Welcome Back Matt Cullen

Welcome back, Matt Cullen. Oh how we’ve missed thee.

Cullen returned to the ‘Canes today as part of a trade with the New York Rangers. The Carolina had to part with Andrew Hutchinson, a 27-year old defenseman with one year and 500K left on his deal, 21-year old Joe Barnes, and a third round pick in 2008.

In return, Carolina gets back a guy that was one of the key contributors to their ’06 championship run.

Cullen is one of those guys you see in hockey that means even more in the locker room than can be measured in points and ice time. His speed was one of the hallmarks of the franchise’s most successful team to date…right up there with Brind’Amour’s grit and Commodore’s ‘fro. And for a guy whose importance can’t truly be expressed in numbers, his stats the last time he was in a Hurricanes uni weren’t half bad.

During the 2005-'06 regular season, Cullen scored 25 goals. Even more importantly, when the chips were down in the playoffs, Cullen tallied 18 points, as he became one of the most consistent offensive threats for the ‘Canes on their way to capturing Lord Stanley’s Cup.

The bottom line when it came to deciding what to do with Cullen after that Stanley Cup-winning campaign, was…well…the bottom line.

The Hurricanes figured they couldn’t afford to keep their center, and when the Rangers threw four years and $11.5 million dollars at him, they had no choice but to relent.

A year later, with a missed post-season under their belt, the ‘Canes now know that the only way to replace a Matt Cullen is with Mr. Cullen himself.

The deal makes sense for both teams. Coming off a regular season in which Cullen never really got into the offensive flow (16 goals and 25 helpers) and an off-season in which they have brought two high-priced free agents (Chris Drury – five years, $35.25 million and Scott Gomez – seven years, $51.5 million) to Broadway, the Blue-Shirts needed to come up with some more salary cap flexibility.

With the trade, New York got a little younger and a little farther away from the salary cap cut-off line, but the ‘Canes could care less – they got back one of their own.

In hockey, perhaps more so than any other sport, you need that “it” factor. It was the Rangers, ironically, that learned that lesson the expensive way in the late 90’s, acquiring Eric Lindros, Theo Fleury, Pavel Bure and a number of other high-priced big-named players, only to be one of the worst teams in the league.