Confirmed with Link: Carl Gunnarsson signs two-year extension ($1.75m AAV)

[TheDizee]

These are the sort of signings that win you cups. Gunnar is a underrated and under appreciated SOLID defenseman who can go against a teams top 2 lines and help shut them down.

AMAZING cap hit as well. Thrilled to have Gunnar back.

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[Klank Loves You]

Holy contract Armstrong.

 

[BrokenFace]

I never felt he was overpaid on his last contract. So getting him back at a lesser hit is great, especially with the uncertainty at LD for us outside of Dunn

 

[Note Worthy]

Great singing. Happy to have Gunnar back especially at that price

 

[elkranio]

He must be happy in St. Louis. Very happy.

 

[PiggySmalls]

JBow and now Gunny, these guys know this team can make another deep run next year. Really happy for this deal. Especially since the young prospects we have on the left side don’t seem quite ready. This makes the deal even sweeter.

 

[Alklha]

This leaves us with $16.17m in cap space for Sundqvist, Barbashev, Blais, Sanford, Fabbri, Edmundson & Binnington.

 

[AjaxManifesto]

Good

 

[STL fan in MN]

Wow. I bet he could’ve gotten near double that on the open market. He must love his current situation. Great signing by Army.

 

[Stealth JD]

Steal...though playing only 27 games makes it tough to justify paying him what he earned annually on his last contract. With Gunnar, JBo & Dunn signed...might Eddy be the odd-man out? Perhaps...but maybe not, since Gunnarsson is essentially being paid 7D money at this stage in his career.

 

[ManyIdeas]

steal

 

[TheDizee]

This leaves us with $16.17m in cap space for Sundqvist, Barbashev, Blais, Sanford, Fabbri, Edmundson & Binnington.

we should have 5millionish cap space leftover after all those guys get signed.

 

[Novacain]

When he is healthy he isn’t a plus bottom 3 defender who can be a top 4 without any problem. Bargain of a deal.

 

[Brian39]

Fantastic contract. I thought that we would have to offer a 3rd year in order to get an AAV around $2 mil and thought even then it would be $2.25 ish. $1.75 is an amazing AAV and to only commit 2 years is insane.

I don't think this means Eddy is any more or less likely to be moved. With Gunnar's injury history and J-Bo's age, I think the team will keep our existing 7 D unless there is a clear upgrade from Ed. Relying on both Gunnar and J-Bo to stay healthy and fresh all year with a lesser 7D is risky and they are on cheap enough deals that we can afford to keep the guys we have. I'd wager the current plan is to run the same group we ran in the playoffs, routinely swapping Ed, Gunnar, and Bortz in and out of the lineup when all 7 are healthy. If Ed returns to the Ed we saw in 2017/18, then he'll get locked into the every day top 6. If not, Berube can keep guys fresh, tailor the D lineup to match our opponent and create a fierce internal competition for playing time.

 

[MortiestOfMortys]

Humongous eye roll at having two more years of Gunnar, but at least it’s a very good contract.

 

[Davimir Tarablad]

 

[MissouriMook]

So we're spending $400K less next year for JBo and Gunnar than we spent las year for just JBo?

Cool!

Nice retention for the team as a 6/7 D at a reasonable price, and we get to keep the legendary Boom Boom after he scored arguably the biggest goal in franchise history at the time in Game 2 of the SCF.

 

[illininer]

Like the player and like the contract even more.

 

[Mike Liut]

His OT goal was one of the biggest in franchise history. He’s still a very good player and fills a hole at a position of need.

 

[67Blues]

Next up on the clock...Eddy

 

[Xerloris]

Humongous eye roll at having two more years of Gunnar, but at least it’s a very good contract.

That's an odd reaction to having a good defenseman for another 2 years.

 

[542365]

Excellent deal. Just have to keep him healthy.

 

[Brian39]

Another nice bonus from this contract: the first guy who re-signed after the Cup run took a big discount. Whether Army explicitly points to it during negotiations or keeps it in his pocket, it is nice to have that fact lingering in the background for the other negotiations.

 

[Blueston]

I expected we would sign him at a discount to previous contract, but the magnitude of cut exceeded my expectations.

 

[execwrite1]

WAHOO - excellent signing.

Berube, Gunny done - who's next.