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Hurricanes Making Progress On Sebastian Aho Extension

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The Hurricanes have several key players entering the final year of their respective contracts, making them eligible for a contract extension.  One of those is forward Sebastian Aho as he is now in the final year of the offer sheet agreement that was signed with Montreal and quickly matched.  Speaking with NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti, GM Don Waddell indicated that they are making good progress on a new deal for the 25-year-old:

We’re working on it, getting close. Not there yet, but we are talking on a regular basis, almost daily, so I’m hoping that we can get this to the finish line here in the next week or so.

Aho has been a focal point of Carolina’s attack throughout his seven-year career, scoring at least 24 times in each campaign.  Last season, he picked up 36 tallies, leading the Hurricanes in that department for the sixth straight time.  A couple of years into his career, he made the transition from playing on the wing to playing down the middle, increasing his value to the team even more.

To that end, as a number one center, Aho is well-positioned to land a raise on his current deal that carries a $8.46MM AAV.  With the expectation that there will be a bigger increase to the Upper Limit of the salary than the $1MM it has been recently and Aho’s production, he could add another million or so to that number while securing a max-term eight-year agreement and in doing so, Carolina would lock in a franchise cornerstone for the long haul.

Defensemen Brett Pesce and Brady Skjei along with winger Teuvo Teravainen are also UFA-eligible after the season and are extension-eligible as well.  However, Waddell noted that talks on those aren’t going quite as well:

We’ve had talks, but nothing close. We’ve reached out to all of the different agents just to tell them our interest. You try to go a year early, which is always tough. But I look at it two ways: it’s protection for us but also for them not having to worry about playing out a year. Injuries and all those things come into factor. So, we’re trying to find medium ground that works both for the player and the team.

Pesce, in particular, has also been featured in trade speculation, especially surrounding reports that they continue to show interest in Sharks blueliner Erik Karlsson along with UFA blueliner Anthony DeAngelo.  While, for now, Aho seems to be the focus from an extension standpoint, Pesce could be the next one to get a greater level of focus to see if he’ll be able to stick around or if he could be on the move before next season gets underway.

Carolina Hurricanes Loan Three Players To Finland

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  • Without an AHL affiliate to store their prospects next season, the Carolina Hurricanes have loaned a trio of Finnish prospects back to their home country, per team reporter Walt Ruff. 20-year-old defenseman Aleksi Heimosalmi will head back to Assat, where he’s spent the past two seasons on loan from Carolina after they selected him 44th overall in 2021. Right wing Tuukka Tieksola, their 2019 fourth-round pick, is heading back to Finland with Lukko after recording 24 points in 52 games with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves last year. Lastly, forward Ville Koivunen is heading back to Karpat, where he’s played most of his career to date after recording 28 points in 52 games with them last season. Doing this early in the summer gives Carolina less to worry about when figuring out where to assign their prospects closer to the start of the season.

Ondrej Kase Signs In Czechia

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After dealing with significant concussion issues throughout his career and playing just one game in 2022-23, Czech winger Ondrej Kase is healthy enough to continue his pro career. It will be overseas, however, as he’s returning home to Czechia on a one-year deal with Extraliga club HC Litvinov.

Kase was expected to be a solid depth contributor for the Carolina Hurricanes last season after recording 14 goals and 27 points in 50 games with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2021-22. However, another concussion limited him to just a handful of NHL games for the second time in three seasons, leaving his playing future in significant doubt.

The 27-year-old returns to Czechia after playing 258 NHL games across seven seasons, a North American career cut much too short by those concussion issues. When healthy, especially early in his career with the Anaheim Ducks, he showed flashes of actual top-six upside. However, he was never healthy for a long enough period to round out his game and develop properly.

It makes sense that Kase would want to return home, now playing on the same team as his brother, David Kase. It’s been a trying few years for Kase since coming over to the AHL’s San Diego Gulls in 2015, and he’ll look to, first and foremost, maintain good health while assumedly playing out his pro hockey days overseas.

Kase’s last experience in the Czech pro hockey circuit came in 2014-15 when he registered 21 points in 37 games with second-tier club Pirati Chomutov. He immediately becomes the highest-profile player on Litvinov and the only one with any extended NHL experience.

