Ward Re-Signs in Carolina

We can strike a potential unrestricted free agent off the list of top players heading to market on Thursday morning, as Cam Ward and the Carolina Hurricanes have come to terms on a 2-year deal, reportedly worth $6.6 million in total, a $3.3 million cap hit for each season.

Ward made 52 appearances with the Hurricanes in the 2016 season and posted 23 wins and 48 points in the pool last year, ranking 134th overall in pool scoring, 25th among all goalies.  There is as much of an argument that the team in front of him wasn't nearly as good as he played in the season and platooning with Eddie Lack certainly was a driving factor for increasing his level of play.

There are still some questions about the long-term plan about the Hurricanes' net, as the 32-year old Ward may be losing his grip on the number one status to the 28-year old Lack and with expansion lingering for the 2018 season, the Hurricanes will have a pair of goalies, to which only one could be protected and the age gap may work against Ward in the end.  At least with a very reasonable cap hit, they have the ability to get a decent return for Ward, if they decided to move him ahead of any expansion drafts.

As for us hockey poolies, Ward is still a pretty good goaltender, but he needs the team in front of him to improve to increase any sort of projections and he'll need some sort of promise that he'll get the same amount of starts, which likely isn't guaranteed in the 2017 season.  I don't think Ward is going to be an option that you will want to jump on, unless you're dying for a goalie in the draft, but he'll come in handy, assuming you don't pick him too early.

Already this off-season, which is only really days old, there is a sense that the Hurricanes are striving to become better right away, even though they remain a budget team.  The trade with the Blackhawks on Wednesday was certainly a good indicator that they at least mean business.