Hurricanes Rumors

Hurricanes Open To Reunion With Jack Roslovic

August 15, 2025 at 2:35 pm CDT | by Josh Erickson 2 Comments

As noted by independent insider Frank Seravalli for Bleacher Report earlier this week, the Hurricanes have maintained interest in bringing UFA Jack Roslovic back to the club, but they “don’t really have a spot for him at the moment.”

Things have continued to be relatively quiet on the market for Roslovic, who’s held the title of top remaining UFA for well over a month now, aside from rumblings that he’s receiving overseas offers from KHL clubs. Roslovic, 28, landed a one-year, $2.8MM commitment from Carolina on the open market last summer and repaid them by tying his career high of 22 goals. That was quite the resurgence after he was limited to nine tallies in 59 games split between the Blue Jackets and Rangers in 2023-24.

While the Hurricanes could use another middle-six option – preferably one with a higher offensive ceiling than current projected second-line center Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Roslovic likely isn’t their first-choice option. Seravalli’s comment that there isn’t a clear spot for Roslovic in their lineup as things stand stems from how last season ended. Despite that regular-season production, he ended up sitting in the press box for a good portion of the postseason, including the final three games of their Eastern Conference Final loss to the Panthers. He scored a goal and three assists in nine playoff games but was a healthy scratch on six occasions, although his average ice time didn’t change significantly.

That said, there’s likely a place for another NHL forward in Carolina to push a name like Mark Jankowski or Tyson Jost onto the waiver wire and out of a top-14 spot. Roslovic isn’t and won’t be the needle-mover they have in mind, especially since they still have over $10MM in cap space to burn, but he’s a fine fallback option if his other NHL leads end up not panning out. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet said early this month that Roslovic still had multiple offers on the table but wasn’t rushing to sign any of them.

Latest On Mason McTavish

August 6, 2025 at 11:31 am CDT | by Josh Erickson 17 Comments

The Ducks haven’t been actively shopping the signing rights to restricted free agent Mason McTavish, but that hasn’t stopped teams from expressing trade interest, as the center remains without a contract. Fervent interest will presumably be helped along by his essentially dominating the market for young centers. Wild RFA Marco Rossi’s talks have all but dried up with little to no interest league-wide in the long-term contract he desires. The Canadiens, Hurricanes, and Red Wings have all shown serious interest – the last club chief among them, James Murphy of RG writes.

Without much talk of an offer sheet, a notion sources told Murphy to dispel with Anaheim having ample space to match, McTavish has little control over his destiny. Speculation has indicated he’s concerned about his long-term role with the Ducks after their offseason shopping spree added needed depth to their forward group, but there’s little to no appetite from the Ducks’ end to facilitate a trade unless he outright refuses to sign a contract.

All the teams interested have a clear need for a second-line center. Unlike in SoCal, where there’s still a small chance for him to compete with Leo Carlsson for long-term 1C duties, there wouldn’t be that upward mobility there for him with Nick Suzuki in Montreal and Sebastian Aho in Carolina not vacating their posts anytime soon. The Wings have the weakest top pivot out of the group in Dylan Larkin, but he still wouldn’t be walking into Day 1 first-line duties there if that’s his goal.

While McTavish may have the standard profile of a high-motor but not hugely offensively untapped 2C, his performance last season shows there could be more to behold. The 22-year-old posted a team-leading 22 goals in 76 games, and his 52 points finished three back of Troy Terry for the team lead. That’s highly impressive production in an offensively stifled system under outgoing head coach Greg Cronin, and with his 12.2% shooting rate remaining projectable, there’s significant 65-to-75-point breakout potential for him this season as the team presumably adopts a more aggressive style under Joel Quenneville.