Free Agent Profile: Vladimir Tarasenko

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This year’s free agent market was a tough one to gauge for teams and players alike. Another year of a tight salary cap situation for most teams, along with a relatively weak class of UFAs, made for some interesting decisions. Take gritty winger, Tyler Bertuzzi, for example. He didn’t get far into extension discussions with the cap-strapped Boston Bruins because he wanted a long-term deal but signed a one-year pact with the Toronto Maple Leafs just a few days into free agency.

But perhaps no player misread the market more than Vladimir Tarasenko, leading to the two-time All-Star being available on the market over two weeks into free agency. While he was reportedly close to a deal with the Carolina Hurricanes earlier in the month, he changed his representation less than a week after July 1, restarting the clock on all pending negotiations. After a bit of a down season, scoring just 18 goals in 69 games split between the St. Louis Blues and New York Rangers, the 31-year-old likely didn’t get any offers reflecting the level of commitment he was expecting.

Why teams wouldn’t want to take a longer-term gamble on the 2019 Stanley Cup champion is understandable. Shoulder injuries limited him to 34 games combined in the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons. While a return to form in 2021-22 (34 goals and 82 points in 75 games) revitalized his stock, a tough season for him (and the Blues) last year lowered it again, and his post-deadline stint with the Rangers wasn’t at his previous elite goal-scoring level, either.

Still, he is a six-time 30-goal scorer and brings a winning pedigree. He’s worth a spot in almost any team’s top six, although slightly sheltered minutes wouldn’t hurt. With Patrick Kane, the other marquee winger still on the market, not expected to sign until closer to the start of next season, Tarasenko is the best player available for teams looking to add a forward.

Stats

2022-23: 69 GP, 18-32-50, -14 rating, 8 PIMs, 169 shots on goal, 45.7% CF, 16:48 ATOI
Career: 675 GP, 270-304-574, +61 rating, 185 PIMs, 2,124 shots on goal, 52.5% CF, 17:27 ATOI

Potential Suitors

At his age, the likelihood of Tarasenko earning a long-term pact after betting on himself this season is small. Knowing he isn’t getting the compensation he initially set out to receive this summer, signing somewhere that gives him a chance to win a second Stanley Cup will likely be at the top of his mind.

The Hurricanes still give him the best shot of doing just that. Whether it can financially come to fruition, though, is another question. Carolina’s already backed out of one widely-reported transaction this summer, forcing the Philadelphia Flyers to go the buyout route with defenseman Anthony DeAngelo instead of re-acquiring him at half-price. The team is reportedly in discussions with the San Jose Sharks about acquiring reigning Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson, and top-four shutdown defender Brett Pesce remains without a contract extension. There are many moving parts still to come with Carolina, leaving a lot of uncertainty about their ability to fit in another UFA signing under the salary cap after signing Michael Bunting and Dmitry Orlov earlier in the month. Still, Tarasenko would add to what’s already one of the most terrifyingly deep forward groups in the league and, if healthy, could provide the sniper element sorely missing from their recent string of playoff runs.

Another team connected to Tarasenko is the Ottawa Senators, who have an Alex DeBrincat-sized hole in their top six after trading the young winger to the Detroit Red Wings. There are similar financial holdups there, though, as CapFriendly lists them with roughly $5MM in projected space for next season while still needing a new contract for center Shane Pinto. Receiving Dominik Kubalik in return from Detroit gives Ottawa a solid secondary scoring option. Still, he’s been quite streaky throughout his brief NHL career, and Tarasenko provides a high-end, veteran backup option if Kubalik doesn’t pan out in Canada’s capital. Ottawa is a team hungry to make their postseason appearance in six years, and adding Tarasenko could push them right back into the conversation of playoff hopefuls in the Atlantic Division.

The New York Rangers would also love to have Tarasenko back in the fold as a more experienced, higher-ceiling scoring option than some of their other depth names, but they’re in a more dire financial situation than both Carolina and Ottawa. Finding a way to move out or reduce Barclay Goodrow’s cap hit ($3.64MM through 2026-27) could open up some options for them, though.

Projected Contract

Unfortunately for Tarasenko, playing the waiting game has likely cost him a lot of cash in a tight market. Don’t expect him to sign a deal much longer than three seasons when he does sign, and it could very well come in under the $5MM mark per season, given the lack of financial flexibility available among contenders.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Carolina Hurricanes Sign Felix Unger Sörum

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The Carolina Hurricanes have signed 17-year-old prospect forward Felix Unger Sörum to a three-year entry-level contract. Per the team announcement, the deal carries a $775k cap hit, $82.5k AHL salary, and a $255k signing bonus.

