The Carolina Hurricanes have signed a couple of young players, inking Brock McGinn and Philip Samuelsson to two and one-year contracts respectively. McGinn’s contract is one-way and will pay him $875K in 2017-18, and $900K in 2018-19, while Samuelsson will earn $650K at the NHL level on a two-way deal.
McGinn, 23, spent most of the season in Carolina this year and registered 16 points in 57 games. The 47th-overall pick from 2012 has turned into a pretty good bottom-six player, and will look to continue his development as an offensive player. In nine AHL contests he recorded eight points, and will likely spend the whole season in the NHL next year.
Though Carolina is looking for a more substantial upgrade to their forward group this summer, getting McGinn under contract for such a low number was an important first step. Carolina isn’t a cap team by any means, as they operate under an internal budget that is far lower than the $75MM number that other teams push up to. Getting a useful NHL piece for under $1MM is a good start to an important offseason. If the team wants to take the next step forward and start competing, some more money will have to be shelled out up front. That means cheap contracts like McGinn will have to fill up the depth roles while still seeing substantial ice time.
Samuelsson, 25, isn’t much of an NHL option at this point but does provide plenty of depth for the Charlotte Checkers. The son of former Checkers’ head coach Ulf Samuelsson—who is now in Chicago as an assistant coach—Philip came over from the Montreal Canadiens system in a mid-season trade for Keegan Lowe. The second-round pick hasn’t made much of an impact at the NHL level, playing in just 13 games over his career and being held pointless in all of them. He does provide a good two-way option for Charlotte, who will look to get back into the playoffs after an early round 1 exit this season.