If Anaheim begins entertaining offers for the 6’1″ pivot’s signing rights, though, they’ll be looking for a blue-chip right-shot defense prospect as the principal point of the return, Murphy reports. That means names like 2023 first-rounders Axel Sandin-Pellikka would need to be in play in Detroit’s case, or that year’s No. 5 pick David Reinbacher in Montreal’s. Draft-capital-wise, it’s logical from the Ducks’ perspective after using the No. 3 overall pick on McTavish in 2021.

Kochetkov Played Through Injuries Last Year, Juntorp Finds New Team In Sweden

August 5, 2025 at 7:57 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

Hurricanes goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov is coming off a bit of a quieter year after his save percentage went down from .911 in 2023-24 to just .897 last season. It appears there might be a reason for that as the netminder recently told Sports.ru’s Dmitry Shevchenko that he started playing through some injuries in November with some lingering throughout the season; the only time he missed was due to a concussion. Kochetkov is set to partner up with Frederik Andersen as the tandem in Carolina once again next season and the Hurricanes will likely be counting on him to play at least 40 games for the third straight year. They’ll be hoping that a healthier Kochetkov will be a better one between the pipes.

Still with the Hurricanes, prospect Nils Juntorp has signed with Boras HC in Sweden’s HockeyEttan, per a team announcement. The 21-year-old was a sixth-round pick by Chicago in 2022 and his rights were moved to Carolina in the Mikko Rantanen and Taylor Hall trade back in January. Juntorp had 20 points in 33 games with HC Dalen last season while also getting into three games at the second-tier Allsvenskan level.

Wolves Sign Two To AHL Deals

August 4, 2025 at 7:56 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 2 Comments

The Hurricanes’ affiliate, the Chicago Wolves, announced (Twitter link) the re-signing of center Nikita Pavlychev and the signing of defenseman Jacob Friend to one-year contracts. Pavlychev had his best AHL performance last season, picking up 25 points in 63 games after primarily playing in the ECHL for the previous four years. As for Friend, he split last season between playing in Austria and Germany but has three years of playing in the minor pros in North America.

Salary Cap Deep Dive: Carolina Hurricanes

August 2, 2025 at 4:00 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 5 Comments

Navigating the salary cap is one of the most important tasks for a front office. Teams that can avoid total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful. Those who don’t often see struggles and front office changes.

PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation for the 2025-26 season. This will focus more on players who are regulars on the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL. All cap figures are courtesy of PuckPedia. We’re currently covering the Metropolitan Division, first up are the Hurricanes.

Carolina Hurricanes

Current Cap Hit: $84,855,709 (below the $95.5MM Upper Limit)

Entry-Level Contracts

F Jackson Blake (one year, $905.8K)
D Alexander Nikishin (one year, $925K)
F Logan Stankoven (one year, $814.1K)

Potential Bonuses
Nikishin: $3MM
Stankoven: $32.5K
Total: $3.0325MM

Blake and Stankoven will be on very team-friendly contracts for one more season before their long-term agreements kick in. We’ll cover them in more detail at that time while noting that Stankoven’s bonus is tied to games played; as long as he stays healthy, that should easily be met.

Nikishin’s long-awaited NHL debut wound up taking longer than expected as he didn’t suit up for Carolina right away after joining the team, leading to some brief concern that a formal agreement wouldn’t be finalized. But he ultimately signed and projects to be a regular for the Hurricanes this season. Some of the $1MM of ‘A’ bonuses might be reachable but the $2MM of ‘B’ bonuses are highly unlikely.

Signed Through 2025-26, Non-Entry-Level

G Frederik Andersen ($2MM, UFA)
F Mark Jankowski ($800K, UFA)
F Tyson Jost ($775K, UFA)
D Mike Reilly ($1.1MM, UFA)

Potential Bonuses
Andersen: $750K

Jankowski was a late-season pickup from Nashville and fared well with eight goals down the stretch. However, he has largely been a depth piece in his career so while a small raise is coming his way no matter what thanks to the pending increase in minimum salary, his next deal might not land too much higher than that. Jost was up and down last season and had a very limited role when he was in the lineup for the Hurricanes. As things stand, he’s someone who’s likely to remain around the minimum salary.

