RALEIGH - After a long and sometimes heated negotiation, the Carolina Hurricanes solidified the future of their team today by signing star centre Eric Staal to a new contract. The new deal - a 3-year pact which pays Staal $3,500,000 per season with a sizable signing bonus - was the teams' number one priority heading into the offseason.
"Signing Eric is absolutely pivotal to the success of our hockey club," said GM Norm Donovan, "He's our go-to guy, and the player we will be building around as we make the team a genuine competitor."
Although all parties involved wore smiles this morning, the negotiations were not always so rosy. The Hurricanes were pushing hard for a 4-year deal, with Staal and his agent preferring 3 years. After a series of offers and counter-offers by both sides - including an offer from the Hurricanes which would have paid Staal $18,000,000 over 4 years - management finally relented and signed the 3-year deal. In an apparently terse final communication, a frustrated Donovan reportedly wrote simply "if Eric wants to turn down an offer of more money, that's his perogative."
Also announced was the signing of Ales Kotalik to a 4-year deal paying him $1,400,000 per season. Kotalik enjoyed a banner offensive year and will likely be called upon as a key offensive forward for the team next season.
Jozef Balej, a winger in the Hurricanes farm system, was signed to a 4-year pact at $750,000 per year. Defenseman Robert Schnabel has thus far not been offered a contract, and it is unclear as to whether the Hurricanes will make him a qualifying offer or allow him to leave as a free agent.