LaRose Is Back In The Fold

I've been away from my computer for the last few days, but I was happy to read in yesterday's News & Observer that the Canes have come to terms on a new 1 year contract with sparkplug forward Chad LaRose.

LaRose was a restricted free agent, who just last week had filed for arbitration. The Canes had originally offered a qualifying offer of $550,000, but the contract signed on Wednesday was for one year at $875,000. There had been some concern amongst Canes fans (myself included) that the team would not be able to resign LaRose under their current budget restrictions. Rumor had it that the LaRose camp was seeking 3rd line money, while the Canes do not project him above a 4th line forward in the upcoming season. Adding to the concern was the fact that with their recent trades and free agent signings, the Canes were already (and still are) well above their projected salary budget of $45 million. But with LaRose now securely back in the fold for at least one more season, the Canes can look to trim that budget a bit, most likely through a trade on defense.

LaRose, 26, is coming off his most productive campaign in 3 NHL level seasons with the Hurricanes. Known primarily as an energy guy and penalty killer for most of his NHL career, a rash of injuries to the Hurricanes forward corps resulted in LaRose playing on the second and third lines for the first time in his career. He responded t the additional ice time by posting NHL and career highs in goals (11) and total points (23)*, even though he himself was limited to 57 games due to an injury of his own (a broken leg) 3/4 of the way through the season. LaRose came back from what many thought could be a season ending injury in just 4 weeks, and was strong down the stretch for the Canes, notching his first NHL career hat-trick (and the game winning goal) on April 2nd against Tampa Bay.

A prolific scorer in juniors (he once notched a 117 point season in just 67 games for Plymouth in 2002-2003) and in the minors, LaRose has never found a prolific or consistent scoring touch on the NHL level, but he has more than made up for it with hard work, character, energy and grit, making him a definite fan favorite and an asset in the Canes' locker room.

Hopefully LaRose's offensive game will continue to develop, although with the glut of forwards on the Carolina roster heading into 2008/2009 it will be difficult to see him cracking the top 3 lines. Most likely the Canes will rely on him for his energy, grit and defensive skills on the 4th line and the penalty kill, barring significant injury in their top 9 forwards. Still, LaRose is a fighter and will surely make anyone ahead of him on the depth chart fight for their minutes on the ice. And having him as insurance in the depth department is a great thing.

Overall a good signing for the Canes, both from an on-ice perspective and from a PR perspective. Having already lost one fan favorite in Erik Cole, some Caniacs would have gotten pretty restless losing LaRose as well.

-m

* Interesting Note: LaRose has notched exactly 12 assists in each of his 3 seasons with the Hurricanes. His goal totals in those 3 seasons have increased from 1 (2005/2006) to 6 (2006/2007) to 12 (2007/2008).