Luke Kunin signed a two-year, $4.6 million contract with the Nashville Predators on Wednesday. It has an average annual value of $2.3 million.
"It's very exciting to finally have it done, put it in the past and just get back to work and get out there with the guys," Kunin said after his first practice with Nashville. "It's been a little longer than I wanted. I wanted to be in the first day of camp, but leave that up to the agents and the GMs to figure all that stuff out. I just go out there and play."
The 23-year-old forward, who was a restricted free agent, was traded to Nashville with a fourth-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft (Adam Wilsby) by the Minnesota Wild on Oct. 7 for forward Nick Bonino and a second-round and a third-round pick in the 2020 draft.
"I've been here I'd say since really a week after the trade," Kunin said. "I've been here skating with the guys, training with the guys. And then I've still been coming in every day and being a part of the meetings, getting some workouts in and doing what I can without going on the ice. Still trying to be a part of this group. I want to be here. I was happy to get started and get out there today."
Kunin scored NHL career highs in goals (15), assists (16) and points (31) in 63 games for the Wild last season. He scored two goals in their four-game loss to the Vancouver Canucks in the best-of-5 Stanley Cup Qualifiers, his first NHL postseason.
"It's great to see him actually on the ice," Predators coach John Hynes said. "We have had him in all of our meetings and he's been in and around the group, but to be able to come into the first practice, it was nice to see him out on the ice. I thought he had a good first day. He's been skating, and he looked like he was ready to go right off the bat today.
"It was good. He's a smart player. He's very competitive and I thought he picked up some of the things that we were trying to talk about really for the first day back for him. Excited that we have him now with us and signed. I think it's great for Luke and his career, and it's also great for our team."
Selected by Minnesota with the No. 15 pick in the 2016 NHL Draft, Kunin has scored 52 points (23 goals, 29 assists) in 131 regular-season games.
NHL.com independent correspondent Robby Stanley contributed to this report
Photo courtesy of John Russell/Nashville Predators
