As rumored yesterday, today it was announced that the Carolina Hurricanes had acquired center Marcus Kruger from the Las Vegas Golden Knights in return for a fifth-round draft pick.
The move adds yet another former-Blackhawk to the Hurricanes roster.
I have mixed feelings on the acquisition partly dependent on where Francis/Peters see him slotting, partly based on Kruger himself partly based on the statement it makes about how the Hurricanes plan to build their 2017-18 forward group.
Marcus Kruger profile
At his core, Marcus Kruger is a very good checking line center. On some very good Blackhawks teams, he centered a third line in a top-heavy system that generated the bulk of its scoring from a lineup that featured two lines stocked with a bunch of offense and had Kruger centering a third line often tasked with taking the hard match ups and trying to hold its own.
Despite being a lesser-known name, Kruger’s skill set and role are not that different than Nick Bonino and Martin Hanzal except that his offensive production is lighter. But that is important to note. Kruger peaked at a modest 28 points in 81 games in 2013-14. He has mustered only 17 scoring points in 70 games in 2016-17 which is actually higher than what he averaged over the previous two seasons.
In short, I view Kruger as being a very good fourth line center who is not in over his head defensively on a higher line, but I do not view him as help in the scoring department especially if he displaces a young player with higher-end offensive ability.
Marcus Kruger’s deal and contract
The trade is a good one. Francis gave up only a fifth-round pick to net a proven and good NHL player even if he does have limitations. Financially Kruger works well too. His salary cap hit looks very high for his role (which is why Chicago had to let him go to Las Vegas) at $3.1 million, but with Chicago already paying the hefty $2 million signing bonus part of his 2017-18 contract, the out of pocket reality for Kruger is much different. The Hurricanes are scheduled to pay him $1.44 million in 2017-18 and $2.3 million for 2018-19 for a two-year average of about $1.9 million. That puts him slightly above the Viktor Stalberg’s 2016-17 salary and potentially with a similar effect as a depth player but a very good depth player.
If you put Hurricanes needs and where Kruger fits to the side and just look at the transaction and contract, both are very good. Giving up a fifth-round player for a good NHL player is always a deal except sometimes when it comes with taking a good player on a bad contract. I would call Kruger’s $1.9 million fair, maybe a small premium if you consider him a fourth-liner and also maybe a fair premium even considering he is much better than the run of the mill fourth-liner.
Where does Marcus Kruger fit?
The volume of potential centers grows: With the Hurricanes only two deep at center in the top 9 before Kruger, the big question continues to be who the third top 9 center is. The team is not short on options. Kruger was a third-line center in Chicago. Peters said earlier in the summer that he thought that Elias Lindholm and/or Sebastian Aho both project as possible centers down the road, but he also pretty definitely said that he saw both as wings in 2017-18. Derek Ryan is re-signed and is another center. And the chameleon, Teuvo Teravainen is another possibility.
Other clues as to where Kruger fits: I wrote about this in a bit more detail in today’s Daily Cup of Joe, but the short version is that signing Josh Jooris on Saturday hinted that Peters wanted to build a sound and stable fourth line with some veteran presence versus largely making it a tryout for the young players. This lines up with Peters comments at the end of the season about not just wanting to call up a bunch of AHL players. It also lines up with my comment on Twitter yesterday that Peters has been trying for three years to build an old school, safe and sound, checking fourth line. With Jay McClement out and Marcus Kruger in, he might have finally done so.
Why I don’t think Chicago’s model with Kruger works in Raleigh: Worth noting is that Kruger centered the third line in Chicago and was capable doing so. I do not at all like the idea of Kruger stepping into a C3 slot with the Hurricanes (moving up because of injuries is a different necessity sometimes). The key difference is that Chicago had enough high-end fire power offensively that they could build a lineup that top-loaded two lines and a top power play unit with scoring capability and only looked for the third line to hold its own, not so much score. The Hurricanes do not have that top-end scoring and need more balance throughout the lineup. I do not view a 20ish-point Kruger with limited playmaking ability as capable of netting enough production from a third line.
