The Anaheim Ducks have signed unrestricted free agent winger Mike Santorelli to a one-year deal, the team announced on Monday. The team did not disclose financial details of the contract.
But, as usual, it only took a few minutes for those details to come out, with Craig Custance reproting that the deal is worth $875,000. That’s a big step down from the $1.5 million contract he played under last year.
Santorelli started last season with the Toronto Maple Leafs and was moved to the Nashville Predators just prior to the trade deadline. All-in-all, he scored 12 goals and 21 assists through 79 games. He posted decent possession numbers in rough starts, getting -3.6% ZSO%Rel, for 43.5% offensive zone starts total, with a -0.7% score-adjusted CF%Rel (with a 50.1% CorC%). Those aren’t knock-out numbers, but for being just barely negative there, he was facing solid competition in pretty rough zone starts.
In his favor is that he has had strong possession numbers throughout his career before last season and on a team like the Ducks, he could provide solid depth play to help an already strong possession team.
https://twitter.com/AnaheimDucks/status/633341088418258945
Santorelli is a part of a surprisingly strong crop of remaining free agents (compared to what’s usually left in Mid-August), who are signing deals at steep discounts with so many teams cap-strapped. Signing deals for under a million this month have been solid depth additions Matt Cullen (Pittsburgh Penguins) and Jarret Stoll (New York Rangers).
With players like Marek Zidlicky, Cody Franson, Brad Boyes, Martin Havlat, Olli Jokinen, Erik Cole, Christian Ehrhoff, Jiri Tlusty and Curtis Glencross still out there, there are deals to be had.
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Advanced stats via War on Ice.