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Hurricanes place Kuznetsov on waivers for termination, Jack Drury re-signs |
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The Carolina Hurricanes announced today that they’ve placed Evgeny Kuznetsov on waivers for the purpose of a mutual contract termination.
The move comes after reports surfaced regarding a possible move to the KHL for the forward a couple of days ago. Kuznetsov was acquired by the Hurricanes at the trade deadline from the Washington Capitals, and had another year remaining on his contract at a $3.9 million cap hit.
There are both some positives and negatives to Kuznetsov’s departure. On one hand, Kuznetsov failed to really come close to reaching the same levels of past success after joining the Hurricanes, and getting $3.9 million off the books leaves the Hurricanes with more cap flexibility as well.
On the other hand, Kuznetsov could still be a contributing member of the top-nine, for a team who already lost Jake Guentzel, Teuvo Teravainen and Stefan Noesen. Plus, the cap flexibility arguably isn’t quite as useful now as it would’ve been ahead of July 1, and the third-round pick the Hurricanes gave up for Kuznetsov is a sunk cost, even if the impact is relatively minimal.
In other news, the Hurricanes also re-signed Jack Drury to a two-year contract today, carrying a $1.73 million cap hit.
Drury scored eight goals and 27 points in 74 games with the Hurricanes last season, but should be set for a larger role this year after all the departures. The center has already had a positive defensive impact, and at 24 years old, the hope would be that he’s able to boost his offensive production as well.
His deal also comes in slightly cheaper than expected - I had projected a two-year contract for Drury to come with a $2.15 million cap hit, at HockeyComparables.com
OTHER ARTICLES FROM JULY
- Canes sign Gostisbehere, Walker and Carrier, re-sign Slavin and Martinook
- Hurricanes sign Jack Roslovic
- How strong is the Canes’ blue line after adding Gostisbehere and Walker?
- Reports arise regarding Kuznetsov’s future with Canes, Badinka signs ELC
Carolina Hurricanes Blogger • 
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