Where I hope Kruger lands: My hope and to some degree expectation is that Francis/Peters see Kruger as a fourth-line upgrade, needed penalty kill help and capable depth to move up in the event of an injury. If he pushes up into the top 9, I feel like he is likely 10-15 points light on scoring and maybe more significantly is not the kind of player that will help boost his wings to the high end of their scoring ranges.
Netting it out
I like the deal as an incremental upgrade especially considering the cost. I like Kruger in the C4 slot and as depth. I do not like Kruger in a C3 slot, and I am mixed on the direction that Jooris and Kruger indicate in terms of stocking a fourth line maybe entirely with scoring-lite checking line players.
What say you Canes fans?
How do you feel about the deal itself (putting where Kruger fits to the side for a minute)?
What do you think about Marcus Kruger as an addition?
What are your thoughts on where he slots and what Francis/Peters plan is? Do you see it as I do? Or differently?
Making me obsolete one comment at a time
If you haven’t already, you need to put The Coffee Shop comments high on your priority list of Hurricanes reading. Rob S. had Kruger yesterday in the Monday Coffee Shop (BEFORE the rumor broke) and the regular Monday and Thursday articles have become a great source of different but equally intelligent thoughts on Carolina Hurricanes hockey.
Go Canes!
If it wasn’t for the Josh Jooris signing I’d be pretty satisfied with the upgrade to our 4th line.
But signing 2 PK specialist low scoring guys on one-way contracts does not address our primary need, scoring, and also clogs up the Canes lineup and contract situation.
Sure, we want our younger guys not to be pressured, but neither do we want to fill our NHL team up to the extent that they see little chance of promotion, especially when we fill our lineup with checking line type players.
At least are both relatively inexpensive, but I am already on record as not being a favor of the JJ signing, and this contracts makes it even more puzzling.
I can’t decide if GMRF has a strategy that I don’t get, or if he’s getting sloppy this offseason.
I didn’t like or get the Jooris signing either, and in light of this trade I like it even less.
IMO, Derek Ryan is depth at best. He’s not physical enough to play on the 4th, and not talented enough to play above the 3rd, and his signing was the start of the bottom of the lineup logjam that now includes:
Kruger (I agree he’s slotted to fill the 4C now), McGinn, Norstrom, Ryan, PDG (I think he’s another player I don’t see slotting above the 4th line in an ideal world), and Jooris. That’s not even counting Wallmark, who I was hoping could fill in as a more offensively driven 4th line center.
I don’t see any of those 6 players as top 9 long term, though each could slot higher (and likely will) over the course of the year. It would be ideal to have more offensively talented players slotting above them.
So what does it mean? Here are a few possibilities:
1) GMRF has a small amount of money to burn, and realizing he can’t trade for that #1C without giving up assets he’s unwilling to part with, he’s taking on quality depth on the cheap without much regard for who the roster will fall.
I could picture him thinking “I need more depth on the 4th line. I’ll resign Ryan… Jooris is available? He’s a right shot, might as well add him in case Ryan doesn’t work out… Oh crap, now I can get Kruger? Well I have the cap space and roster slot, might as well…”
2) I absolutely think there’s truth to wanting character veterans who know what it takes to make and win in the playoffs. The team is talented, but far too young and green. There had to be some adds like Williams and Kruger that bring in players that can show these guys what kind of commitment and sacrifice is truly required to succeed in the NHL.
3. GMRF is a mastermind and there’s a trade coming where he needs pieces to backfill afterward. Maybe some combination of PDG, McGinn, Fleury, McKeown, TT, or others are on their way out for a top six player in a scenario we haven’t envisioned. Admittedly this is a stretch, but I can’t figure out why a team usually to tight on money has now signed so many players that ideally slot as 4th liners.