Reilly missed most of the season while recovering from a procedure on his heart to correct an issue discovered while he was out with a concussion. He has been more of a sixth or seventh defender in recent years and projects to land in that same range with the Hurricanes. That should keep him around this range moving forward.

When healthy, Andersen has been a decent starter but staying healthy has been a big challenge. He has failed to reach 35 games in three straight years and four of the last five. That particular games played mark is notable as that’s the first threshold of his bonuses for $250K with another $250K coming at 40 games (plus $250K if Carolina makes it back to the East Final and he plays in half the games or more). There isn’t much risk with this contract as if the injury issues return, he’s still a lower-cost second option while if he’s healthy and meets those bonuses, he’s probably going to provide a lot of value at that price. Because of the injuries, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him going year-to-year from here on out with structures similar to this.

Signed Through 2026-27

D Jalen Chatfield ($3MM, UFA)
D Shayne Gostisbehere ($3.2MM, UFA)
G Pyotr Kochetkov ($2MM, UFA)
F Jordan Martinook ($3.05MM, UFA)
F Jordan Staal ($2.9MM, UFA)

Martinook was more of a depth player over his first few seasons with the Hurricanes but has become one of their more versatile forwards and is often deployed in the middle six. The end result has been three straight seasons over 30 points. But even with the cap set to jump, it’s hard to forecast a sizable raise on his next contract. A few more years with a small raise might be doable though. Staal, on the other hand, took a big pay cut on this deal to stick around. He’ll be heading for his age-39 year in 2027-28 so a one-year deal with incentives is likely if he decides to keep playing with the combined value coming in around his current price tag.

Gostisbehere was brought back last summer for a second stint with the team to be a depth player at even strength but a power play specialist. He was exactly that, notching 27 of his 45 points with the man advantage. The even strength limitations and his smaller stature limit his earnings upside but this is a niche role he can fill for a few more years. If he has a couple more years of 40-plus points, an AAV starting with a four next time is doable on a short-term deal. Chatfield had largely been a third-pairing player until last season when he was trusted with a bigger role. He isn’t a big point producer but if he gets through these next two seasons around the 18-19-minute mark at the level he played last season, he could push past $4MM as well in 2027 on a longer-term agreement than the three-year pact he inked last summer.

Kochetkov’s contract was a curious one. Signed back in late 2022 with hardly any NHL time under his belt, it has aged pretty well so far as he has carried the bulk of the work for the first two seasons of the agreement. While his overall consistency is a bit spotty compared to some netminders, the good outweighs the bad and if you have a strong-side platoon goalie at this price, you’re doing well. If Kochetkov continues on this trajectory, his next deal could land around the $5MM mark.

Signed Through 2027-28

F Taylor Hall ($3.167MM, UFA)

Hall was the other part of the original Mikko Rantanen deal but unlike Rantanen, he decided he wanted to stick around. The former Hart Trophy winner certainly isn’t that caliber of player anymore although he’s still a decent secondary scorer. Even if he’s on the third line, if he stays around the 42 points he had last season, Carolina should do fine with this deal. He’ll be almost 38 heading into 2028-29, however, so one-year contracts are likely beyond this one.

Signed Through 2028-29

F Eric Robinson ($1.7MM, UFA)
F Andrei Svechnikov ($7.75MM, UFA)
D Sean Walker ($3.6MM, UFA)

Svechnikov bypassed the bridge contract to sign a max-term agreement four years ago with the hope that he’d be providing surplus value in the back half. He’s not quite there yet especially coming off a down year but his performance the previous two seasons suggests he can get to that level still. At a minimum, he’s a second liner with good size and physicality and with the forecasted jumps coming to the cap, he could beat this deal four years from now, even if he stays at his 2024-25 form. Robinson had a career year last season, fitting in extremely well in Carolina’s system for the first time, earning a four-year agreement in the process. For someone who has reached double digits in goals in three of the last four years, there’s a good chance this deal works out well in the long run.

