CarterHud

               The Nashville Predators have signed defenseman Ryan Ellis to an eight year, $50 million extension.

                Ellis is a number one defenseman on some teams. On Nashville, he\’s their third best d-man (arguably 4th), but still plays a huge role, and is a great shot-blocker and leader. Since he would have been a UFA after this season, Nashville needed to lock him up. As a 27 year old, eight years is a fine length. At $50 mil, I think it\’s an even price for eight years.

                Ellis, 27, scored nine goals and 23 assists for 32 points in just 44 games last season. In his NHL career, all in Nashville, Ellis has scored 55 goals and 118 assists for 173 points in 396 ganes.

                 The New Jersey Devils have re-signed defenseman Steven Santini to a three year deal, with an AAV of about $1.4 million.

                 Santini was one of the Devils two roster players that were still RFAs (Miles Wood is the other one), and since he is only fighting for the 7th D spot, they signed him for a cheap bridge deal. He\’s 23, and this deal takes him until he\’s 26, where he\’ll be an RFA again. By then, he\’ll probably have a starting job. Santini might spend some time in the AHL, as Andy Greene, Damon Severson, Sami Vatanen, Mirco Mueller, Will Butcher and Ben Lovejoy are all probably going to play most of the games this season, and Eric Gryba and Brian Strait will also fight for the 7th defenseman spot. Santini will have to beat Gryba, and then wait for an injury to get in the lineup, so I\’d only expect 35-50 games from him this year.

                  Santini, 23, scored two goals and eight assists for 10 points in 36 games last season. In his NHL career, all in New Jersey, Santini has scored four goals and 13 assists for 17 points in 75 games.

          So, um, I\’m not sure how to start this, but I\’ll just re-state the title: i\’m back. If you follow me on Twitter (@carterhudblog), then you\’d know why I was gone. I went to sleepaway camp, thus there has no posts since June 23rd. But, since I\’m back, I thought I\’d might as well just put in all the baseball trades that happened since I left here. And here we go

Manny Machado to the Dodgers from the Orioles for Rylan Bannon, Yusniel Diaz, Dean Kremer, Zach Pop and Breyvic Valera.
Indians get Brad Hand and Adam Cimber from Padres for Fransisco Mejia.
A\’s get Jeurys Familia from Mets for international pool money, Bobby Wahl and Will Toffey.
Zach Britton from Orioles to Yankees for Dillon Tate, Cody Carroll and Josh Rogers.
Red Sox get Nate Eovaldi from Rays for Jalen Beeks.
Matt Andriese to Diamondbacks from Rays for Mike Perez and Brian Schaffer.
Martin Maldanado to Astros from Angels for Patrick Sandoval.
Brewers get Joakim Soria from White Sox for Kody Medeiros and Wilber Perez.
Yankees get J.A. Happ from Blue Jays for Brandon Drury and Billy McKinney.
Cubs get Cole Hamels from Rangers for Eddie Butler and Rollie Lacy.
Twins give up Eduardo Escobar to Diamondbacks for Jhoan Duran, Ernie De La Trinidad and Gabe Maciel.
Asdrubal Cabrera from Mets to Phillies for Franklyn Kilome.
Astros get Ryan Pressly from Twins for Jorge Alcala and Gilberto Celestino.
Mike Moustakas from Royals to Brewers for Brett Phillips and Jorge Lopez.
Cardinals get Chasen Shreve and Giovanny Gallegos from Yankees, give up Luke Voit.
Braves get Brad Brach from Orioles for international pool money.
Astros get Roberto Osuna from Blue Jays for Ken Giles, David Paulino and Hector Perez.
Mariners get Zach Duke from Twins, Adam Warren from Yankees in three team deal, give international money to Yankees, Ryan Costello and Chase De Jong to Twins.
Lance Lynn from Twins to Yankees for Tyler Austin, Luis Rijo.
Angels give Ian Kinsler to Red Sox, get Ty Buttrey, Williams Jerez.
Pirates get Keone Kela from Rangers for Taylor Hearn, PTBNL.
Braves acquire Adam Duvall from Reds for Preston Tucker, Lucas Sims and Matt Wisler.
Rays get Tommy Pham from Cardinals for Justin Williams, Genesis Cabrera and Roel Ramirez.
Indians get Leonys Martin and Kyle Dowdy from Tigers for Willi Castro.
D-Backs get Brad Ziegler from Marlins for Tommy Evald.
Wilson Ramos from Rays to Phillies for PTBNL or cash.
Dodgers get Brian Dozier from Twins for Logan Forsythe, Luke Raley and Devin Smeltzer.
Braves get Kevin Gausman and Darren O\’day from Orioles for Evan Phillips, Jean Carlos Encarnacion, Brett Cumberland, Bruce Zimmerman and international money.
Diamondbacks get Jake Diekman from Rangers for Wei-Cheih Huang and PTBNL.
Pirates get Chris Archer from Rays for Tyler Glasnow, PTBNL and Austin Meadows
Dodgers get John Axford from Blue Jays for Corey Coppping.
Brewers get Jonathan Schoop from Orioles for Jonathan Villar, Luis Ortiz and Jean Carmona.
And finally, the Phillies acquired Justin Bour from the Marlins for MacKenzie Mills.

