Good news. There is no bad news next year.

Daaamn. I was tempted to say no just because it's such a good deal but not for my team. He's been declining but as of last year was still a decent second line c and good third line c or second line winger. Figured he'd get 3ish mil.

He signs for 1.5 and no performance bonuses even? Incredible offseason for Carolina.

Kotkaniemi may be one of the most overrated players in the league. He can earn his c spot if he wants it. Signing a vet who can play c and w isn't blocking him.

noice

Always good to hear Montreal weigh in. Especially as it pertains to KK. We need an unbiased voice down here in small market hockey.

Glad I could help to fill the void.

KK average time on ice was 10 minutes last season.

That's 4th line icetime.

Doesn't exactly scream confidence.

Good thing he has 8 years to fix it. I for one have no doubt he will.

Stastny isn’t somebody I thought would be good for Carolina to sign, but I didn’t realize he’d just had a bounce-back season. If I had known that, I wouldn’t have expected him to be available for a 4th-liner’s salary, so this is a great signing. He’s experienced and versatile – he can play center or wing – and he can probably still play up and down the lineup.

He gives them some insurance in case something else doesn’t go according to plan. I assume they still have Kotkaniemi penciled in for the 2nd-line center spot, but he’s unproven in that role, so Stastny gives them a backup plan if Kotkaniemi can’t handle it. 4th-line center is another option. I expect them to give Jack Drury a chance to earn that spot, but he has only two games of NHL experience, so there are no guarantees there. The ideal spot for him would probably be replacing Niederreiter on the third line with Staal and Fast. I had Kase in that slot, so that would drop him down to the fourth line, which I think would look pretty good with him, Martinook, and Drury or Stepan.

They’ll need to free up some cap space if Pacioretty comes back for the playoffs, but Stastny really only adds no more than $750,000 to that, because somebody else (Pederson?) can be sent down to make room for him.

500k in performance bonuses

Great signing. Absolute steal.

So there is one big name left Kessel

And its probs gonna be a dogfight between Calgary or Colorado as to who gets him

Not a Habs fan, but may I ask why? I do think being a competent nhler at 18 is impressive but overall his play have been okay. Not more

$500k if they win the Stanley Cup. Dealing with that extra cap hit would be a nice problem to have.

I don’t know how much of a dogfight it’s going to be. Presumably he was available at the deadline with retention, but nobody wanted him then, even though he had a pretty good season. I just hope he signs with somebody who has a spot for him to play regularly, because he could become the first player in history to play 1000 consecutive games. That would be amazing.

I remember he got injured his first season in Toronto, and I was thinking that it would typical Leafs’ luck if the guy they brought in to be their franchise player turned out to be injury prone. Little did I know he wouldn’t miss another game for over 12 years.

Subban is available too. He's only 33 so I'll be surprised if he wants to retire, but he'll probably have to accept more of a depth role.

very surprised COL couldn't top this, great deal for CAR. they could do some serious damage

Ok so there ARE performance bonuses

Fantastic deal. He can still do top 6 minutes and the Canes can pay him dirt.

Good signing.

If he wants 500k for winning the cup, I'll pay him myself