4. The Canes think Wallmark has a higher offensive ceiling than that of a 4th liner, and they want to give him another year in Charlotte to develop and build confidence instead of shoving him into the NHL before he’s ready.
Good call Rob S. An elite PK is pretty important. Marcus Kruger is clearly a top defensive forward. Josh Jooris, who I knew nothing about, also looks to a good faceoff guy and top defender. IMO, I would not call this sloppy, I think it is a very direct effort to make the 4th line a very difficult line to play against. We got trashed over and over again last year with our 4th line. It will not be a scoring line but one that hopefully helps in regards to the goals against.
5th round pick for a guy this good defensively is a pretty good get.
The off season is not done yet, so we could still trade some of our glut of guys who look to be 4th liners.
The more I see what is going on I believe RF is trying to keep our AHL prospects in the AHL for further development. I do agree it kind of takes away the potential for promotion. Little chance of promotion might test some guys. We can still bring up one at this point which will make for an intense competition at training camp.
IMO, Derek Ryan is above 4th line. No problem with different opinions.
Somebody said the other day rather then bringing up guys for the 4th line to break them into the NHL, instead let them develop in the AHL for the top 9 spots they really could be and bring them up later. This is the model Bill Peters came from, have the AHL prospects more then ready. There may be validity to that. It might be what RF is positioning for.
I do not view this as a bad move. Every move has improved the team. a top C could still happen (but agree less likely).
icecobra, if I had read your comments before I wrote mine below, I could have saved myself a lot of typing. IMO you are dead on on all of your points.
Thanks RR, but you said it much better then I did.
When I said bring up one, I meant forward. Defensively, I do believe we bring up Haydn Fleury.
1. I like the Kruger deal. We have to rebuild our penalty kill unit and he’s excellent in that role. If he scores 7-10 goals for us as 4th line center, that will be a substantial upgrade from McClement. Great deal giving up only a 5th round draft pick. Money, while a tad high, isn’t going to cause us any problem making any other deals or signings.
2. As an addition he fills the 4th line center slot, he upgrades our penalty kill, he comes from a winning environment, and he upgrades the scoring we were getting from our 4th line centers.
3. I think you were spot on pegging him as 4th line center.
Regarding the impact on the team as a whole 1) his signing will not stilt the development of any of our prospect forwards. It will allow RF to allow our prospects to get vital experience before being thrown into NHL action before fully developing their skills. Players who has given INDICATIONS they MIGHT be NHL ready, such as Wallmark, aren’t affected by this signing or for that matter the Jooris signing. Our prospects now just have to crack the top 9 level. That’s what we are trying to do with developing our prospects. Some prospects will settle in as nothing more than bottom 6 or only 4th line talent which will help in the salary cap struggle. Others will demonstrate top 6 potential and when they do they need to be put in top 6 NHL roles to start their NHL careers to see if they can perform at that level in the NHL. Players like Sheary, Guentzel, etc. didn’t come up top the NHL and get buried on the 4th line in some checking role. They were put in top 6 roles as those were the roles they had demonstrated in the minors they were ready for.
Even though I don’t agree with all that againstthegrain surmises he does cover the subject well On only one point he and breezy make about the signing of Jooris. I think this signing demonstrates RF’s progression to the next level in the development of the Canes. It demonstrates he is seriously building this team to win in 2017-18. No more plugging in untried prospects in pivotal roles. Penalty killing is a pivotal role on the team. Kruger and Jooris are both established as excellent in that area. Both, while not being prolific scorers by any means, have demonstrated they can score at a higher level than what we have had on the 4th line the last few years. From here on out to me it looks like any rookies wanting to make this team will have to beat out the competition for the job and not just be awarded the position because we don’t have anyone better. For example, players like DeGuiseppe, McGinn and Nordstrom will have to beat out other talent to even make this team in a top 9 role. There is no 4th line slot for them to fall into as Kruger and Jooris have already proved they are better 4th line talents. As usual, I will add my disclaimer which is in the off-season contest Matt ran predicting draft and trade moves, etc. I managed a perfect score. I didn’t get one question right which matches up perfectly with my previous demonstrated abilities.
