With Vincent Trocheck signing with the New York Rangers, the Carolina Hurricanes had a hole down the middle. They have now addressed that need.
The Hurricanes announced that they signed veteran center Paul Stastny to a one-year contract worth $1.5 million on Tuesday.
Stastny, 36, has 16 seasons of NHL experience under his belt. Even though he may not be in the prime of his career anymore, he showed last season that he still has the ability to contribute offensively. In 2021-22, Stasny scored 21 goals and added 24 assists with the Winnipeg Jets while playing up and down the lineup at both center and wing.
With Stastny on the ice at five-on-five, the Jets generated some positive results. In those situations, Winnipeg scored 53 goals and allowed only 41, according to Natural Stat Trick.
Throughout his lengthy NHL career, Stastny has been a great distributor and a responsible defender. In 1,072 career games, Stastny has scored 284 goals and assisted on 516 more for a total of 800 points.
Sebastian Aho has the No. 1 center role locked down in Carolina, but Stastny and Jordan Staal will provide a nice combo in the middle six. Wherever Stastny slots in, he will bring experience and depth to a team with Stanley Cup expectations in 2021-22.
It has been a busy offseason for the Hurricanes, who have been making a splash by adding veteran talent.
Prior to signing Stastny, Carolina traded for Brent Burns and Max Pacioretty. Even though the latter will miss the first half of the season with a torn Achilles, the Hurricanes have loaded up after being one win away from the Eastern Conference Finals of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