So, those were all the MLB trades that happened. You probably knew all of them, but the purpose of this article was that I\’m back, and posts will be coming once again.

            The Carolina Hurricanes have acquired defensemen Dougie Hamilton and Adam Fox, plus forward Michael Ferland from the Calgary Flames in exchange for defenseman Noah Hanifin and forward Elias Lindholm.

            For the Hurricanes, they need a big shake up. New owner Tom Dundon said he\’d chance things around town, and he did just that with this move. Hamilton has a $5.75 million cap hit at three years left. I think he could still be on this contract when the Canes are a competitive team. Ferland is a bottom six winger with one year left at $1.75 million. Fox is still unsigned, but could be a big time prospect. He could do the Jimmy Vesey move- wait out college and become a UFA. Hanifin, a former 5th overall pick, and Lindholm, a top 9 forward, are both RFAs.

           Hamilton, 25, scored 17 goals and 27 assists for 44 points in 82 games for the Flames this past season. In his NHL career for the Flames and Boston Bruins, Hamilton has scored 64 goals and 165 assists for 220 points in 423 games.

           Ferland, 26, scored 21 goals and 20 assists for 41 points in 77 games this past season. In his NHL career, all in Calgary, Ferland has scored 42 goals and 47 assists for 89 points in 250 games.

           Fox, 20, scored six goals and 22 assists for 28 points in 29 games for Harvard last season.

           For the Flames, I don\’t get this trade too much. Hanifin is a very young defenseman with high upside, but is an even. I\’ve always felt that Lindholm is overrated. He\’s never proved to be a top 6 player in the NHL. They give up two good defenseman and a bottom six six forward for a good defenseman and average forward.

           Hanifin, 21, scored 10 goals and 22 assists for 32 points in 79 games in 2017-18. In his career, all in Carolina, Hanifin has scored 18 goals and 65 assists for 83 points in 239 games.

           Lindholm, 23, scored 16 goals and 28 assists for 44 points in 81 games in 2017-18. In his NHL career, all in Carolina, Lindholm has scored 64 goals and 124 assists for 188 points in 374 games.

          I think the Hurricanes win this trade. Hamilton is a little better than Hanifin, and you could make a case for Ferland being better than Lindholm. Plus, Fox is a really good prospect. That is why they win the trade.

             The Colorado Avalanche have acquired goalie Phillip Grubauer and defenseman Brooks Orpik from the Washington Capitals in exchange for a 2nd round draft pick in the 2018 NHL draft (47th overall).

               For the Avalanche, Semyon Varlamov and Jonathan Bernier could be on the move, and that would leave the team without a goalie. Grubauer is a current RFA, and 26 years old, young for a goalie. They take on the cap hit of Orpik, but his $5 million cap hit only lasts for one season. They only give up a second, pretty good for a fringe goalie.

              Grubauer, 26, had a 2.35 GAA and .923 SV% in 35 games for the Caps this past season. In his NHL career, all in Washington, Grubauer has a SV% of .923 and a 2.29 GAA in 101 games.

              Orpik, 37, scored 10 points, all assists in 81 games for the Caps this past season. In his NHL career, for the Caps and Pittsburgh Penguins, Orpik has scored 16 goals and 169 assists for 185 points in 982 games.

             For the Caps, Ilya Samsonov, the top goalie prospect, is ready to play next season. Plus, they have Braden Holtby as their starter. They wanted to send Grubauer somewhere where he can start. Also, they unload Orpik\’s contract. This frees up cap space to sign top defenseman John Carlson, a pending UFA. They get a second round pick, which is pretty good to unload a big contract.

           I think this is an even trade. The Caps get the cap space they need, and the Avs get their goalie. That\’s why it is an even trade.