Add Three More to Carolina

The Carolina Hurricanes began the day with a lot of gaps to fill and they did a pretty good job of doing that on Friday afternoon. The Hurricanes added three more pieces to their puzzle, a back-up goalie and a couple of depth forwards, but nothing too spectacular to get overly excited about.

Brian Boucher has been brought in to help ease the workload of Cam Ward in the coming year.  Boucher signed a 2-year deal, worth $1.9 million and he should be able to get the trust and starts that the Hurricanes desperately need and likely were not able to give to Justin Peters in 2011.  Boucher's numbers in Philadelphia were okay, picking up 18 wins for 36 points in the pool made for a good year.  I do expect those numbers to go down with less playing time though.

The Hurricanes also signed forward Alex Ponikarovsky and re-signed forward Jiri Tlusty on Friday, both getting some cap efficient deals.  Ponikarovsky signed a 1-year deal worth $1.5 million, while Tlusty signed a 1-year deal worth $525,000.  Neither player cracked 20 points in the regular season, so they won't be counted on for too much in Carolina.

These three signings now bring the Hurricanes up to 18 players (nine forwards, six defense and three goalies) and $43.3 million in projected cap space taken up.  That means the Canes only need to spend $5 million on the remaining roster spots that are open, just to get to the cap floor.  It looks like a budget year down in Raleigh.