(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
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