added $2.75 million to the budget, on the 4th foward line.

One can look at this as an upgrade in size and physicality from Ryan Bayda. But I cannot help but wonder what it might mean in regards to how negotiations are going with Tuomo Ruutu. Perhaps there's absolutely no correlation whatsoever. But with this signing the Canes have around $47 million allotted, from what has been rumored to be a cash budget of around $50 million. Supposing we sign Ruutu for somewhere around $3 million - that obviously doesn't leave much room for bringing in a quality top 4-6 defenceman, without busting the proposed budget. Of course the rumored buyout of Frank Kaberle's contract could free up a little bit of $$$ for a possible defensive signing.

The other obvious possibility would be a trade for a top 4 defencemen. One speculative scenario here could involve packaging something - maybe Babchuk and Patrick Eaves - for a defenceman who is already under contract with another team. (I would hate to lose Eaves)

Or, if things bog down with Ruutu, and a long term/multi-year deal cannot be reached, perhaps the Canes look at moving him rather than facing the possibility of losing him to unrestricted free agency. I have to admit that - a trade or losing him to free agency - makes me shudder to think. I really, really want to keep Ruutu.

There's obviously a few more chips to fall into place before this is all over with. The wheels are turning, and it's always fun to watch and speculate without having any real idea of what is going on behind the scenes.

One thing that is certain as we stand right now, the Canes have 4 pretty impressive forward lines (on paper) to work with. Lots of grit, savvy and speed, as well as some fairly deep scoring potential. Would be fun to watch, but I'm not sure the patchwork defense would be all that amusing behind them. Unless the young defencemen in Albany are ready to contribute big minutes right out of the gate (doubtful).

It also appears that the Canes might be leaning towards giving their young forwards (Sutter, Boychuk, Bowman, et al) a full season together in the AHL , or at least a significant part of the season . Which would be a great luxury to have. (The River Rats are looking like a monster next year as it stands right now).

Lots more to come I'm sure.

At least the off-season has not been boring so far.

-m