Adding offensive firepower and improving our power play were priorities this offseason, and Max certainly checks those boxes.

Don Waddell

You always look (at) age, but everybody ages differently, and this is a big man that has played a lot of minutes and been very durable through his career. So we think he’s got at least three more real good years in him as he reaches the age of 40.

If free agency starts and we know we need a defenseman, we ca n’t be patient and wait for Dougie Hamilton to make a decision, we want Dougie Hamilton back, and we’re hoping we can do that this week.

Our still No. 1 objective is to get him signed — that has n’t changed at all, we’ve let Dougie Hamilton know. We’ve been very open about what we think the value is and Dougie Hamilton value might be higher someplace else. But we’re talking about a team that’s trying to win a championship.

We came in when the league was paying $75 million for a franchise, these guys are paying $650 (million). So they deserve a little better opportunity to build a team.