Canes top off signing season with LaRose

RALEIGH -- As his contract negotiations stretched from weeks into months, Chad LaRose never left Raleigh or lost hope.

Wednesday morning, the Carolina Hurricanes forward skated at the RecZone with teammate Rod Brind'Amour and former teammates Aaron Ward, Jesse Boulerice and Shane Willis.

Wednesday afternoon, LaRose signed a one-year contract worth $875,000 as the Canes avoided arbitration for the eighth straight summer.

"I'm ecstatic. I can't even tell you," LaRose said. "I'm very excited and excited to be a Cane again and to have this off my chest.

"Everyone was patient, and when it got done, it worked out both ways."

LaRose, a restricted free agent who made $500,000 last season and scored a career-high 11 goals, had filed for arbitration last weekend. The Canes haven't gone to arbitration since Jeff O'Neill made it to his hearing in 2000.

"Arbitration is no fun," general manager Jim Rutherford said. "I'm glad we didn't have to go again."

LaRose was the Canes' last NHL player to sign because he and his agent wanted a salary based on his past performance, which included plenty of time on the top three lines, while the Hurricanes wanted to pay him fourth-line money because that's where they expect him to play.

"Prior to him filing, I think we were a lot closer than maybe some teams would be," Rutherford said. "I didn't disagree with their position. It just was where Chad's slotted to play we were trying to be careful how much money we were spending at that position."

That more or less completes Carolina's NHL business for the summer, with one big exception -- a salary-dump trade on defense. With LaRose on board, the Canes are at about $49.6 million and need to be closer to $45 million on opening night.

Frantisek Kaberle, who makes $2.2 million, is the most likely target. Niclas Wallin, who voided a potential trade last summer by exercising his no-trade clause, said in an e-mail this week that he has not been contacted by the team about a potential trade.

"It wraps up all the signings," Rutherford said. "Now it's just a matter of will we move somebody, possibly a defenseman. That's something we have time on now. I believe there's a possibility we'll end up moving a defenseman."