Good First Day Of Free Agency For Carolina

Carolina Hurricanes general manager Jim Rutherford delivered with two more upgrades to his team on Friday with the signings of goalie Anton Khudobin and defenseman Mike Komisarek. Both deals were one-year signings for reasonable amounts, ($800K for Khudobin and $700K for Komisarek).

Khudobin will replace Dan Ellis as Cam Ward's backup this coming season and should be an upgrade over Justin Peters, who would have had that spot if another goalie was not signed. The former Boston backup goalie has only played in 21 NHL games in his career, but has a .933 save percentage in those games.

Last year he had a 9-4-1 record for the Bruins, with a save percentage of .920.

In 2010-11 he had a 2-1 record for the Minnesota Wild and posted a .942 save percentage in four games.

The intriguing signing though is Komisarek, who will be looking to jump-start his career after a falling out in Toronto. This blueliner has the size the Hurricanes need, 6'4, 240, and he is not afraid to throw that huge body around.

In just four games last season, the former Team USA standout had 11 hits and six blocked shots. The year before that, he posted 104 hits and 80 blocked shots in just 45 games. These type of numbers are exactly what the doctor ordered for the Hurricanes.

Former Leafs, Jiri Tlusty and Jay Harrison both turned their careers around after the Leafs gave up on them, so it would not be unheard of if Komisarek did the same.

Rutherford said that Komisarek would be paired with Harrison, which would give the Canes a physically imposing third pairing.

The Hurricanes allowed too many goals last season and recent moves should help to lower that number.

The GM also alluded to the fact that one of the bigger free agents was interested in playing in Carolina and was considering taking a lower priced contract to do so. Who was it? Your guess is as good as anyone's, but we will see what happens today.

Now can Rutherford add some size, grit, or scoring to the third or fourth line?