The first order of offseason business that the Carolina Hurricanes took care of was the signing of upcoming UFA defenseman Jalen Chatfield to a three year, $9 million contract on Friday.
The deal, which is a fair one for both sides, provides Chatfield with a well-earned bonus as well as some assured stability as his contract includes two years of a full no-movement clause and then a 15-team no trade clause in the final year.
With the Chatfield signing, the Canes also can be comfortable with a solid potential top-four on their backend if things don't work out with other upcoming UFAs Brett Pesce and Brady Skjei.
Things have been relatively quiet on both players but the prevailing feeling is that both will be heading to free agency on July 1.
According to AFP Analytics, Pesce's next contract is projected at around five years, $6.3 million AAV and Skjei's at around five years, $7.5 million AAV, both significant raises from what each had been getting paid.
With the Hurricanes having a lot of decisions to make and not a ton of money available, these sort of moves will help them be able to fill out the roster.
So if they need players to fill those vacant spots than they now have them under contract as Chatfield and Dmitry Orlov are both capable of filling those minutes.
Chatfield and Orlov had the third best expected goal for percentage (59.4%) and the best Corsi For percentage (61.3%) among the entire league last season.
Those strong numbers translated to the postseason as well for the most part — 58.6% Corsi For and 53.8% expected goals — as the pair actually ended up leading the team in even strength minutes as the playoffs went on.
And overall, both players have been in those positions before.
Orlov has had a long career where he routinely played top-end minutes and Chatfield has gotten chances to play up in the lineup when injuries sidelined other blueliners.
For Chatfield, the most enticing thing is the consistent improvement he's demonstrated every year within the organization as well as his top-end skating.
Chatfield can be physical, can skate the puck, jump into plays and has a knack for killing plays with his speed. He's able to gap up on skaters and can chase down odd-man rushes with ease.
And his game really complements the Hurricanes' overall style as well as Orlov, his normal partner.
So both are capable of playing up in the lineup and if Carolina elects to rest its hat on them taking over that top-four pairing role, I feel confident that they can.