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).

Seidenberg Signs, LaRose Files for Arbitration

With the big splashes via free agency and trades likely done, the Hurricanes announced a little bit of house keeping over the weekend.

Defenseman Dennis Seidenberg has signed a one-year, $1.2 million contract with the Canes for next season. Seidenberg made $850,000 last season for the Canes, and as a RFA was tendered a qualifying offer of $935,000 late last month. With Siedenberg's signing, the Canes now have 8 defensemen under contract at the NHL level for next season (Joni Pikanen, Joe Korvo, Tim Gleason, Frank Kaberle, Niclas Wallin, Josef Malichar, Anton Babchuck and Seidenberg). So we should still be looking for at least one of those players to be moved via trade to dump some salary (the Canes are now around $2.5 to $3 million over their proposed salary cap of $45-46 million). The most likely trade possibilities are Frank Kaberle ($2.2 million) and, yes, Seidenberg. It's quite possible that the Canes signing him to a contract makes him more attractive in a trade, as teams now know exactly what they would be getting in salary (as opposed to trading for and then having to negotiate with an unsigned RFA).


That leaves only Chad LaRose unsigned amongst the Cane's RFAs. As expected, LaRose was one of 15 NHL players to file for arbitration on Friday (Seidenberg did not file, which led to speculation that a deal was near). The Canes qualified LaRose at $550,000, a $50,000 raise over last season. The sticking point in negotiations with LaRose is RUMORED (obviously none of us knows for sure) to be that he is asking for 3rd line money, but the Hurricanes, with their abundance of forwards under contract - and with Brandon Sutter waiting in the wings and likely to get a real shot of making the team at some point next season - still see LaRose as a 4th line player. They've already signed Ryan Bayda and Wade Brookbank as depth guys. GM Jim Rutherford, in commenting on the LaRose negotiations had this to say last week:

"I don't think his (contract) number is out of line with what he's done. His number is out of line with where we're going to use him on our team."

I love Chad LaRose, but I tend to agree with Rutherford on this one. He is not worth 3rd line money to this team. With the exception of a few spurts last season the guy has been chronically unable to put the puck in the net on the NHL level. He brings great grit, energy, hustle and fire to the ice night in and night out, and is solid on the penalty kill - all of which are qualities you want in a fourth line checking forward. But they are not worth $1 million (plus) 3rd line money. I'm sorry. Which is why LaRose is not likely to get anything more than 4th line money in arbitration anyway, as arbitration hearings tend to focus purely on numbers, not intangibles. My (completely uneducated) guess is that he will be slotted somewhere between the $550,000 the Canes have offered and around $700,000 (on the high end). Of course none of us knows the actual numbers that have been bandied about between the Canes and LaRose. We will all just have to wait and see.

The NHL's arbitration hearings are scheduled to take place this year from July 20th - August 4th. Teams and players can continue to negotiate up until a hearing takes place.

Back to the situation on defense. Personally, I hope the Canes keep Seidenberg. He's still a relatively young player (26) who is still coming into his own as a defenseman. When healthy (and that has been a big IF) he has shown signs of being a solid depth guy on the blueline, not a top line D-man, but a solid, physical presence who can skate deceptively well, has a decent shot and shows toughness. Sure, there can be lapses, but I tend to think that these come from rust and not being on the ice consistently. The more he plays, the better he seems to be. His best years are still ahead of him. The same cannot necessarily be said for Kaberle, who seems like he would be the most marketable trade option. I've got nothing against Frankie, but with the current corp of defensemen it just seems like he is the odd man out. Both Corvo and Pitkanen are younger and (perhaps at this point) more skilled as puck moving offensive defensemen. Kaberle, when healthy, still has a lot to offer a team looking for a savvy veteran who can provide offense from the blue line. On the Hurricanes, at this point, he is redundant.

Of course, Nic Wallin would also be on the list of trade possibilities, but we all know that the "Secret Weapon" has that not-so-secret NTC which he has exercised before and one can only assume he would do so again.

Stay tuned...

-m

The Guy You Love To Hate, Now in Big D

Not sure why this is suddenly becoming a NY Rangers sub-blog today, but the interesting moves just keep coming. The Rangers are definitely wheeling and dealing, in a attempt to remake their team with moves both upfront and on the blueline.

One of those moves sees the guy we all love to hate, Sean Avery, signing a free agent deal with the Dallas Stars. Mr Nasty will get $15.5 millon over 4 years in Dallas. Not bad for a guy who notched 33 points in 57 games. Granted, the Rangers were much better with him on the ice than there were without.

Thankfully (??) this means that we as Canes fans won't see as much of Avery. But isn't it always more fun to have opposing players that you love to hate?

-m

Ottawa Might Be Interested in Kaberle?

Luke @ LSB points to an article in the Ottawa Sun today, intimating that the Sens might be interested in Carolina's Frankie Kaberle.

It's all just speculation at this point, but the Sens have been decimated on the blue line and with all the big money free agent signings of defensemen and trades over the last few days, most of the "big names" are gone, and for more $$$ than the Sens were willing to pay. The Sun speculates that Kaberle and Vancouver's Kevin Bieska could be targets in Ottawa. The Cannucks reportedly want RFA Antoine Vermette in exchange for Bieksa, who is slotted to make $3.5 million per over the next 3 seasons. Kaberle is under contract to Carolina at $2.2 million per for the next 2 seasons.

