Cam Ward signs 2-year deal with Carolina, because why not?
When the Carolina Hurricanes signed Cam Ward to a two-year contract extension on Thursday, GM Ron Francis said “we are happy he has chosen to continue his career in Carolina.”
This conjures visions of the Hurricanes’ front office sitting around a telephone, praying it’ll ring and Cam Ward will be on the other end saying “I’ve decided to keep my talents in Raleigh …”
But what Francis said at the end of the season about Ward was clearly that the Hurricanes had to decide if they needed him, and not vice versa: “We have to do our due diligence. We have to make sure we’re making a decision that makes the organization better. That may be signing Cam; that may be going in a different direction.”
Apparently what makes the organization better is a goalie who has appeared in 103 games in the last two seasons with a .910 and a .909 save percentage respectively. From the Canes:
Ward, 32, finished the 2015-16 season with a 23-17-10 record, a 2.41 goals-against average and a .909 save percentage in 52 games played. His 2.41 goals-against average was his second-best single-season mark of his career, and his wins and games played totals were his best since 2011-12. After missing time due to injury in December, Ward returned to the net on Dec. 18, and, from then until the end of the season, posted an NHL seventh-best 2.19 goals-against average, while compiling a 14-9-7 record and .919 save percentage in 30 games played.
You can see the logic here for the Hurricanes. Ward is 32. He can start 60 percent of their games if necessary, and he can still have fits and spurts of solid play. And he was willing to go just two years and drop his cap hit down by $3 million to $3.3 million on this deal. (They had to kick in a modified no-trade clause, the price of doing business but not something that excludes him from the expansion draft.)
The alternative was to turn the crease over to Eddie Lack and find another veteran netminder to pair with him. Outside of James Reimer, who could command Ward’s money too, there really wasn’t anyone that much better than the incumbent on the free agent market.
This is a move for status quo and stability, one that bets on Bill Peters’ system making both goalies something close to average. If there’s one thing teams love it’s a known quantity, and two more years of Ward at a manageable (and portable) cap hit isn’t terrible. Even if Ward can be, at times.
Too bad Matt Murray didn’t win the Conn Smythe for the Penguins. He could still be living off it 10 years later.
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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.
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