Canes land a No.1 Goalie

[Hanna Sniper]

Well not quite, but it will have to do

Only hours after finding out that Semyon Varlamov is no longer good at hockey the Carolina Hurricanes have landed a starting goalie for the 2017-2018 season.

The canes have acquired 33 yearold James Howard from the Minnesota Wild. Obviously Howard isn't going to be able to own the net this season but the starts he does get the Canes can expect solid goaltending. It's just a matter of getting lucky with keeping him fresh. It's a stop gap measure but if the Canes are able to get over this problem Howard could make for a solid backup at a low 580K cap hit

In return for Howard the Canes have agreed to take on Niklas Kronwall and his 8 million dollar contract. Kronwall can still play on the bottom pairing and provides a large amount of leadership but his 1 way contract and cap hit makes him an anchor for any team. Thankfully the Canes had a surplus of cap so can somewhat contain it but due to the poor season by the Canes goaltending and lack of forward depth the Canes are scrabbling to ice a pro team and build from there

Although a bad team, with Kronwall cap, we look to be a cap team this year. We had a surplus of cap last season and traded much of it away for little rewards. Looking to use it a little more wisely even if it's taking on this guy to better our team elsewhere

Huge thanks for Grant, hopefully, that relief can help the Wild be solid contenders in the west

[MJK]

A neat trade!

[Jiri Hrdina]

Yeah I think this is a great example of two GMs getting creative to solve problems and how the game can be fun.
I badly estimated my cap situation and Kronwall's re-rate - putting myself in a very difficult spot.
However, Doug needed a goalie and had cap, I had a goalie but needed cap.
Win-win.

When you vote for the Risebrough award next year please remember this one:

Team: Edmonton Oilers

- Kronwall, Niklas (D) NHL





Team: Minnesota Wild



- Neal, James (LW) NHL

Terms: 24 and 139 to Min, 35 to Edm

[JonDuke]

I would hate taking that Kronwell contract, but the reasoning makes sense.

There's quite a few teams out there in serious cap trouble right now, who will have to take less in value to offload some salaries or make way for guys coming into the league. Or give up more to offload, like in this case. Minnesota was definitely one of those teams (as was I).

That's actually one of my favorite times of the off season, is seeing how people get out of the cap struggle so many teams are facing. Especially since we spread 2 teams worth of players over the other teams last year when Boston/Winnipeg left. The crunch is real for many.

Makes really good sense for the Canes too, as they can still stay competitive while having room left to sign Gio.

Well done fellas.

[Jiri Hrdina]

I think this offseason should cause folks to really think about those three year ufa grid deals. Most the problematic deals were signed as those. But I agree the cap part of the game is kinda fun

[Knut]

I am enjoying trying to dangle my cap and remain competitive.

I need a goalie. But couldn't do a deal like this