Walker’s career year in 2023-24 landed him a five-year deal last summer and it looked like he had established himself as a second-pairing blueliner. His usage last season was a step back, however, ranking last out of their six regular defenders. This price tag is on the high side for a sixth option but right now, it’s a luxury they can easily afford.

Signed Through 2029-30 Or Longer

F Sebastian Aho ($9.75MM through 2031-32)
F Jackson Blake ($5.117MM from 2026-27 through 2033-34)
F William Carrier ($2MM through 2029-30)
F Nikolaj Ehlers ($8.5MM through 2030-31)
F Jesperi Kotkaniemi ($4.82MM through 2029-30)
F Seth Jarvis ($7.42MM through 2031-32)
D K’Andre Miller ($7.5MM through 2032-33)
D Jaccob Slavin ($6.396MM through 2032-33)
F Logan Stankoven ($6MM from 2026-27 through 2033-34)

After taking an offer sheet coming off his entry-level deal, Aho’s next contract didn’t have anywhere near that sort of drama. He has averaged exactly a point per game over the last four seasons while playing a premium position (center) and playing at a strong level defensively. As the market shifts in the coming years driving player costs upward, Aho’s value should shift as well. Right now, he’s close to market value given that his offensive game generally isn’t at that high-end level. But over time, this contract should shift toward being a team-friendly agreement as more and more players eventually reach and surpass the $10MM threshold. This deal felt a little risky at first but that isn’t the case now.

Ehlers was one of the top players available on the open market this summer after a wave of late re-signings and while it took a few days, the Hurricanes were able to get him. He’s coming off one of his best seasons, one that saw him put up 63 points in 69 games, legitimate top-line production while playing less than 16 minutes a night. As long as he stays healthy, this contract should age relatively well but with a long history of being banged up, the deal carries some risk. That risk doesn’t exist when it comes to Jarvis, however. The 22-year-old has put up back-to-back 67-point seasons and even if that’s his ceiling, the jump in the cap will make his contract a team-friendly one quite quickly.

GM Eric Tulsky decided to keep up the early extension with deals for Stankoven and Blake getting done in recent weeks. Stankoven is coming off his first full NHL season and didn’t look out of place after being acquired in the Rantanen trade. If he can get to a second-line level consistently, the Hurricanes will have his best years at a team-friendly rate. They’re banking on the same happening for Blake. He’s coming off his first professional campaign and had success in a middle-six role, notching 34 points. His contract shows that Carolina is expecting him to reach another gear offensively which isn’t unreasonable given how his rookie year went. Even if he just gets to the 20-goal level, that price tag for that level of production may very well be the norm within the next few years.

However, not every early extension works out well and Kotkaniemi is an example of that. Lured away via an offer sheet on a one-year deal, he quickly signed this eight-year agreement when eligible. If all went well, Carolina would have a second-line center signed at a team-friendly rate. But he hasn’t gotten to that level yet and now, 476 games into his career, it’s fair to wonder if he will. He is eligible for a lower-cost one-third buyout for the last time next offseason so this season will be a critical one for him. Carrier has battled injury trouble routinely and last season was no exception. But when healthy, he’s an effective energy player. He is also likely to benefit from the minimum salary rising in the next CBA as his $775K minimum salaries should be bumped up moving forward, eventually raising his cap charge.

Miller was Carolina’s other headline acquisition of the summer, coming over from the Rangers in a sign-and-trade that allowed the Hurricanes to get him signed longer-term than they would have with an offer sheet. It’s a move that comes with some risk given the price they paid to acquire him and the fact he’s coming off a rough year. But he has shown flashes of being a top-half defender and if he can get back to that level, the Hurricanes should get a decent return on their investment. Slavin is one of three Hurricanes (Jarvis and Blake being the others) to have deferred salary, allowing their top defender to be signed at even more of a team-friendly rate. While he doesn’t provide significant offense which kept his market value down, he’s one of the top shutdown defenders in the league and Carolina will get a lot of value out of this agreement.

