Orlov gets 2-year contract with Hurricanes; Andersen, Raanta re-sign

Dmitry Orlov signed a two-year, $15.5 million contract with the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday. The contract has an average annual value of ($7.75 million).

The 31-year-old, considered the best defenseman on the free agent market, had 36 points (seven goals, 29 assists) in 66 games with the Washington Capitals and Boston Bruins last season, including 17 points (four goals, 13 assists) in 23 games after being acquired in a trade with the Capitals on Feb. 23.

"He's a player we're very familiar with," general manager Don Waddell said Saturday. "Obviously [he] was in Washington for a long time and traded to Boston last year at the deadline and we think a puck-moving defenseman fits the style that [coach Rod Brind'Amour] likes to play.

"He can join the rush, can bring some offense on the power play, and our team has been known to spend less time in our zone than any other team in the NHL. And so when you're talking about adding pieces to your to your hockey club, you want to talk about, can they make your team better and certainly we feel that with his abilities back there that he does that for us."

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Waddell said the two-year contract allows Carolina to fit Orlov under the NHL salary cap, with an eye for longer deal later.

"We knew that if we got him here, and everything goes well, there's no reason we can't extend them at that point, but we thought ... you can't take your cap space with you," Waddel said. "If you don't spend it, you lose it right. So, the cap is only going to get tighter as you continue on, so we want to leave ourselves as much flexibility [and] that's why we came up with this idea of going at him with a good number that we thought he could accept and do it for a shorter term, and it fits what we need and he was excited about it. So, it made sense to do it."

The Hurricanes also re-signed goalies Frederik Andersen and Antti Raanta, each of whom were unrestricted free agents.

Andersen signed a two-year, $6.8 million contract. It has an average annual value of $3.4 million. Raanta signed for one year and $1.5 million.

Andersen was 21-11-1 with a 2.48 goals-against average, .903 save percentage and one shutout in 34 regular-season games (33 starts) for the Carolina Hurricanes last season and 5-3 with a 1.83 GAA and .927 save percentage in nine Stanley Cup Playoff games.

Selected by the Anaheim Ducks in the third round (No. 87) of the 2012 NHL Draft, the 33-year-old is 282-125-52 with a 2.58 goals-against average, .915 save percentage and 24 shutouts in 479 regular-season games (465 starts) for the Ducks, Toronto Maple Leafs and Hurricanes and 32-26 with 2.44 GAA, .917 save percentage and three shutouts in 62 playoff games.

Raanta, 34, was 19-3-3 with a 2.23 GAA, .910 save percentage and four shutouts in 27 games (26 starts) with the Hurricanes last season.

"We've been talking to [Raanta's] agent at the Draft, and both [Raanta and Andersen] had expressed wanting to come back from the day the season ended," Waddell said. "But speaking about 'Rants,' we met the agent and we kicked around multiyear deals and he took a little salary cut, which was always hard for a player to do. But when he's played, he's been really good."

"Freddie we were in really good negotiations and we kind of cooled off, we were a little bit of a stalemate, and stayed in touch with his agent through the process and today made the decision to take another strike at it, which we were we did. We knew Freddie really wanted to come back but we also knew, again, another guy took a pay cut and I don't care what you do in life, people come to your employer and say he wants you to take a pay cut, so he had to think about it and he had a few weeks to think about it and today when I called Claude Lemieux, his representation, he called me back within five minutes and said, 'Yep, he's on board.' So, we're very excited. Happy to have those guys back."

The Hurricanes also signed forward Michael Bunting to a three-year, $13.5 million contract ($4.5 million AAV). The 27-year-old forward had 49 points (23 goals, 26 assists) in 82 regular-season games for the Toronto Maple Leafs last season and two points (one goal, one assist) in seven playoff games.

Bunting was a finalist for the 2022 Calder Trophy, awarded to the top rookie in the NHL, after he led first-year players in points (63), was second in assists (40) and tied for second in goals (23).

Selected by the Arizona Coyotes in the fourth round (No. 117) of the 2014 NHL Draft, Bunting has 126 points (57 goals, 69 assists) in 187 regular-season games for the Maple Leafs and Coyotes and five points (two goals, three assists) in 12 playoff games.

Waddell said the Hurricanes liked Bunting's fiestiness.

"It's certainly something that we want to look at to add. But most importantly, we want to add good players because to win hockey games, unless the rules change this summer, you've got to score more goals than the other team." Waddell said. "So, whenever you go out and especially in a case like this, where you spend, you know, $13.3 million on a player, you want to make sure you get a player that can contribute offensively. He just had that extra knack, the way he plays, that's something that we definitely wanted and Rod wanted, and so that was a bonus to be able to get that type of player."

The Hurricanes also re-signed forward Jespes Fast to a two-year, $4.8 million contract. It has an average annual value of $2.4 million.

The 31-year-old forward could have been an unrestricted free agent. He had 29 points (10 goals, 19 assists) in 80 regular-season games for Carolina last season and nine points (six goals, three assists) in 15 playoff games.

"Important player for us," Waddell said. "He's a true pro, comes to rink every day. You get the same effort and practice as you do in a game and that line I don't think gets enough credit of Fast, (Jordan) Staal and (Jordan) Martinook, of really how good they are.

"If you look at analytics as a line, they spent more time in the offensive zone for third line than any other line in the League for third line if you call them a third line. But they're important group here so bring Jesper back, another guy that from day one kept saying ... and we gave him a little raise, probably kept the term a little lower than what he initially wanted. But if a player wants to come back and we want it back, we're always going to find a way to keep him."

Waddell says the signings indicate Carolina, which was swept by the Florida Panthers in the Eastern Confernece Final last season, is in win-now mode.

"But the difference would we don't want to mortgage the future to win now. Cap space is like gold. Last year we were able to get (forward Max) Pacioretty, obviously he got injured, and (defenseman) Brent Burns because we had cap space and now Orlov and Bunting, all they cost us was cap space," Waddell said. "We didn't have to give any assets for it but if you don't have that cap space, you can't add the player. So, I think what we've done here is a really good job and it's a lot of credit to our whole staff is we've managed our cap space very well and being able to put us in position to do the things that we've done on July 1 each year."