Carolina Hurricanes: Exploring the Signing of Gabriel Landeskog
By Conor Power
Well, that’s a bombshell. On July 14th, Darren Dreger reported on TSN that the Colorado Avalanche is not even in the same ballpark as their captain Gabriel Landeskog for his extension. While there is every chance Landeskog finds himself with a better offer before he hits the free-agent market, is there any chance the Swedish winger finds his way to the City of Oaks as a member of the Carolina Hurricanes?
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During his time in the mile-high city, Landeskog has been through a lot. From finishing an 82 game season with 44 points to winning the President’s trophy, there’s nothing this player hasn’t accomplished in the regular season. While this may seem easy to disregard, it’s important to look at the player’s skill set.
Landeskog was 1/3 of one of the scariest lines in hockey alongside Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen. While he’s not the one that strikes the most fear into opponents from this line, he’s still a fantastic player in his own right. Landeskog recorded 20 goals and 34 assists for 54 points in 56 games last year. A point-per-game player is a very nice addition for any team in the NHL.
His time with the Avalanche has certainly been a mixed bag, in terms of setting an NHL record low for points total in a season. While the captain has been a big part, why would the Carolina Hurricanes be a different landing spot than anywhere else?
Well, Carolina is unique in its ability to offer him the cap hit he wants while still playing for a contender. It’s also somewhere that taxes are usually a little lower and hence, he will have a larger amount to take home. Carolina is also on the eastern seaboard, and it’s known that players in the east tend to draw more attention from casual viewers than the markets on the central and west coast.
Landeskog would fill so many holes for the Carolina Hurricanes. Slotting in on either of the top 2 lines, he allows the team to run with a scary top 6 that not many teams can boast. This pushes some of the players that were in the top 6 last year down the lineup and allows the 3rd line to be that little more intimidating.
Landeskog is also a defensively responsible forward, being top 50 in Selke voting 4 times during his career. He knows what to do in his own zone on most occasions. He’s not going to get it right every single time – he’s human, but he’s still very capable in his own zone and that’s never a bad thing to have in a forward.
Now we get to the tough part. What would the contract look like? Well, the rumor is that he wants term over anything, but at 29, that’s a risky deal. If you sign him to a 7/8 year deal, it’s tough, specially at the average annual value he wants. Something like $5-$7.5M over 7 years seems the most likely deal but it’s not very team-friendly.
It’s a very risky scenario. Signing UFA’s always is, but the Carolina Hurricanes are rumored to be looking for a major move to push themselves over the hump. Could this be it? Who knows, but acquiring Landeskog would surely help in achieving it at any rate.
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