How did Brady Skjei help Jesper Fast decide to sign with the Hurricanes?
Brady Skjei was the player who knocked Jesper Fast out of the 2020 NHL postseason, and also the one who helped convince him to sign with the Carolina Hurricanes.
When free agency began Friday, Fast soon realized the New York Rangers were not interested in re-signing him. The Hurricanes were offering a three-year, $6 million deal to the unrestricted free-agent forward, but for Fast it was stressful.
Who to turn to? Skjei, of course.
The two were teammates on the Rangers until Skjei was traded to Carolina in February. They’re friends. Even though Skjei’s big hit on Fast early in the opening game of the NHL qualifying series gave Fast a concussion, that was hockey and did nothing to ruin their relationship.
“No bad love. No harm there,” Fast said Sunday on a media call.
Fast chuckled, adding, “I’ll have a good opportunity to get him back when I’m practicing with him. No, just kidding.”
The Hurricanes quickly finished off the Rangers in the Toronto bubble, winning three straight games. Fast, who was the right wing on a line with center Ryan Strome and winger Artemi Panarin, did not return during the series, forcing Rangers coach David Quinn to shuffle his lines.
Some of the Rangers players noted after the series that they were so consumed by trying to be overly physical that it knocked them off their games. A big part of that was Fast being so well-liked and respected by his teammates, the Swede having been an alternate captain and voted the team’s “Players’ Player” award the past five years.
Before the qualifier against Carolina, Fast was asked about his role in playing with Panarin and Strome. Get to the net, get in on the forecheck, he said. “Move the puck fast and skate as much as possible,” Fast said.
Fast, 28, will have the chance to do that with the Canes in Rod Brind’Amour’s system.
“They play fast, they play hard,” Fast said. “I really like how they play and I feel like I fit the system really good.”
Fast will help fill a right wing spot and give the Canes a right-hand shot forward in the lineup.
“There are a lot of players in free agency but we look more at what players can play the way we like to play and Jesper was one of the guys we identified early,” Don Waddell, the Canes’ president and general manager, said on the Sunday media call.
Fast said Skjei had “only good stuff to say” about the Canes and Raleigh. Fast is from Nassjo, a smaller town in Sweden. While he had become a part of the New York metro scene, moving to Raleigh shouldn’t be that difficult of an adjustment.
“Living in New York for seven years, I mean New York is a great city,” Fast said. “I loved my time there but I think this will be a good fit. Of course there’s a lower tempo there but I think it will fit me and my family real well.”
The NHL has targeted Jan. 1 as the start of a new season and training camps could open in December. But with the pandemic, that is only a guess for now and Fast said he will remain in Sweden until hard-and-fast decisions are made.
“I’m just glad everything is over and I can look forward to settling myself in Carolina,” he said.
