Ruutu agrees to four-year extension

Tuomo Ruutu is staying with the Carolina Hurricanes.

Ruutu and the Canes agreed Wednesday on a four-year contract extension that will pay the forward an average of  $4.75 million a year. The deal will pay Ruutu $4 million in 2012-13, and $5 million per season in the 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons.

"It was an easy decision to make," Ruutu said. "I trusted my heart, trusted my feelings. I like the people around me: my teammates, coaches, all the staff. I want to be comfortable wherever I am and I'm very comfortable here.

"I also want to win a Stanley Cup and I believe we can win here. They've won it once, been to the Cup finals, been to the (Eastern) conference finals, and all in a short history. I believe we will have the talent and the team chemistry to win the Cup. You have to have both and I believe we will."

Ruutu's new contract includes a no-trade clause the first three years, general manager Jim Rutherford said.

"He's an important player to our team and he's the type of player who, long term, would take a long time to replace," Rutherford said. "We're thankful Tuomo is staying with us. He's an important building block for us in moving forward."

Ruutu, 29, was due to become an unrestricted free agent after the season and was the source of much trade speculation leading up to the NHL trade deadline on Monday. He is being paid $4.4 million this season.

Ruutu had a team-leading 17 goals and was playing on the Canes' top line with Eric Staal and Jiri Tlusty when he suffered an upper-body injury against the Montreal Canadiens on Feb. 13. He is expected to be out another two weeks.

Ruutu is second on the team in hits (106) and tied for fourth in plus/minus (plus-3). Ruutu played in his 500th career NHL game Dec. 31 at Tampa Bay,

Rutherford had not negotiated a new contract with a player during the season until this year. He first re-signed defenseman Tim Gleason to a four-year deal, now has done the same with Ruutu.

"There are a few reasons why, and one is we're finding out there are less and less players of their caliber who are available (as free agents) after the season," Rutherford said. "Another reason is their age. We have not had many who were to be (unrestricted) free agent who were in their 20s. Some we've let go were older players who, if you were to give them long-term contracts, you wonder where they will be in their third or fourth year. Age was an important factor with Tim and Tuomo."