Canes ink Kase to 1-year deal

The Carolina Hurricanes are signing Czech winger Ondrej Kase to a one-year, $1.5 million contract according to reports from Pierre LeBrun.

Kase is the Hurricanes’ first free agent signing after Carolina made a couple of major trades Wednesday, as the Czech forward will join the team coming off of one of the more productive seasons of his NHL career.

Playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2021-22, Kase contributed 27 points in 50 games after playing just three games in 2020-21 due to injury.

While Kase wasn’t necessarily a top-end player in his return from injury this past season, he’s still a solid producer and comes in at a pretty low-risk $1.5 million for one year.

With Steven Lorentz gone in the Brent Burns trade and the likelihood of re-signing Nino Niederreiter going way down with the reported Max Pacioretty trade, there’s certainly a place for Kase as a bottom-six winger for the Hurricanes. If he returns to some of his early career form, Kase could even be a top-six guy in an injury pinch.

The Hurricanes made the Kase signing official. Here is the full press release:

RALEIGH, N.C. – Don Waddell, President and General Manager of the National Hockey League’s Carolina Hurricanes, today announced that the team has signed forward Ondrej Kase to a one-year, $1.5 million contract.

“Ondrej is an exciting young player and we’re happy to add another goal-scoring winger to our forward group,” said Waddell. “He can play in all situations and we expect him to contribute offensively.”

Kase, 26, posted 27 points (14g, 13a) in 50 NHL games with Toronto in 2021-22. The 6’0”, 187-pound forward has registered 124 points (57g, 67a) in 257 career NHL games with Toronto, Boston and Anaheim. He has added nine points (2g, 7a) in 31 career NHL playoff games. The Kadan, Czechia, native represented his home country at the 2015 IIHF World Junior Championship, recording two points (1g, 1a) in five games. Kase was drafted by Anaheim in the seventh round, 205th overall, of the 2014 NHL Draft.