Carolina Hurricanes Morning News: Alexander Semin Signs in Montreal, Extensions for Staal and Ward, and Tlusty Making a Comeback

It has been another boring week for the Carolina Hurricanes as they remain to stay silent in the free agent market, but there is a lot of news circulating through the NHL today.

More From Cardiac Cane – Carolina Hurricanes Top 10 Prospects

Let’s take a look at the current happenings around the league.

Alexander Semin Signs with the Canadiens

The Habs made a splash yesterday and signed Alexander Semin to a one-year, $1.1 million dollar deal. Semin was bought out by the Carolina Hurricanes earlier in the offseason.

Twitter went wild following the signing, with some pretty funny stuff.

All jokes aside, this deal could go a couple different ways. Alexander Semin is practically the opposite type of player that Habs head coach Michel Therrien likes, which could spark some in-house troubles, but on the other hand, if Semin gives the effort and plays the way we all know he can play, this deal could be a steal for the Canadiens.

This will be one of the most intriguing storylines throughout the first few months of the season. If Alexander Semin does not give the effort and compete level that Therrien demands, he could be sitting on press row a lot, just like he did with the Carolina Hurricanes.

You can read more about the signing with quotes HERE.

Timetable for Contract Extensions

Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News & Observer reported yesterday that talks are underway and “amicable” between Carolina Hurricanes GM Ron Francis and Rick Curran, the representative of both Eric Staal and Cam Ward. Staal and Ward are set to be unrestricted free agents next July pending a new deal.

From everything we have heard, Francis wants to sign both Eric Staal and Cam Ward to extensions, but the money might not be right. According to reports, talks are on going with no timetable set in stone.

It appears that there is no rush to get these two long-time Hurricanes inked to a new deal. It will be interesting to see if these contracts get worked out before the beginning of the regular season. If they aren’t, they will be hot topics until either they are signed or they are traded.

How much is Eric Staal really worth? You can read more about that HERE.     

Jiri Tlusty to Make a Return to Raleigh?

Another interesting set of news surrounding the Carolina Hurricanes yesterday involved a report from Chip Alexander that the Canes are in talks with Jiri Tlusty’s representative, Rick Curran, whom happens to be the rep for both Staal and Ward.

The Carolina Hurricanes dealt Tlusty to the Winnipeg Jets at the 2015 NHL deadline, and he ended up not re-signing with the Jets this summer. He has been unclaimed on the free agent market, and it looks like Carolina could be a very possible landing spot for the Czech forward.

The second tweet is pretty interesting regarding Jiri Tlusty’s mindset after being traded. Curran said that Tlusty was always set on coming back to the team that dealt him away, which is a practice that former GM Jim Rutherford executed pretty often.

This isn’t a bad thing, though many fans will look at this premise and say it’s a classic Rutherford move and the team should move away from that. I agree with that to an extent, but this is a situation that makes a whole lot of sense. Recycling players isn’t always a bad thing, and I think this move would be pretty beneficial for both sides.

On top of showing interest in Tlusty, the Carolina Hurricanes are also reportedly interested in signing veteran defenseman Christian Ehrhoff to a deal.

You can read more about the Tlusty and Ehrhoff rumors HERE.

Next: Alex Semin's Agent Calls Out Canes Head Coach Bill Peters