RALEIGH, NC – Jim Rutherford, President and General Manager of the National Hockey League’s Carolina Hurricanes, today announced that the team has agreed to terms on a three-year contract with defenseman Tomas Kaberle. The deal will pay Kaberle an average of $4.25 million per season.

“Tomas is one of the top puck-moving defensemen in the NHL and power-play specialist,” said Rutherford. “He has had a good career and is now a Stanley Cup champion. We welcome him to Carolina and look forward to his contributions to the Hurricanes.”

Kaberle, 33, split the 2010-11 regular season between Toronto and Boston after a trade-deadline deal that sent him to the Bruins. The Rakovnik, Czech Republic, native notched four goals, earned 43 assists (47 points) and averaged 22:06 of ice time in a combined 82 regular-season games between the Maple Leafs and the Bruins. His 25 power-play assists ranked fifth among all NHL skaters, and his total of 43 assists ranked fifth among NHL defensemen. In the postseason, Kaberle (6’1”, 214 lbs.) played in all 25 of Boston’s games en route to the Stanley Cup championship, earning a team second-best 11 assists and finishing second among NHL defenseman in assists. He led Bruins skaters and ranked fifth among league defensemen with five power-play assists, and his plus-8 plus/minus rating in the playoffs was fifth among all defensemen.

The 2010-11 season marked Kaberle’s 12th in the NHL. Since beginning his NHL career in 1998-99, he has scored 84 goals, earned 445 assists (529 points) and compiled a plus-31 plus/minus rating in 902 regular-season games with Toronto and Boston. Of his 445 career assists, 235 have come on the power play. Kaberle ranks second in assists (437) and points (520) by a defenseman in Maple Leafs history, and is third all time among Toronto defensemen with 878 games played. The Maple Leafs selected Kaberle in the eighth round, 204th overall, in the 1996 NHL Entry Draft. Kaberle's career statistics can be found here.