Hurricanes GM Don Waddell issued a short statement as part of the team’s release:

Felix is a dynamic playmaker with great offensive instincts. He was one of the youngest players in the draft, and we’re excited to see how he continues to improve and develop.

The Hurricanes selected Unger Sörum 62nd overall at the 2023 draft, one of the final picks of the second round. Born September 14, 2005, had Unger Sörum been born just two days later he would have been ineligible for the 2023 draft and instead would have been a 2024 draft prospect.

The right-shot forward spent most of last season with Leksands IF in the J20 Nationell, meaning he was playing junior hockey in his native Sweden. He was very productive at that level, scoring 46 points in 42 games. He even earned seven games with Leksands’ senior team in the SHL, an impressive feat for a player so young.

Unger Sörum also impressed at the international level, especially at the U18 Worlds. He raised his draft stock in a ten-day span in late April, posting 10 points in seven games as Sweden nearly took home the gold medal.

Although scouts were somewhat divided on where Unger Sörum’s place was among the draft’s better prospects (he ranked 85th in Bob McKenzie’s final ranking for TSN, but 53rd in the final rankings of McKenzie’s TSN colleague, Craig Button) the Hurricanes clearly believe in Unger Sörum’s pro potential, and have now invested in him even more by signing him to this entry-level deal at a relatively early stage in his professional developmental process.

Although this entry-level deal does formally enter Unger Sörum into the Hurricanes organization, he’s almost certain to continue his development overseas with Leksands. As a second-round pick the NHL-SHL transfer agreement does not dictate priority to the Hurricanes in deciding where Unger Sörum develops outside the NHL.

Since he’s most definitely not yet ready for an NHL role, he’s highly likely to end up continuing to play with Leksands with the hope of making a push for a regular role on their SHL roster.

Andrei Svechnikov Resumes Skating

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  • Hurricanes winger Andrei Svechnikov returned to the ice on Friday as he works his way back from ACL surgery, notes team reporter Walt Ruff. The 23-year-old made his first All-Star appearance last season while picking up 23 goals and 32 assists in 64 games before suffering the injury in March.  At the time, the procedure carried a recovery of six to nine months; October (when the season starts) is near the short end of that timeline so it’s not a guarantee that Svechnikov will be ready on opening night.

Svechnikov To Resume Skating

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  • A convincing argument can be made that the Carolina Hurricanes have had the best offseason of all 32 clubs in the NHL, and they received more positive news today. Chip Alexander of Raleigh News & Observer reported today that forward Andrei Svechnikov will resume skating for the first time this Friday. Shortly before the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs, Svechnikov went under the knife to repair his knee, which kept him out for the remainder of the season. Before the injury, Svechnikov was well on his way to recording another 30-goal season, something the Hurricanes will be looking forward to again next season.

    [SOURCE LINK]

Carolina Hurricanes Sign Brendan Lemieux

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1:35 PM: The Hurricanes have confirmed the signing via a press release.

9:49 AM: Unrestricted free agent forward Brendan Lemieux is preparing to sign with the Carolina Hurricanes on a one-year contract worth $800K, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports Tuesday.

Lemieux, 27, split last season between the Los Angeles Kings and Philadelphia Flyers after a deadline day trade sent him cross-country. The 6-foot-1, 213-pound troublemaking winger scored twice in 18 games for the Flyers after the trade and amassed a total of nine points and 74 penalty minutes in 45 games throughout last season.

Carolina will be Lemieux’s fifth NHL organization, and this is his first time switching teams via free agency. The son of four-time Stanley Cup champion Claude Lemieux had been traded four times in nine years since the Buffalo Sabres selected him with the 31st overall pick in 2014.

This isn’t the roster move most Hurricanes fans were bracing for. With the team linked to higher-profile names such as Erik Karlsson and Vladimir Tarasenko in recent days, as well as a rumored trade for Anthony DeAngelo (a former teammate of Lemieux’s with the New York Rangers), many thought the Hurricanes were in a holding pattern until they were able to fit in one more big move, one that will require some creative money management with the team boasting just $3.3MM in projected cap space, per CapFriendly.

Those discussions haven’t stopped Carolina from making a depth add, evidently. Given the current state of Carolina’s wing depth, it seems unlikely Lemieux will be able to secure an everyday fourth-line role. It won’t be anything unusual for Lemieux, though, as he’s played more than 60 games in a season just once in his career.

