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Hurricanes re-sign Anton Khudobin // Ron Hainsey's value set? // Cam Ward?

March 4, 2014, 5:58 PM ET [7 Comments]
Matt Karash
Carolina Hurricanes Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Today the hockey gods through Canes fans a small gift following a real rough 8 days post-Olympic break being a Canes fans. It has been announced that the Canes re-signed Anton Khudobin for 2 years at $4.5M (total: $2M then $2.5M). Awhile back I had him pegged at Ben Bishop money (2 years for $4.6M total) as a young, inexperienced but up-and-coming NHL starter. More recently, I feared that he was likely to leave to go somewhere where he would be guaranteed a starting job. Whether I was completely wrong about that or whether Ward struggling so much made him feel comfortable that it was his job to keep, I am thrilled to have him back in the mix especially for that price.

The logical question that follows is what this means for Cam Ward. My wild guess (not a rumor but rather my intuition) is that his contract is immovable right now with the way he is playing. I think the question is whether Rutherford is willing to go with the 2 goalies. At $8.7M next year, the cost is a little high but not outlandish in total, just oddly reversed right now. Does Rutherford prefer to go with this tandem for now and hope for better times for Ward to either make him more useful or tradable? Or with a new #1 officially in tow, will Rutherford move aggressively to move Ward by eating a big chunk of his salary?

In other news, Andrew MacDonald who many had pegged as the best available rental defenseman was traded to Philadelphia for a 2nd round pick, a 3rd round pick and a modest prospect. That move could set the fair price for Ron Hainsey and also clear out 1 alternative. Stephane Robidas also went to Anaheim today. There are a decent number of non-rental players who are supposedly available (i.e. Ehrhoff), but they are likely to be expensive. I originally had Hainsey pegged at a 2nd or 3rd round pick, so maybe now the higher end of that looks very possible if teams like Detroit, Boston, etc. are unable to work out terms for a longer-term addition.

I am torn almost 50/50 on what to do with Hainsey. He has been serviceable logging a ton of minutes as a #3 defenseman. And the market to replace him via free agency this summer is likely to be challenging when all of the big market teams reap an $8M budget windfall from the increased salary cap. If the Canes can re-sign him before the summer frenzy, he could prove better quality for the $ than any summer free agent options. But per some of my other ramblings in the past few days, I really think the Canes need to get more offense/puck rushing out of the 2nd pairing especially if it is going to see a good amount of ice time with Eric Staal's line. Ryan Murphy is hopefully the future of this, but counting on him to do that for 82 games out of the gate next year in his 2nd season looks very much like the failed Jamie McBain experiment of years past. He and probably the team is better served working him back toward a 3rd pairing role and letting the jump from there happen naturally, dictated by readiness evidenced by his play in real games not projections and hopes from the executive suite.

I posted a poll on what to do with Hainsey with a link on Twitter and will post results probably later tonight.

What say you Canes fans?
--Are you as thrilled and relieved as I am with the Khudobin signing?
--Would you collect what you can for Hainsey or try to re-sign him?
--With Khudobin under contract, do you think this means anything for Cam Ward? Will Rutherford move aggressively and eat contract? Will he shop him casually hoping someone will take his contract? Or is he ready to sit and wait hoping for better times for Ward after a summer off?

Twitter=@CarolinaMatt63 which should be busy tonight and tomorrow.

Go Canes!
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