Senators re-sign Regin to one-year, one-way deal
The Ottawa Senators announced today that they have signed Peter Regin to a one-year, one-way deal worth $800,000, giving Sens fans an answer to the question that has plagued them since Regin went down with a shoulder injury early in the season: does he still have a spot on this team?
Well, despite only playing 65 games in the past two season (10 in 2011-12, 55 in 2010-11), Regin's found himself with another one-way contract.
Whether Regin would land himself another contract was a point of contention among fans for a variety of reasons. Despite showing great promise by putting up 13 goals and 29 points in his first full year in the NHL back in 2009-10, Regin's had a string of bad luck ever since, one that coincidentally coincides with him changing his jersey number to 13. He scored only 3 goals in the disastrous 2010-11 campaign, and last season his season was cut down to just ten games after he required shoulder surgery for the same shoulder he'd injured the previous season. Despite two injuries on the same shoulder, they were reportedly unrelated and Tim Murray has stated that the team expects Regin to have 100% recovery.
It's not hard to imagine that Paul MacLean liked what he saw of Regin in his brief glimpses this year and put in a good word to Bryan Murray to keep Regin in the fold. Regin is a player that has many of the elements Paul MacLean likes in his forwards: skilled set of hands, plays all 200 feet of the rink, and is excellent at puck-possession style of hockey. He's not without his question marks -- his ability to stay healthy is the biggest one, and one also wonders how long it'll take him to get back to speed after missing so many games -- but those concerns are addressed by Regin's upside and the term and price of the deal. At one-year and $800,000, it's a sensible move by Bryan Murray to give Regin one last shot at staying healthy and proving his worth. And let's face it -- after what he's gone through the past two seasons, he'll have plenty of motivation.