Sorry, RR, my off-season contest score was even lower than yours, because I get extra zero’s for UFA signings: I was about as dead-wrong as you could be on JW. I’ve been so bad that I almost want to stop commenting.I kind of feel like the poker player who doesn’t know who the mark is at the table (me), so I’m going to keep posting so that everyone else can look good.
As for the signing, agree with your comments. I think it’s a positive for the team to increase competition for ALL roster spots, especially when the cost is a 5th round pick and a slightly above-slotting salary for 2-yrs or less. Ryan, PDG, McGinn, and Nordstrom: there’s a reasonable chance some of them won’t make this team.
I sense that RF is not done making moves; I hope he would 100% consider and compete for a Johansson-like deal from a cap-constrained team even if it’s not a deal for the 1C.
I pretty much agree with everything said above, great value on a great 4th liner for acceptable money.
One thing I’m not sure anyone touched on with Derek Ryan is that he probably at least starts lined up with Skinner somewhere, if he doesn’t get to play with Skinner I think he’s a 4th liner or depth. I believe I heard Peters or Francis reinforcing that in a recent interview.
I’m really happy with the direction of the team, gone are the days of Jordan Staal having to carry a second line with a couple of plugs on his wings. Jokes aside, I think the Mcginns, Nordstroms and PDGs of the world are great, they’re fun to root for, but I don’t think a team serious about the playoffs can give a regular roster spot to a player of their caliber, let alone three.
My guess is that PDG will be signed to a two way contract. That is probably why it was not done yet.
Four or 5 months ago I would have hated this deal. But Matt, Jordan, and the thoughtful commenters on C&C have made me better understand how the Canes organization is moving forward. So now I REALLY like both the Jooris and Kruger signings.
1) dmiller, redryder and others have made the point well that these two moves are actually signs of a commitment to our prospects. Stempniak, Ryan, Jooris, all have contracts that are up after 17-18. So there will be slots open–where acquiring a Duchene, Drouin, or Galchenyuk would block at least one spot for several years–but for players who have a full year of AHL experience and have played together. I was too skeptical of the value of AHL time until the C&C crowd forced me to actually look at the facts. A few players (the McDavids, Eichels, Matthews) step right into the NHL. But for other players it seems like 40-120 AHL games are needed.
2) If a serious injury happens, then at least a few players already with NHL or significant AHL experience–DiGuiseppe, Wallmark, Zykov–are ready to step up. And if the injury happens in February or March then Kuokkanen and Foegele might also be ready.
3) I was committed to the idea of four “scoring” lines that average between 13-17 minutes per game. I think the Canes’ 4th line is likely to get close to that 13, but it will be due to time on PK, which in many ways is more valuable than the ability to score a few goals.
So as I think about the past three days, I believe GMRF has done much to further the two primary goals of the organization: 1–playoffs in 17-18; 2–keep the your core together for an extended period of success in the NHL.
More or less a repeat of something I wrote in response to an earlier column:
With the trade for Kruger, there goes several fantasies:
(1) Our young forwards in Charlotte, including Wallmark, are going to get legitimate shots at the opening day roster.
(2) Peters wants balance in his 4 lines.
RF used the phrase “experienced [NHL] players” which reflects Peters’ stated preference at the closing press conference that he wants play who “can” play at the NHL level, rather than who “might” be able to do so. Kruger and Jooris represents a different vision for the team.
I was reading an article yesterday that the Flyers are going the opposite track and giving their young players the opportunity (and the responsibility) to step up.
