Canes Acquire Versteeg & Nordstrom

Sometimes the best deals are made because of the misfortune of others, like when the guy who lived across the hall from me in my dorm sold me his Nintendo 64 (with Goldeneye AND WCW/nWo Revenge) for $50 because, well, weed. The Chicago Blackhawks didn’t have a mary jane habit (to people even use that term anymore? Am I 100?) and “misfortune” might be a bit strong (Stanley Cup and all) but they were pressed up against the salary cap ceiling with RFA Marcus Kruger still unsigned, and they needed to make a move or two to give them some flexibility. Enter Ron Francis and the Carolina Hurricanes, who picked up forwards Kris Versteeg, Joakim Nordström, and a 3rd round pick in 2017 from Chicago for defensemen Dennis Robertson, Jake Massie, and Carolina’s 5th round pick in 2017. The move saves the Blackhawks $2.805 million in cap room for the 2015-16 season.

Credit: SecondCityHockey

The biggest piece of the deal is Versteeg. The 29-year-old veteran winger has played 473 NHL games over eight seasons, scoring 116 goals and 275 points over that span. Listed at 5’11” and 176 lbs, he doesn’t add any more bulk to an undersized group of Canes forwards, but as a right-handed shooter with a nice scoring touch (11.4% career shooting percentage), Versteeg could easily see top 6 minutes on the right wing, where the depth chart behind Elias Lindholm was looking pretty bare, with the Swede and Riley Nash as the only right-handed shooters on the current Canes roster with a season’s worth of NHL experience. Though Versteeg will make $4.7 million this season in the last year of a four year deal he signed as a member of the Florida Panthers, the Panthers retained 50% of his salary in an earlier trade that sent him to the Blackhawks, and the  Canes will only see a $2.2 million cap hit due to the structure of the contract.

Nordström, 23, has spent the last two seasons bouncing back and forth from Chicago and the team’s AHL affiliate in Rockford. A former third round selection in the 2010 draft, the AHL shuttle won’t be as easy this season, as Nordström has to clear waivers in order to be sent down now. The Swedish center is known for his two-way play, though his scoring touch has been a little slow to develop. From Hockey’s Future:

A two-way center with good skating ability, Nordstrom is a capable player at both ends of the ice. Offensively, he is more of a set-up man with good vision, hockey sense, and accurate passing ability. Though he possesses a decent frame at 6’1, his strength and physical play are still developing.

Yep, that dude’s Swedish.

Nordström joins an already crowded group that will try to stick with the big club and potentially earn some 4th line minutes. Coach Peters will likely give Nordström every opportunity to win (or lose) a spot in training camp and preseason, so don’t expect Nordström’s waiver eligibility to give him much of an advantage over the rest of the roster.

The players going back to Chicago aren’t much of a loss to the Canes organization. Jake Massie was the first of two sixth round picks the Canes made in the most recent draft, and the defenseman is off to UMass, so we may not know how good he is for a few years yet. I mentioned in my draft recap that Massie was a “value pick” since he was ranked 80th overall by NHL Central Scouting, so he may turn out to be a capable NHL player, but with the Canes defensive prospect depth, it doesn’t hurt too much.

Dennis Robertson is a 24-year-old defenseman originally drafted out of Brown University in the 6th round of the 2011 NHL draft by Toronto. The Canes acquired him from the Leafs in the Tim Gleason/John-Michael Liles trade and signed him last year to a  two-year entry level contract. Robertson struggled to get ice time with Charlotte last season, and with the addition of Brett Pesce, Tyler Ganly, Jaccob Slavin, and potentially Noah Hanifin, Robertson faced the prospect of again being a healthy scratch or opening the season in the ECHL.

In the end, the Canes add more scoring, a position of need, and more depth for a minimal cost and minimal risk. GM Ron Francis let this deal come to him, rather than to seek out a riskier investment in the free agent market. If the Canes make a playoff push, a player like Versteeg and his playoff experience will be invaluable down the stretch. If the Canes are out of contention early, Versteeg’s low cap number and ending contract will be appealing to a team making a playoff push. These are the types of opportunities good teams take advantage of, and Ron Francis is showing those that are willing to look a little closer that the Canes are a team going in the right direction.