Maxime Lajoie has signed a new contract with the Carolina Hurricanes.

Good signing. Lajoie is a solid 7th/8th dman and can step up into the NHL when needed. He looked decent in his 5 games up in the NHL this season and played well for the wolves. I honestly wish this guy could get an opportunity for a bottom pair role with another team, but I enjoy having him here for depth.

He’s winning the Norris

Cool now buyout Gardiner and sign Necas

arbitration? wonder what each party filed for

Means Gardiner likely cannot be bought out now as he is still on IR...and unless he comes off in next 48 hours, there will be no buyout window for Carolina.

Have to move him off IR first

I feel hes probs gonna be the #5 (3rd pair LD) when Gardiner gets bought out or dumped

Probs will happen in 3 days as thats when their 2nd buyout window officially opens. So expect to see a LTIR-Active roster and then buyout unless he can somehow dump the guy

"Once Carolina officially announces the deal, the clock will begin to tick on their second buyout window which will open up three days after the deal is made official and last for 48 hours."

I could be mistaken, but I thought I saw that they were planning to try Bear on the left since we're so deep on the right and have Coghlan on the right. Lajoie and Chatfield could play on a pair together as the 7/8th D, though.

Bear's tricky. I feel with his already unstable relation with the coach why make things worse by playing him on the left when you didnt trust him to play over Smith. Idk to me I feel there could still be a move to be made where Bear could be traded for a LD of similar caliber. Or maybe Bear works out who knows.

He trusted Bear over Smith, and there's no rocky relationship between Rod and Bear.

Bear suffered from long term COVID and couldn't get back to what he was before that. He was playing on the first pairing before that. In the playoffs, he was left out of the lineup for Smith, but he had an ankle issue. He did his end-of-year presser with crutches and an ankle boot. He couldn't walk, let alone play. If he gets back to being what he was before Covid, he's going to be fine, wherever he plays. His issue is that if he can't, Gardiner probably is the better option.

There was a rocky relation lul

Article even said right after he signed "Bear dealt with some injuries in 2021-22, and he also slipped out of favor under head coach Rod Brind'Amour" and the fact Carolina allowed him to talk to other teams showed they were looking to move on but nobody wanted to pay the trade price whatever it was so he chose to extend as what choice did he have. Either way being a healthy scratch multiple times in the reg season and playoffs (even with the injury) is not a good look for him which was probs why teams werent interested. Either way hes got a lot to prove and if he does what he did last year got a feeling Coghlan and Lajoie and maybe Chadfield will be seeing a lot more ice time

They also let DeAngelo talk to other teams... and Trocheck... and Niederreiter... that wasn't anything to do with moving him. It's to allow him to find a deal he thinks he's worth if it's out there. They did the same thing with Nedeljkovic, and that proved to be the right decision. There's no evidence that supports the idea of a rocky relationship with Rod. Bear was unhappy he wasn't playing. Rod said he didn't want to risk the injury even more. Both sides want the same thing at the end of the day. Hardly a relationship that doesn't work. Don's quotes saying "Adjusting to a new team and system can be challenging for a young defenseman... We are confident Ethan will be able to take another step in his development this season" back the idea that the organization have no issue with this player.

Healthy scratch multiple times in the reg season and playoffs, playing Smith over him, and listening to Friedman's comments about the relation yeah no there was a rocky relation between the two. Things could change but from the looks of things if Bear struggles again could see him sitting in pressbox more than last year in which we may see a move to get him out or he rebounds. Its a wait and see but if he plays his offside I got a feeling a move is more likely

As I said in my original point, he wasn't healthy. He injured his ankle against Calgary in Raleigh in december, and had shattered bone fragements in his foot. He needed surgery to have them removed, and an injured Bear wasn't a better option than a healthy Brendan Smith. Friedman's comments on Bear are from before the teams exit interviews, and it came to light that Bear was dealing with both an ongoing ankle issue (yes, he did his exit interview on crutches with a boot) and he suffered with long term covid. There's no evidence of a rocky relationship. When it comes down to how people feel about each other, Friedman is speculating, so take it with a grain of salt.

I'm surprised it took this long (yes I know it was over AHL money and guaranteed) but I wonder why Waddel was gonna be so cheap about it lol. But anyways good contract, like last year I can see him slot into some games. One RFA to go

I guess you’re referring to the 48-hour window following the team’s last arbitration award or settlement. They didn’t use that window to buy out Gardiner, but I believe they can still buy him out later if they waive him first, which doesn’t seem like an obstacle to me, so I didn't see any urgency to use the 48-hour window.

Perhaps they’re waiting to see how much they’ll have to pay Necas, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they invite Gardiner to training camp and give him a chance to make the team. Buying out Gardiner would save them around $3M in cap hit this coming season, but it would cost them $1.5M the following season. If they go short term with Necas, I think they could get cap compliant without buying out Gardiner, which would allow them to keep the extra $1.5M in flexibility for next season. Let Gardiner, Coghlan, Bear, Chatfield and Lajoie fight it out for the 5, 6 and 7 defence spots and see what happens. Some problems solve themselves.

They have a short window to buy out players after resolving an arbitration filing.
Once that window expires, they next buyout period will be in Summer of 2023.

I guess I misunderstood the note on the buyout FAQ page about being able to buy somebody out if they clear waivers. I read it as meaning that's the only way you can buy somebody out if you're outside a buyout window, but based on what you're saying it seems it's actually just an additional requirement for buying somebody out if you're already in a buyout window. It's not something you can do anytime.

There is the existing fixed buyout window. Teams are giving an extra buyout opportunity if a player who has filed for arbitration has their contract resolved.

Also, relevant here is that a player on IR may not be bought out. So for Gardiner to be bought out, they’d have to activate him from IR first.

Probably moot now with Pacioretty news.