I am concerned that any bias regarding how NHL-ready olur AHL players are is based on lesser forwards (McGinn, PDG) rather than Saarela, Zykov, Kuok, Wallmark. Granted, these players still need to demonstrate they can compete on NHL ice – we are just shutting the door on that this year. But I think we finally have higher-end F’s in Charlotte and these signings have blockedt them. Whether that is good or bad – I don’t really have the overall hockey knowledge to know.
On the flipside, a couple of days back I expressed under the topic of “what else needs to get done” that we need to shore up our PK. And Kruger does just that.
If Kruger an upgrade for JMac (both 4C and PK)? – probably yes. But would he be preferred over Wallmark? – depends on your vision of the team.
And I think this is being driven by how Peters wants to structure his team and, again in accordance with that press conference, RF is getting the pieces that BP has identified.
tj. I think you point about “shutting the door” on the prospects this year is valid. However, as I mentioned above, it seems that the recent moves actually commit to roles for prospects as early as next season. Stempniak is in his last year, so one RW poisition will be needed next year from among the three RW prospects (Zykov, Gauthier, Smallman) and maybe one or two of the versatile wingers. Also, Ryan who appears to be the 3C this year is on a one-year deal. If Kuokkanen, Roy, or Saarela dominate in Charlotte, the 3rd line is likely to see them next season.
My read on the Jooris and Kruger signings is two-fold: 1. They fit Peters’ system (I mentioned before that I like that he seems a little like a hockey-version of Belichick in that he has a clear idea of what he wants and prefers players who can carry out his plan); 2. They fill 4th line spots–so not ideal for the prospects who are viewed as having more offensive upside than the 4th liners in Peters’ system. With maybe Foegele and Smallman as being future 4th liners who could provide the balance you mentioned. My guess is that if any of the prospects demonstrate the defensive/possession ability that BP desires then Jooris will be a one-year Cane.
raleightj, I wouldn’t say the door is shut to our prospects; I would say, instead, that they have to be ready, out-compete, and be better than some our NHL depth players. Maybe a prospect earns it, maybe he doesn’t, but either way we’re a better team. I still think we’ll have room (and I really want there to be room) for one prospect Forward in Raleigh after RF gets finished wheeling-and-dealing this Summer, but maybe I’m delusional.
(Actually, I am delusional … please don’t tell anybody.)
When you have 13 F’s on one-way contracts and the 4th line marked down as a checking line, there is no way – short of injury or a flat start – the young forwards who have scoring potential get a shot at being on NHL ice, no matter how competitive they are.
I look forward to being proved wrong, but I would rather cheer for Wallmark as the 4C than Kruger, and Zykov over McGinn, and Saarela or Kuokkanen over Ryan. Those guys will, presumably, work their butts off in Charlotte and hopefully get a chance to show what they can do on NHL ice, and prove they should have been given slots rather than 4th line discards from other teams. Of course, if Kruger and Jooris know it out of the park I will have no issue being wrong.
That’s all true, but we’ve filled only 8 of the Top 9 slots. Maybe that’s the opening that RF is leaving open and where the scoring prospect finds ice time.
I’m not sure how cornering the market on 4th liners is going to help us beat teams with good 1st and 2nd liners.
This theory of having a great penalty-kill group is beneficial why?
Did the Canes really have a substantial number of penalties to kill, and lose a lot of games because we couldn’t do that?
I’ve never heard anything about something like that. Our Centers haven’t been prodigious scorers recently, but that isn’t going to change with additional 4th liners IMO!
I’m either missing something or we need centers who score or facilitate scoring.
i agree puckgod – you’ve got to score goals to win – and ultimately have plus in the goals for / goals against ratio
i don’t believe we’ve have an positive in that column for years. i am not going to believe it until i see it and i am not buying the glut inllux of 4th line old guys to change that at all
Edm just signed Jussi Jokanen to a 1-year $1.1 million deal (without giving up a pick). In light of that signing I have to say the signing of JJ becomes increasingly perplexing as the Juice is a far superior player, more versatile, better offensive production and still above average defensive acumen (e.g. over 53% lifetime o face offs).