Canes and Fast Agree to a Two-Year Deal
By Glenn Brewer
As the Carolina Hurricanes prepare for the opening of free agency tomorrow, they continued to work on their own free agents. Jesper Fast set to become a free agent tomorrow has agreed to stay in Raleigh.
After Don Waddell came to an agreement with captain, Jordan Staal, his next plan of action was to bring back Staal’s winger.
This contract appears to be a two-year deal worth $2.4 million per season. Similar to Staal’s $2.9 million, Fast chose to stay with Carolina after finishing a three-year contract with the club.
The 31-year-old received a slight raise from his prior contract which was worth $2 million per season.
Coming off a career year in 2021-22 with 34 points and 14 goals, the Swede followed this up with a solid 29-point performance. Not here for his offense, Fast places a strong two-way game that has fit in nicely with Rod Brind’Amour’s system.
With 630 career NHL games under his belt, Fast will continue to provide experience and leadership to a team that has Stanley Cup aspirations. His versatility on special teams will continue to be welcome.
After locking up two of their unrestricted free agents, Waddell made a qualifying offer to restricted free agent defenseman, Dylan Coghlan.
The major focus point between now and into the opening of free agency will be goaltending. Frederik Andersen and Antti Raanta are both unrestricted free agents and it is more than likely that one of them is playing in a different sweater next season.
The excitement of the NHL off-season has begun and tomorrow will be like a holiday for Caniacs and other NHL fans.