Panthers sign defenseman Ruslan Salei to a four-year deal

The Florida Panthers signed defenseman Ruslan Salei to a four-year, $12.1-million contract on Sunday.

"Ruslan is a top-tier defenseman who we are extremely pleased to acquire," Panthers general manager Mike Keenan said. "He is a big, physical, competitive player that can log a lot of ice time and will be looked upon as a leader on our blue line."

Salei had a career-high 19 points (one goal, 18 assists) during the regular season. In 594 career games with the Anaheim Ducks, the 32-year-old defenseman has 26 goals and 79 assists.

The Belarus native has appeared in 40 playoff games and represented his country twice at the Winter Olympics (1998, 2002).

Before joining the Panthers, he was the longest-tenured Anaheim player and held the franchise record for most games played by a Ducks defenseman.

He was chosen by Anaheim with their ninth overall pick in the 1996 draft.

The Panthers struck Sunday signing free agent defenseman Ruslan Salei from Anaheim. The former first round pick has played his whole career with the Ducks and is a hard nosed, hard hitting player. Look for him to pair up with Jay Boumeester. With Salei and newly acquired Bryan Allen the blueline is solid and now has a element of toughness. Both new players will clear the front of the net, lay big open ice hits and perhaps most importantly allow Boumeester and Mike Van Ryn to have some offensive freedom. Panther fans have been calling for the defense to get bigger and tougher and the phone has now been answered.

Salei, 31 years old, was a key part of Anaheim's run to game seven of the cup finals against the Devils a few years ago and was a big factor in the Ducks reaching the conference finals this past spring before losing to Edmonton. While Salei doesn't have the star name power of Jovanovski or Chara he is a strong player, literally and figuratively, and is a good team guy. He will have a positive influence on the entire defense corps. Boumeester in particular could really break out this year knowing his back is covered by a tough veteran who knows his defensive responsibilities.

The salaries of the free agent defensemen was out of this world over the weekend with many players, like Pavel Kubina and Jay McKee getting more than they even thought they'd get. With a salary cap and young players that will need to be paid in the next few seasons, the Panthers showed good discipline by not overpaying a big name. Losing a Nathan Horton or Stephen Weiss a couple of years from now because of overspending in free agency now would have been a mistake. Here's how the Panthers blueline looks as of today:

Boumeester - Salei
Van Ryn - Allen
Mezei - Kwiatkowski/Semenov/Montador/Jackman

The 6th d-man and extra players are still to be determined but this group is in much better shape than this time last year. it's as deep as the team has been on defense in a long time. Until next time...

Goldie