"He's a pure goal-scorer. We've seen enough of him with Montreal and Boston. We feel really good about that," general manager Lou Lamoriello said.
Lamoriello said he is ready to take the heat for his five-year, $24.25 million signing of forward Ryane Clowe.
"You can look at it any way you want," the GM said. "There were a lot of teams involved and we wanted to get it done right away because there was no other player out there like him. He makes everybody in the lineup another inch taller.
"I know what the perception might be. I'm not worried about that. I know when you're putting a team together how important the pieces are. Certain players' value is more important to the team than it might appear or than statistics. I have no problem with the criticism because I understand it. But I have no problem with the player."