Kunin Happy to Have Contract Signed, Prepare for Season with Preds

Luke Kunin would have preferred to have everything buttoned up a few days earlier, but now, he's officially a member of the Nashville Predators.
Kunin
agreed to a two-year, $4.6 million contract on Wednesday
, removing his status as a restricted free agent, and he took to the ice later that day for the first time at Predators Training Camp presented by Vanderbilt Health.
A captain for Team USA at the 2017 World Junior Championship, Kunin was already on a high with his country's win the night before at the same tournament. Now, he's just happy to be fully participating with his new club.

"It's very exciting to finally have it done, put it in the past and just get back to work," Kunin said Wednesday. "It's been a little longer, obviously, I wanted [to have a contract signed on the] first day camp, but I leave that up to the agents and the GMs to figure all that stuff out. I just go out there and play."
Acquired via trade from Minnesota back in October in exchange for Nick Bonino, the Predators believe Kunin could play a significant role on this year's squad. The 23-year-old scored a career-high 16 goals and tallied 31 points last season with the Wild, and Nashville management expects to use him in all situations, including the power play and penalty kill.
Kunin doesn't have a preference as to where he skates in the lineup, he's just eager to be on this side of things after facing the Preds for years in Minnesota.

"That's up to the coaches [where I play], and that's out of my control, but I'm just happy to be here," Kunin said. "Happy to do whatever I can to help the Nashville Predators have success and I'm really looking forward to that opportunity.
"There's a ton of great players here, and I've been able to skate with all these guys leading up to camp. Skating with [Ryan] Johansen, [Roman] Josi, [Filip] Forsberg who you're playing against for all those games being in the same division when I was in Minnesota, I'm just happy to be on this side and have them on my team. It's been great so far getting to be around these guys and be on the ice."
Predators Head Coach John Hynes was pleased to have Kunin join the group on the ice on Wednesday, and the bench boss placed the new forward on a line with Calle Jarnkrok and Colton Sissons. While nothing is final just yet, Hynes and his staff will continue to evaluate where Kunin might fit best leading up to Opening Night, now just one week away.
"We have had him in all of our meetings, and he's been in and around the group, but to be able to come into the first practice, it was nice to see him out on the ice," Hynes said of Kunin. "I thought he had a good first day. But he's been skating, and he looked like he was ready to go right off the bat today. He's a smart player, but he's very competitive and I thought he picked up some of the things that we were trying to talk about for a first day back for him. I'm excited that we have him now with us and signed, and I think it's great for Luke in his career and it's also great for our team."
With the start of his Predators tenure truly underway, Kunin knows time is ticking toward the first puck drop against Columbus on Jan. 14, and he's been impressed with what he's seen from his teammates thus far on and off the ice.
Now, he's ready to be a part of the solution to the turnaround each and every member of the organization can't wait to begin.
"[I think it is] just the work ethic; how everyone's handled themselves, there's just great people in this whole organization and it's been very welcoming for me," Kunin said. "I feel like I've been a part of it for a while now, so it's been a very smooth transition so far just being comfortable with the guys. And like I said, I'm just happy to finally be on the ice and get things rolling."