Carl Grundström has signed a new contract with the Los Angeles Kings.

Looks like he took the LaDue contract. Less money than his qualifying offer, but guaranteed NHL salary in the second year. Could have waited until November 1st and signed a 1-year two-way deal for $875k. This is better.

I thought you had to be paid more than your QO

This seems a little low to me. I had Grundstrom and Wagner both pegged at around 950; if one were to come in higher than the other, I figured it to be Grundstrom. I think he's got a higher upside than Wagner.

As far as I'm aware, the QO is what I would call a "soft minimum" because the player would be dumb to accept less than it for a single year but free agents can sign for any amount they want. Not 100% sure but pretty sure.

Hope he finally reaches his potential.

Correct. The QO keeps a player's rights, but after that you can sign any contract. Something you see with fringe prospects is that they sign a one year deal for league minimum at the NHL level that's below their QO, but the AHL salary is higher than their QO would be.

Teams must offer a 1y QA (basically their salary last season) in order to stake claim to an RFA. A player can accept the QA or, if team is willing, negotiate for a higher amount for the one season, or negotiate a multi-year deal. You often see players accept less per season than their QA for 2 or 3 year deals Rather than a 1y deal.

You can renegotiate at a lower AAV at the NHL level on a 1 year deal too. For example, Nelson Nogier's 18/19 salary was 700k. His QO was 105% of that, but he signed for 700k at the NHL level for this past season because it got offered a higher AHL salary.