Carolina Hurricanes Make Quiet but Smart Moves in Free Agency
By Zeke Lukow
The Carolina Hurricanes had a quiet July first but made smart moves and stuck to the plan. While other GM’s overpaid for aging stars, Ron Francis stuck with low cost low risk moves that will help the team in the long run.
Most Carolina Hurricanes fans were disappointed by a slow free agency day, it is important to see why the slow day was actually good news for the team. The highly touted players like Backes, Nielsen, and Lucic are now signed through their late 30’s making at least $6 million per year. These contracts are going to come back to do more harm than good in three years to their teams.
Carolina took a more conservative route by signing forwards Lee Stempniak and Viktor Stalberg. Though those names don’t jump off the page, there is little to lose. At $2.5 mil Stempniak was the most expensive player signed. If one of the players doesn’t work out the Carolina Hurricanes won’t be on the hook for a large sum of money.
Lee Stempniak
Stempniak is coming off of an up and down season. He signed a professional try out contract with the New Jersey Devils before posting one of his career best seasons. Stempniak finished the year with 51 points (19g, 32a) between the Devils and the Bruins.
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Stempniak brings scoring to the Carolina Hurricanes that the desperately needed. He will enter camp to play with the top six and will slot into the first or second line depending on his chemistry. The most likely scenario is that he will play as the first like right winger, as he is the only natural right winger on the team.
If the Hurricanes stay with the Nestrasil – Staal – Nordstrom line he could plug in on a line with a combination of Lindholm, Teravainen, Skinner, and Rask. Stempniak should be able to repeat his production from last year and help improve the teams performance over the previous season.
Viktor Stalberg
Stalberg is a big and fast skater with a lot of upside. Stalberg hasn’t blown anyone away with high production numbers but he has proven to be a capable bottom six player. His career high in goals came in the 2011-2012 season where he scored 22 goals with the Chicago Blackhawks, but he comes with playoff experience which is valuable for a young team.
Stalberg will play on the 4th line, but will provide the fourth line with a legitimate scoring threat. His possession numbers were those of a third line player, which means he will not be detrimental to have on the ice.
Having a complete set of four lines will take pressure off of the top six players. The Pittsburgh Penguins were able to win the Stanley Cup in large part due to the fact that no one could match four productive lines. A majority of the league will shift to this strategy, and the Hurricanes will now be able to do this to a greater extent due to Stalberg’s addition.
Outlook for 2016-2017 Season
The Carolina Hurricanes not only acquired Stempniak and Stalberg in free agency, Francis also acquired Teravainen and Bickell in a trade with the Blackhawks. These four new forwards are improvements over the team last year. Teravainen is only 21 years old and scored four less points than Eric Staal.
Unlike Staal, Teravainen is on the rise as will improve next year as opposed to Staal. Stempniak has more goal scoring abilities than Kris Versteeg, who was more of a play maker. The bottom six should see improvements with the strong veteran additions of Bickell and Stalberg.
Fans should be excited about the future of the team. Somehow the team was able to get younger and have improved over last year. The moves may not be flashy, but they are smart.
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Rather than being disappointed that the Carolina Hurricanes didn’t land Okposo, fans should be happy that Francis is able to continue to improve the team year after year. If the Canes can improve at all over last year, that would mean a playoff birth for the first time since the 2008-2009 season.