Buyouts

None

Retained Salary Transactions

None

Carryover Bonus Overage Penalty

$33K

Best Value: (non-entry-level) Kochetkov
Worst Value: Kotkaniemi

Looking Ahead

Even with the acquisitions of Ehlers and Miller, plus the new deals for Jarvis and Slavin beginning, the Hurricanes still have significant cap flexibility with more than $10MM in space. After papering players like Blake back and forth on a near-daily basis for the bulk of last season, that shouldn’t be a necessity this time around. The cap space means that Carolina could be a team to watch for on the trade front should things pick up trade-wise around the league before training camp.

Meanwhile, the extensions to Blake and Stankoven have more than spent up the projected $8.5MM jump to the cap for 2026-27 although they still have more than $16MM in wiggle room for that season. That has the Hurricanes well-positioned to take a run at another prominent acquisition next summer if they don’t land someone via trade before then.

There is definitely some risk in having more than half of their core group locked up on long-term agreements. But that risk is mitigated with the projected Upper Limit increases so if all goes to plan, Carolina should be in solid shape from a cap perspective for the foreseeable future.

Photos courtesy of Charles LeClaire and Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images.

East Notes: Robertson, Biondi, Gardner

July 31, 2025 at 8:29 am CDT | by Josh Erickson Leave a Comment

Even if the Maple Leafs don’t plan on keeping winger Nicholas Robertson around long-term, they should do their best to settle with the restricted free agent before his arbitration hearing on Sunday, David Alter of The Hockey News opines.

He cites a recent example in Toronto, goaltender Ilya Samsonov, who had a one-year, $3.55MM deal handed down through arbitration for the 2023-24 season. Any trade value he had was tanked by his poor performance that year – something Samsonov admitted was influenced in part by the stress of the hearing – and he ended up on waivers and later left in free agency.

Players seeing their performance and confidence dip after an arbitration hearing isn’t a new phenomenon, and it’s something players are being more public about in the last few years. Hearing reasons laid out by your team for why you should be paid less than market value is an understandably unsettling experience. For the high-ceiling Robertson, who’s already had his development and confidence stunted by long strings of healthy scratches and limited deployment that led to a trade request last year, that’s not something Toronto can afford to saddle him with to continue getting positive value out of him, whether that’s via trade or with his on-ice play.

More news and notes out of the Eastern Conference:

After going unsigned by the Canadiens, who drafted him in the fourth round in 2020, forward Blake Biondi will begin his pro career in the Hurricanes organization this season on a contract with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves. The 23-year-old recently spoke to NHL.com’s Kurt Dusterberg about the significant injury-related and personal adversity he faced during his five-year run in college with the University of Minnesota-Duluth and Notre Dame, but called the opportunity with the Wolves “a great path for me” to continue his development toward landing an NHL contract. The former Minnesota high school star scored 12 goals and 27 points in 38 games last season for Notre Dame.
While Canada’s NHL goaltending stable has been relatively weak in the past few years, Blue Jackets prospect Evan Gardner is a name to watch in the next wave of prospects hoping to change that, writes Scott Wheeler of The Athletic. The 2024 second-rounder has put up a pair of spectacular seasons in junior hockey for the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades, leading the league in GAA and SV% in his draft year and posting totals of 2.46 and .917, respectively, in 74 career games for the Blades with seven shutouts. While he hasn’t logged any international experience for Canada, he’s on their roster for this week’s World Junior Summer Showcase and is looking to work his way onto their roster for the main WJC in the winter.

East Notes: Cristall, Blake, Sabres

July 30, 2025 at 11:57 am CDT | by Josh Erickson 6 Comments

Andrew Cristall was one of the biggest fallers of the 2023 draft, slipping to the Capitals in the second round at No. 40 overall despite some tabbing him as a potential top-10 pick. Concerns about his size – the winger checks in at 5’10” and 183 lbs – outweighed the offensive ceiling he displayed with 95 points in 54 games for the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets in his draft year.

