Carolina Hurricanes Morning News: Jonathan Bernier, Erik Haula, and the Buffalo Sabres

It’s the first Monday of August, and the Carolina Hurricanes have been quiet for yet another week, but other teams and players around the league are in the news.

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Jonathan Bernier and the Toronto Maple Leafs announced a signing following their arbitration hearing on Friday, as did Erik Haula and the Minnesota Wild.

Also, the Buffalo Sabres were featured yesterday on NHL.com’s 30 teams in 30 days segment.

Let’s take a look at today’s news.

Jonathan Bernier Signs

Yesterday, the Toronto Maple Leafs announced that the club has agreed to terms on a two-year deal with goaltender Jonathan Bernier.

The deal is reportedly worth a total of $8.3 million with an average annual value of $4.15 million. The two sides had an arbitration hearing on Friday. Bernier filed for $5.1 million and the Maple Leafs offered $2.89 million, which was the minimum amount they could’ve offered based on the CBA.

Now that this whole situation is behind them, both sides have come out and commented on the new deal.

New Toronto Maple Leafs GM Lou Lamoriello released the following statement with the signing:

"“It was good to hear what both parties had to say as far as Jonathan and where the team was at,” general manager Lou Lamoriello said, according to the Maple Leafs. “We were able to come up with a fair situation for both Jonathan and the team. He is a National Hockey League goalie. He doesn’t have to prove anything."

The Maple Leafs’ official Twitter account also released some words from Jonathan Bernier.

Bernier is entering his third season with the Maple Leafs. He has a record of 47-47-7 since joining the Leafs. He had a 2.87 goals against average and .912 save percentage last season. Both of those categories dropped off from his 2013-2014 season.

He is slated to be the team’s starting goalie until his deal runs out following the 2016-2017 season. Bernier will be 28 at the end of his contract.

Erik Haula Signs

The Minnesota Wild brought back a very solid bottom-six player on Sunday with the signing of 24-year-old Finnish forward Erik Haula to a 2-year deal.

The deal will pay Haula $950,000 in 2015-2016 and $1.05 million in 2016-2017 according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The two sides went to arbitration late last week, but they came to an agreement on a deal before the arbitrator announced his ruling.

Halua tallied 7 goals and 14 points in 72 games last year with the Minnesota Wild. He was also a common fixture and important part of the team’s penalty kill.

The Wild drafted him in the sixth round of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft.

Buffalo Sabres on the Rise?

After finishing last in the NHL last season, the Buffalo Sabres seem poised to rise up the standings, as discussed by NHL.com on Sunday.

With the drafting of Jack Eichel and trades for Ryan O’Reilly, Evander Kane, Robin Lehner, and Zach Bogosian since the beginning of the 2015 calendar year, the Sabres are a much better looking team this time around compared to past seasons.

It will be a massive youth movement for the Sabres with players like Jack Eichel, Sam Reinhart, Zemgus Girgensons, Evander Kane, Rasmus Rissanen, Mark Pysyk, Jake McCabe, Robin Lehner, and Zach Bogosian, all of which are at or under the age of 25, ready to make massive impacts on the future of the team.

Only time will tell if this group of young, raw talent will be a playoff contender, or even a top-25 team in the NHL, but the pieces are in place for Buffalo to be a powerhouse in the NHL for many years to come.

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