Quoting: Hic_sunt_leones
I havent followed Canes that much I must confess, but could someone please update me on what they've lost to UFA? Think their signings looks sharp. But hard to compare without knowledge of whats been..
That’s the way I like to evaluate teams in free agency too. Did they upgrade, replace the guys they lost, or fall behind?
The only major free agents Carolina lost this year are Gostisbehere, who was only intended to be a playoff rental anyway, and Pacioretty, who they never really had due to his injuries. The others were all bottom of the lineup guys, and not all of those have signed elsewhere yet, so some of them could still be back.
Unlike the last couple of years, when they lost guys like Hamilton, Trocheck, Niederreiter, Cole and DeAngelo (DeAngelo was a RFA, so they were able to trade his rights for draft picks when they couldn’t sign him), they did a great job of extending their own free agents this year. They could have lost Staal, Fast, Andersen and Raanta, but all signed extensions, even though Fast was the only one who got a raise. So you could say Bunting replaces Pacioretty and Orlov replaces Gostisbehere, but since those guys weren’t full-time players, I see the new guys as pure adds. I'm not sure they're what they needed most, but you can only take what's available. If they fit in well, and the injured players come back, Carolina should be better this season.