In the two seasons since, the 20-year-old left winger has only improved and now, as he turns pro, will be given a legitimate chance to crack the Capitals’ opening night roster, general manager Chris Patrick told NHL.com’s Harvey Valentine. “He’s going to come in, if he has a camp like last camp, it’s going to be hard on the coaching staff to not keep him on their NHL team,” Patrick said.

His strong training camp showing with Washington last year preceeded an absolutely dominant junior campaign from Cristall in 2024-25, and that may be an understatement. He scored 28 goals and 60 points in just 28 games for the Rockets before a trade sent him to the Spokane Chiefs, where he finished the year with 72 points in only 29 games – a rate of 2.48 per game. That was good enough for the WHL scoring title with 132 points despite only playing in 57 of 68 regular-season games.

Cristall capped off his season with 21 goals and 41 points in 19 playoff games, leading the postseason in goals and being named a CHL First Team All-Star at season’s end. Now eligible for an assignment to AHL Hershey if he doesn’t crack the opening night roster, he’ll look to work his name into competition for a middle-six spot in Washington’s group as they deal with some turnover at the forward position.

Here’s more from the Eastern Conference today:

There was surprise when the Hurricanes recently announced an eight-year extension for winger Jackson Blake coming off his rookie season, but the organization had its eyes set on a long-term deal ever since the campaign began, GM Eric Tulsky said today. “We knew by mid-October that he was on a trajectory we were happy with,” Tulsky told Cory Lavalette of the North State Journal. “I think we knew all along that he was someone who, you know, had the potential to be a long term fit for us and who we were going to try and get something done with, if there was a way to do it.”
The Sabres have extended their arena naming rights agreement with KeyBank by 10 years, the team announced today. The KeyBank Center, which was opened as Marine Midland Arena in 1996 and has also been known as HSBC Arena and First Niagara Center, will hold its name through at least the 2035-36 season. The initial naming agreement was signed by Marine Midland and remained in effect up until the coming season, as the name of the banking branch network in question changed hands multiple times over the last three decades.

$15.9MM Of Blake's Contract Deferred To 2034

July 26, 2025 at 12:58 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 19 Comments

Late Thursday, the Hurricanes raised some eyebrows when they signed winger Jackson Blake to an eight-year, $45MM contract extension after just one professional season. It was reported at the time that the deal carries some salary deferrals; PuckPedia relays (Twitter link) that a total of $15.9MM in signing bonus money over five seasons in the agreement is deferred to July 1st, 2034, the day after the deal expires. In doing so, the cap hit goes from $5.625MM per season to $5.117MM. As part of the contract, Blake also gets a 10-team no-trade clause starting in July 2031 that will remain in place until 15 days before the 2034 trade deadline. Given that the other years of the deal cover RFA-eligible seasons, he wasn’t eligible for trade protection in those campaigns.

Hurricanes Sign Jackson Blake To Eight-Year Extension

July 24, 2025 at 9:50 pm CDT | by Josh Erickson 37 Comments

The Hurricanes announced Thursday night that they’ve signed winger Jackson Blake to an eight-year, $45MM extension that will kick in for the 2026-27. While that would normally mean an average annual value and cap hit of $5.625MM, the actual cap hit of the contract will fall in the $5.1MM range due to deferred compensation, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. The contract buys out the extent of Blake’s RFA eligibility and will make him a UFA following the 2033-34 season.

Blake’s stock has been on the rise since immediately after Carolina selected him in the fourth round in 2021. He was a USHL All-Star in his post-draft season with the Chicago Steel before making the jump to NCAA hockey with North Dakota, where he totaled 102 points in 79 games in two seasons – earning a Hobey Baker finalist nod in his sophomore year. He signed his entry-level contract with the Hurricanes in April 2024 and joined them for the brief remainder of the regular season.

