The Carolina Hurricanes have added another Finnish forward, signing Saku Maenalanen on Friday to a one-year, two-way contract.
The deal will pay Maenalanen $832,500 in the NHL or $70,000 in the American Hockey League during the 2018-19 season. He receives as signing bonus of $92,500.
Maenalanen, 23, had 17 goals and 29 assists in 59 games for Karpat in 2017-18 and ranked 11th among scorers in Liiga, Finland’s top professional league. The 6-3, 192-pound forward then had five goals and five assists in the playoffs as Karpat won the league championship.
Maenalanen, a fifth-round draft pick by the Nashville Predators in 2013, was a teammate of Canes forward Sebastian Aho in the Karpat system and played with Carolina forward Teuvo Teravainen for Finland in the 2014 World Junior Championship.