He’ll battle for ice time with depth wingers like Jordan Martinook and Stefan Noesen, both of whom carry more scoring upside and played quite well for the Hurricanes down the stretch and into the playoffs for last season. He does provide an element of annoyance and tenacity that could give him an edge on getting into the lineup in some situations, though.

Lemieux will be an unrestricted free agent once again next summer.

Latest On Erik Karlsson Trade Talks

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Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported today on the NHL Network that the San Jose Sharks remain steadfast in their efforts to trade reigning Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson. Friedman goes on to say that the Carolina Hurricanes and Pittsburgh Penguins are the two teams that the Sharks are talking to and adds that Carolina may need to work out of a move for defenseman Brett Pesce to acquire some assets to complete a Karlsson deal.

On the Pittsburgh side of things, Josh Yohe of The Athletic wrote an article today that outlined why Erik Karlsson is the type of player that general manager Kyle Dubas needs to acquire. Yohe highlights exactly why Karlsson is the right player for the team and the situation the Penguins are currently in. While most of Yohe’s article is in defense of the Penguins acquiring the defenseman, he also adds a couple of pieces of information regarding a potential move. Yohe says that any move Pittsburgh makes for Karlsson would be complex and would involve a third team, which is no surprise given that Karlsson is owed $11.5MM annually for the next four seasons.

Friedman reported Tuesday on his 32 Thoughts Podcast that one hold-up to the potential deal was that teams wanted the Sharks to retain more of Karlsson’s cap hit. He went on to add that at the trade deadline in March San Jose was willing to retain between 18-20% of Karlsson’s cap hit to facilitate a deal. Friedman believes the Sharks will need to retain closer to 30% of the deal which would turn Karlsson into an $8MM player for the acquiring team, and should net the Sharks a better return. Something they are open to. Friedman also reported today on the NHL Network that he believes the Sharks have pursued unrestricted free-agent defenseman Matt Dumba as a possible replacement for Karlsson.

At this point, it almost feels as though the Penguins must acquire Karlsson. Not only would they block Carolina from adding Karlsson to their already stacked defensive unit, but it would help to jump-start their offence which became stale last year for long stretches. Pittsburgh feels like a team that needs a jolt as they have been unable to get out of the first round of the playoffs since 2018 and didn’t even qualify for the postseason last year. Adding a 101-point defenseman would also alleviate some of the offensive pressure off Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and the rest of the Penguins’ top-6 forward group who almost single-handily carried the team last season. And while Dubas has been busy overhauling the black hole that was the Penguins’ bottom six, he still hasn’t added much in the way of offensive firepower.

Carolina Hurricanes Re-Sign Dylan Coghlan

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The Carolina Hurricanes are retaining restricted free agent defenseman Dylan Coghlan, the team tweeted today. Per the North State Journal’s Cory Lavalette, it’s a one-year deal worth $850K.

Coghlan, 25, contributed three assists in 17 games during 2022-23 with the Hurricanes. It was a trying season for the defender, who spent most of it in the press box after coming over as a sweetener for Carolina to take the final season of Max Pacioretty’s contract off the hands of the Vegas Golden Knights. Still, Hurricanes general manager Don Waddell believes he’s a valuable piece of the team’s defensive depth:

Dylan is an important part of our blue line depth. He comes to the rink with a good attitude every day, and we’re glad to have him back.

In his NHL career, which began with Vegas in 2020-21, Coghlan has accumulated six goals and 16 assists for 22 points in 105 games. An undrafted free agent signing by the Knights out of juniors, the 6-foot-3, 207-pound defender got some extended NHL looks after strong play in the minors, namely in his first pro season.

2018-19 saw Coghlan lead all Chicago Wolves (then the AHL partner of the Knights) defensemen in points, scoring 15 goals and 40 points in 66 games. With Chicago spending the 2022-23 campaign as Carolina’s affiliate, Coghlan returned there on a short conditioning stint in December, where he scored twice and added an assist in five games.

Prior to his professional journey, the defenseman from Duncan, British Columbia, spent four seasons in the WHL, recording 38 goals and 107 assists for 145 points in 265 games with the Tri-City Americans from 2014 to 2018. With Carolina extending a massive short-term deal to Dmitry Orlov in free agency and likely acquiring Tony DeAngelo next weekend, Coghlan appears relegated to a seventh defenseman/press-box role once again, although it’s not for lack of trying. He put up solid two-way metrics during his limited action with Carolina last year, although he did play just under 13 minutes a game and wasn’t tested against any tough competition.

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