In his first full pro season, Blake hit the ground running. He made the Canes out of camp and had five points through his first nine games despite seeing less than 12 minutes of ice time per night. That offense didn’t quite hold up the rest of the way, though.

While he ended up seeing significant deployment alongside Sebastian Aho at even strength, he ended up finishing the year with a 17-17–34 scoring line in 80 games, finishing ninth on the team in scoring and ninth in Calder Trophy voting as the league’s Rookie of the Year. That’s fine production, especially considering he averaged under 14 minutes per game on the year. He’ll need to build on it to justify that cap hit, though, especially with so much risk attached to a max-term deal.

The good news is that Blake has another year left on his entry-level contract to continue his development before he’ll need to start justifying that cap hit. The son of former NHLer Jason Blake turns 22 next month, yet with this deal, he’s guaranteed to surpass his dad’s career earnings.

Carolina has historically opted to sign their young players for as long and as early as possible, a trend that continues here. Sometimes, it’s paid off – their eight-year, $59.4MM commitment to Seth Jarvis last offseason looks like a steal after he put up a repeat 67-point performance in 2024-25. There’s also the glaring example of where that strategy has failed regarding center Jesperi Kotkaniemi, whose $4.82MM cap hit looks more stomachable now with a rising ceiling but is still well above his market value four years into the deal. The jury is still out on newly-acquired Logan Stankoven, who they inked to an eight-year, $48MM extension at the beginning of the month.

Blake’s deal will be one of the last of its kind. It contains two elements – deferred compensation and an eight-year term – that will be outlawed when the new CBA Memorandum of Understanding takes effect on Sep. 15, 2026. If he waited until reaching RFA status next summer to sign, a lengthy negotiation could have lost him that eighth year if the two sides didn’t come to terms until the beginning of training camp.

With the salary cap’s Upper Limit projected to reach $104MM in 2026-27, the Hurricanes have around $16MM in projected space with Blake’s and Stankoven’s deals taken care of. While they’re projected to be Carolina’s 11th and 12th highest-paid forwards on their opening night roster this season, they’ll be their fifth and sixth-highest paid forwards in 2026-27.

Image courtesy of Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images.

Hurricanes Sign Ryan Suzuki, Ronan Seeley To Two-Way Deals

July 21, 2025 at 8:55 pm CDT | by Paul Griser 4 Comments

The Carolina Hurricanes announced today that they have signed forward Ryan Suzuki and defenseman Ronan Seeley to one-year, two-way contracts. Suzuki will earn $775K at the NHL level and $130K in the AHL, while Seeley will be paid $813,750 in the NHL or $80,000 in the AHL.

Suzuki, 24, made his NHL debut last season, appearing in two games for the Canes and recording a plus-one rating while averaging 6:36 of ice time per night. The team’s first-round pick in the 2019 draft (28th overall), Suzuki had a slow start to his pro career but found his scoring touch last season, recording 59 points in 69 games for the AHL’s Chicago Wolves. That marked a 27-point jump from his previous career high. In 230 career AHL games, he has totaled 145 points.

Before turning pro, the 6’2″, 195-pound center appeared in 173 games for the OHL’s Barrie Colts (three seasons) and Saginaw Spirit (one season), where he put up 57 goals and 177 points. While Suzuki is likely to start next season in the AHL, he provides the organization with a quality depth piece if called upon.

Seeley, 22, was drafted by the Canes in the seventh round of the 2020 draft (208th overall). The 6’1″, 192-pound left-handed defender spent four seasons with the WHL’s Everett Silvertips, where he produced 102 points in 190 games. He then got off to a solid start in his pro career, posting four goals and 25 points in 70 games for the Wolves during the 2022–23 season. However, he hasn’t been able to replicate that level of production over the past two seasons, totaling just 24 points in 127 games during that span.

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