Boom.
The Carolina Hurricanes announced the signing of winger Nikolaj Ehlers to a six-year, $51 million contract on Thursday.
The Danish winger was the top player available on the free agent market entering July 1 after a flurry of re-signings and the sign-and-trade of Mitch Marner to Vegas, and now he’ll call Raleigh home for the foreseeable future.
Ehlers, who the Winnipeg Jets selected with the No. 9 overall pick in the 2014 NHL draft (just two picks after Carolina selected Haydn Fleury), put up 63 points in 69 games played this past season.
He followed that up with the best playoff run of his career, scoring 5 goals and 7 points in 8 games as the Jets lost in the second round.
The Danish winger had spent his entire career in Winnipeg before hitting the market this week. In 674 career games played, he’s racked up 225 goals, 295 assists and 520 points with a plus-106 rating.
The situation for Ehlers with the Jets has been increasingly untenable, as a player with undeniable talent had been deployed like a middle-six winger for years in an effort to keep the team’s lineup balanced.
As pointed out by Dimitri Filipovic on Twitter, Ehlers ranks 16th in five-on-five points per 60 among all NHL forwards over the past three seasons, but 199th in five-on-five time on ice per game.
The Hurricanes will likely be eager to offer him the increased role he’s undoubtedly looking for, as he immediately slots in as the most talented finisher on the roster and the most offensively creative player the team has since Martin Necas left in the Mikko Rantanen trade.
Look for Ehlers to fit right in on the top power play unit, and he will likely get every opportunity to build chemistry with Sebastian Aho on the top forward line.
General manager Eric Tulsky wasn’t able to add a legitimate top-line scoring winger in his bids with Jake Guentzel and Mikko Rantanen, but now the job is done.