Canes Sign Pitkanen, Melichar

Well, that didn't take long.

For all those ready to jump off ledges all over the Triangle, wondering why JR would trade their favorite player for an unsigned RESTRICTED Free agent, well, you can rest a little easier. There will be no long, drawn out negotiations and/or offer sheets from other teams.

Luke at over at the N&O announced today that the Canes have signed defenseman Joni Pitkanen to a 3 year deal worth $12 million. Thankfully, this deal was wrapped up in a hurry. The 24 year old Finn was acquired on Tuesday in a trade with the Edmonton Oilers, who picked up long time fan favorite Erik Cole. Cole was due $4 million for the last year of his contract and Pitkanen has bascially moved into that salary slot - $3.5 million in 2008/2009, $4 million in 2009/2010, and $4.5 million in the last year of the deal. This makes Pitkanen the highest paid Canes defenseman but quite a large margin. Joe Corvo is second on that list at $2.5 million.

JR obviously believes in this kid, and thinks he can blossom into the player he has always been projected to be. Let's hope he's right. JR has made some moves in the past that seemed questionable at the time, but they seem to work out for him more often than not. This decision could be a defining one.



But the Canes did not stop there, and moved to shore up their blue line even more by announcing another signing today. Josef Melichar has signed on to a one year contract at $1 million. Melichar played in 310 NHL games with the Pittsbugh Penguins from 2000/2001 through 2006/2007. He spent last season in Europe playing for Linkoping of the Swedish Elite League. Known as a defensive defenseman, the 6'2", 220 lb Czech has 7 goals and 33 assists in his NHL career. JR had this to say about the 29 year old Melchair:

Josef is a big, strong and experienced defensive defenseman who will be a shut-down player for us...

Melichar's signing makes 3 defensemen added to the roster in the last 48 hours.
So you've got to give Rutherford and company some credit. They said that they needed and would be targeting defensive help (obviously), and they went out and got it.
Now only time will tell if they made the right moves.

The payroll now stands at around $46.7 million for 2008/2009, which is slightly above the Cane's projected budget of $45-46 million. There are currently 7 (Corvo, Pitkanen, Gleason, Kaberle, Wallin, Babchuk, Melichar) defensemen under contract to the Hurricanes at the NHL level, with Dennis Siedenburg waiting in the wings as a restricted free agent who has been given a qualifying offer. Don't be surprised to see a salary-dump trade soon involving one or more of these defensemen (Kaberle? Wallin? Seidenberg?).

Stay tuned.

-m

Cole to Edmonton; Babchuck Re-signed

Cannot say that it comes as a surprise, nor can I say that I am completely against it, but it was still a bit of a bummer to learn that Erik Cole was traded today to the Edmonton Oilers, straight up, for defenseman Joni Pitkanen.

Cole was entering into the last year of a contract that is due to pay him $4million this season. He will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of 2008-2009. This made him an obvious trade commodity, and his name had been mentioned in trade rumors as far back as the 2007 draft, and again at the trading deadline last season. Still, I'll be bummed to see him go.

Here's wishing Erik and his family nothing but the best. UTTR will be keeping tabs and pulling hard for you in Edmonton.

Pitkanen is a 24 year old (offensive) defenseman who will hopefully add some scoring punch to the blue line, especially on the power-play. The terms "potential" and "upside" have been thrown around a lot regarding Pitkanen who was the 4th overall pick (Philadelphia) in the 2002 NHL draft, but he is now going to his third team in 5 seasons. Having not really lived up to the hype so far, his 2007-2008 season was marred by several nagging injuries (knee, hip). He appeared in 63 games for the Oilers, notching 26 points (8 goals, 18 assists). His best season in Philadelphia was 2005-2006, scoring 46 points (13 goals, 33 assists) in only 58 games. He was on the sidelines for 21 straight games that season with a torn abdominal muscle.

It seems that Hurricanes GM Jim Rutherford has been high on Pitkanen for a while, as it was rumor that the Canes were in the running to acquire his services last summer as well. Pitkanen is currently a Restricted Free Agent.

I completely understand the necessity to trade a forward to get what we need on defense, and I completely understand that our most "marketable" assets at forward included Cole, Justin Williams and perhaps Ray Whitney and/or Tuomo Ruutu. I'm just a little bit skeptical that a Cole for Pitkanen is straight up fair value for the Hurricanes. I just have not been all that impressed with Pitkanen on the ice (forget the numbers) in the few times I've been able to watch him closely. But of course, its not my job to evaluate talent, and it's only a hobby at best to second guess. Pitkanen is young and has skills. Let's hope he puts it all together in a Canes uniform (Sergei Samsonov, anyone?). If not he is going to have a hard time living up to a trade that sent one of Carolina's most popular players away. Fans can tend to be a little impatient in such situations.


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Also in the news, the Hurricanes have announced that the have re-signed/agreed to terms with defenseman Anton Babchuck, who was with the team for two seasons before playing last year in his native Russis (Superliga - Avangard Omsk). Babchuck was embroiled in a bit of controversy when he initially refused to report when the Hurricanes assigned him to the minors (Albany), mid way though the 2006-2007 season. He eventually did report and play out the season with the River Rats, and from most accounts was not a bad apple. But the public spat with the front office was a bit, shall we say, messy.

Babchuck then left to play a season in Russia's top league, where he was fifth amongst defensemen in scoring with 26 points (9 goals, 17 assists) in 57 games played. So far in his NHL career Babchuck has scored 26 points and racked up 54 penalty minutes in 96 games with the Hurricanes and Chicago Blackhawks (drafted in 1st round - 21st overall - 2002). The new contract is for one season and will pay Babchuck $1million.

-m