 |
| |
|
 |
 |
 |
|||||||||||
|
Hurricanes re-sign Cole Posted: Wednesday August 13, 2003 12:57 PMUpdated: Wednesday August 13, 2003 5:57 PM RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- The Carolina Hurricanes have signed left wing Erik Cole to a one-year contract, bringing back one of the team's talented young players who missed much of last season due to injury. Cole had 14 goals, 13 assists and 72 penalty minutes in 53 games last season. The restricted free agent finished sixth on the team in scoring despite missing the final 29 games after breaking his left leg in January. "I had every intention of getting down here early and getting back to busined with training camp set to begin Sept. 11. Vasicek, 22, is a restricted free agent. "I would think that certainly in the next couple of weeks we'll figure out a way to get this done," team president and general manager Jim Rutherford said. Since joining the Hurricanes' lineup just before the 2001-02 season, Cole, 24, has notched 30 goals and earned 37 assists in 134 regular-season NHL games. The team drafted Cole in the third round of the 1998 draft. He was a key part of Carolina's unexpected run to the Stanley Cup finals in 2002, tallying six goals and three assists in 23 postseason games. Cole said he's recovered from the leg injury, and Rutherford said he looked good during Wednesday's workout. "He can play a physical game and he can also put points up," Rutherford said. "We don't have a lot of players that can play the style that Erik does." Though the team did not release terms of the contract, Rutherford said performance incentives in the deal could allow Cole to "make quite a bit more money if he has a good year." Cole's signing was the third for the team in as many days. On Monday, the team re-signed left wing Jaroslav Svoboda to a one-year deal. The next day, the team and defenseman Danny Markov agreed on a three-year deal, avoiding Markov's threat to play in Russia this season. "I think that's a key here to get everybody in place and get us
acclimated," center Rod Brind'Amour said. "I give the
organization kudos for getting these guys in here and getting them
signed up so that's not a distraction and we can go at it."
|
|
|||||||||
|
|||||||||||