With their trades and free agent signings over the last 3 days (Joni Pitkanen, Anton Babchuck, Josef Melichar), the Hurricanes now have 7 defensemen under contract for next season, with Dennis Siedenberg waiting in the wings as an RFA. It seems apparent that the Canes will try to move at least one of those defensemen via trade to bring their salary cap down into the $45-46 million range. Most speculation trends towards Kaberle, Nic Wallin or Dennis Seidenberg being dangled as possible trade bait. Wallin has a NTC, which he has exercised in the past.

Of the three defensemen rumored to be on the block, I think Kaberle makes the sense to move. His salary, based on the silly money that has been thrown around so far, now seems reasonably affordable. If he can get back to being healthy he offers a lot as a puck moving defenseman who can score on the powerplay. The Canes have gotten younger at his position, so he has become obsolete on this team, but I would guess there are plenty of teams out there still looking for puck moving defensemen. There always are. When healthy Frankie has been solid as a Cane, and who could ever forget his integral role during the Cup run and game winning goal in game 7 against Edmonton? The last 2 seasons have been marred by nagging injuries, which have obviously affected his play and decimated his confidence. Now, with Corvo and Pitkanen on board, there just doesn't seem to be a slot for him on this team at the moment. Perhaps it would be the best thing for both parties for Kaberle to get a fresh start elsewhere, and the Cane to pick up some depth or draft picks.

I'm hoping that we can keep Seidenberg. He has been steady when healthy and given the chance to play. Not outstanding, but solid as a depth guy on defense. Those are good guys to have around at the right price.


Stay tuned.

-m

Jagr Signs with Russian Super League

Jaromir Jagr parted ways with the NY Rangers on Thursday after 3 years in the Big Apple, signing a contract with Omsk Vanguard of the Russian Super League according to reports on the Russian team's website.

No financial details of the deal have been officially announced, but according to media reports Jagr stands to make a cool $35 million over 2 years, with an option for a third. Sounds like that might cover his moving expenses.

Jagr played for Omsk during the 2005 NHL lockout and became a fan favorite for the Hawks.

Jagr had a down year, by his standards, in 2007/2008 scoring only 71 points while adjusting to new line mates after the Rangers lost center Michael Nylander to free agency last summer. He never seemed to mesh with his new centermen - being paired first with Scott Gomez, then Chris Drury and finally Brandon Dubinsky. Had Jagr scored 84 points or more, his contract would have automatically been renewed. Instead the Rangers, who have spent freely in the free agent market (Surprise!!) thus far, acquiring the likes of Wade Redden (D), Dmitri Kalinin (D) and Markus Naslund (F), had informed Jagr that he was no longer part of their future plans.

Jagr led New York to three straight playoff births in his tenure with the Rangers, after the team had missed the post-season 7 straight years prior to his arrival. In 18 NHL seasons Jagr played in 1273 regular season games and notched 1599 points (646 goals, 943 assists). In the playoffs he appeared 169 games and scored 181 points (77 goals and 104 assists). He played in 9 All-Star game, earned 5 Art Ross Trophies (NHL scoring leader), 3 Lester B. Pearson Awards (MVP - as voted on by players) and was named the league MVP (Hart Memorial Trophy - awarded by writers) in 1999.


The NY POST has some quotes from Jagr concerning the move:

"I'm disappointed that I'm not going to be in New York, but I've always believed in my life that things happen for a reason, and that's how I look at this. Coming to the Rangers was great for me, and I owe Glen thanks for making the trade with Washington to bring me here.

"I can't say I regret anything that happened here. We didn't win the Stanley Cup, but there's a lot of luck that goes into that, too, even if you have a great team. Well, I guess I regret that I didn't get 84 points this season. If that had happened, I'd still be here."

"With the contracts for Scotty, Dru and Hank [Henrik Lundqvist], and then signing [Wade] Redden, they have almost $30M in four players, so there wasn't enough for me after that. The Rangers wanted to get better on defense and they spent a lot of money on Redden.

"That's OK. That's what they thought would make them a better team. If I did a better job with Scotty or Dru, it might be different."

"People think that it's better to have a lot of choices, but sometimes having one choice is best because you can't make the wrong one. I don't know what I'm going to do now, but I'll make that choice when it's time.

"I want to thank Glen and Tom and the Rangers. I want to thank all the people who supported me. Being in New York was special."

And then there was this zinger:

"And I also want to say to the people like Mike Milbury who made their living by criticizing me all the time, that they can kiss my [butt]."


Stay classy San Diego.

Having Jagr leave for Europe means the end to one of my all time favorite crowd chants to float around the upper deck of the RBC Center:

"Who ate all the pie? Who ate all the pie? Jaromir Jagr you fat bastard you ate all the pie!!"

-m

A few Rangers Blogs:

My Blueshirt Heaven
Hockey Bird
Hockey Rodent
Ranger Land
Blueshirt Bulletin
5-Hole
The Dark Ranger