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Canes sign Ehlers

6 years instead of 7, eh? I like that. That takes Ehlers to age 35, which isn't the end of the world. Presumably this would be structed to make a buyout feasible in year 5.

Fit-wise, it's a shift for Carolina but they've been trying to move towards a more rush-oriented approach in the top six for a couple of years now. Ehlers is greasy and makes good connection plays, which will help in that regard. He's not going to help defend much if at all, but Carolina can absorb that so long as the connection play is good enough. Ehlers is also a dependable power play puck mover and has been a reliable, if not prolific, finisher even if he's not a sniper. Good, solid offensive player, basically. Would fit in the top six of virtually any team in the league ... aside from the one he played on of course. The Jets famously under-used him for basically his entire career for a variety of reasons and through 4 different coaches.

Now, I'd love to figure out a 2C because I'd vastly prefer him away from Aho's line, which is mostly defined by 2-way play. Chances are slim that happens in this particular summer, though. So this first stretch might be a bit tricky in terms of fit. We'll see but the Canes are a better team with Ehlers than they were yesterday and if you're going to over-pay then you want to be confident in that.
 
Oh, and despite chatter to the contrary, apparently Ehlers was doing just what his agent said and taking his time to sort out his options and find the team he wanted to commit to for his big contract. This is a perfectly reasonable contract given that he was the best offensive winger to actually hit the market. Yeah, it's probably a year too long and a million bucks too much, but that was always going to be the case.
 
NoMich said:
Yep, like the K'Andre deal it is an over payment, but really, not terribly so.
Click to expand...
And they still have over $10 million in open Cap space. So ... yeah. It's fine. They can either hold that to make a big move at the deadline/during the season or they can spend some of it on a right shot D to balance out the D Corps. Even after the Miller trade, the Canes still have a metric ton of viable prospects they could move.
 
Just read this snippet in The Athletic: "Add it all up, and Ehlers is one of the most productive points-per-minute scorers in the NHL. Over the past three seasons, Ehlers ranks 16th among all forwards in points per 60 minutes at five-on-five." The article also compares his speed through the neutral zone to Necas - maybe without turning the puck over when he gets in the offensive zone.
 
Ehlers usage in Winnpeg was pretty odd. Last season he averaged just 13:14 at even strength. 2:32 on the PP (he doesn't kill penalties, like, ever)

His last 3 seasons had his lowest Even strength ice times. 12:46 in 22-23, 13:14 in 24-25, 13:40 in 23-24.

Those Even strength TOIs are what our 3 line usually gets. With the Canes Ehlers is going to get to play around 30-45 seconds more per game even strength and maybe 30 seconds more on the PP. That doesn't sound like a lot, and we don't know how productive he might be with extra minutes, but 60 points should be his floor at least for the first half of the new contract.
 
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