If you listed off the things that can help an NHL team become a true Stanley Cup contender, developing late-round picks would be very near the top. The Carolina Hurricanes seem to constantly be squeezing value out of their later picks, and it seems as though they might have done it again with Ronan Seeley. The 19-year-old defenseman was the 208th overall pick in 2020 and signed his entry-level deal with Carolina in September, before breaking out this season. With 44 points in 52 games for the Everett Silvertips, making the Team Canada roster at the World Juniors, and finishing with four points in the Silvertips’ short six-game playoff run, it’s been quite the season for the seventh-round pick.
Hurricanes Rumors
14 Teams Face Bonus Overages For 2022-23
In the flat cap world, nearly every team in the league is dealing with situations that require every last dollar under the ceiling. More than half the league was using long-term injured reserve relief at some point this season, a decision that sometimes comes with some attached risk. One of those risks is the performance bonuses from entry-level contracts, which can cause overage penalties if achieved by the end of the season, should the team not have the cap space to fit them in. Those penalties are then applied to the following season’s cap, meaning they have less room to work with moving forward.
CapFriendly has calculated the overage penalties for the entire league, finding 14 of 32 teams that will face them next year. Notably, these penalties lower the cap ceiling for a team and therefore cannot be covered up by going into long-term injured relief again. The penalties are as follows:
Carolina Hurricanes: $112,500
Chicago Blackhawks: $237,500
Colorado Avalanche: $25,000
Dallas Stars: $675,000
Edmonton Oilers: $896,000
Florida Panthers: $637,500
Los Angeles Kings: $637,500
Montreal Canadiens: $1,132,500
New York Islanders $245,796
Philadelphia Flyers: $295,000
St. Louis Blues: $1,000,000*
Toronto Maple Leafs: $212,500
Vancouver Canucks: $1,250,000
Washington Capitals: $100,000
*Can still increase
Details on how each number was reached can be found on CapFriendly’s Twitter thread but the vast majority are from Schedule A performance bonuses for time on ice and games played. While some would argue that it is worth the penalty, as it means a young player has been a strong contributor, it can also be quite impactful moving forward. The Oilers, for instance, are facing a cap charge of nearly $900K, significantly more than the league minimum salary. It could very well mean they aren’t able to carry the maximum of 23 skaters for at least parts of next season while they are still trying to compete, thanks to the bonuses owed to Evan Bouchard this year.
It’s the Islanders that are perhaps the most interesting case since they did not finish in LTIR relief and in fact, were more than $2MM under the $81.5MM ceiling at the end of the year. While most of the other bonuses were on entry-level contracts, theirs included games played bonuses for Zach Parise, Zdeno Chara, and Andy Greene. That means despite being well out of the race, the Islanders will have a little less room to work with next season.
The Blues meanwhile could still face an additional overage, as their penalty is based on the bonuses given to Tyler Bozak. He can still earn $100K if the Blues win the first round and another $150K if they win the second round, which each would also be applied to next year’s cap.
Antti Raanta Leaves Game Two With An Injury
A day after Penguins goaltender Casey DeSmith left Game One against the Rangers during overtime, another netminder has been injured. This time, it’s Hurricanes netminder Antti Raanta who left early in the first period in the second game of their opening round series against the Bruins.
The injury – which can be viewed on a tweet from Carolina team reporter Walt Ruff – occurred on a hit from Boston winger David Pastrnak. It was initially ruled as a five-minute major but after review, it was overturned to a two-minute minor.
There’s never an ideal time for an injury but this one is particularly impactful for the Hurricanes as they remain without starter Frederik Andersen who is also injured. While the team hopes he’ll be able to play at some point in the first round, there is no firm timetable for his return.
This meant that Pyotr Kochetkov, who only made his NHL debut less than two weeks ago, was pressed into duty. He has a 2.42 GAA along with a .902 SV% in his first three NHL appearances. Meanwhile, Jack LaFontaine is serving as Carolina’s emergency goaltender and will be the backup for the rest of the game with Raanta unable to return. He was convinced to leave college midseason to turn pro and got into two games with Carolina plus 13 more with AHL Chicago.
Carolina Hurricanes Sign Alexander Pashin To Entry-Level Contract
May 3: The team has officially announced the contract, confirming the terms. General manager Don Waddell released a short statement on his newest prospect:
Alex is a high-end, skilled player and a proven point producer. We feel he’s ready to make the transition to North America and look forward to watching his continued growth next season.
May 2: On the same day their 2022 playoffs began, the Carolina Hurricanes also signed one of their prospects, Alexander Pashin, to a three-year, entry-level contract, according to CapFriendly (link). The contract is set to begin with the 2022-23 season, and carries an average annual value of $827K. Pashin was the Hurricanes’ seventh-round selection, 199th overall, in 2020.
The 19-year-old forward brings with him a balanced scoring approach but is rather undersized, listed at just 5’8″ and 154 pounds. Pashin has played his career to date in Russia, but has only played four career KHL games, one in 2019-20 and three in 2020-21, and none this season.
Despite limited time in the top league, Pashin has plenty of experience in the MHL and VHL in Russia, all in the Ufa organization, putting up 17 goals and 22 assists in 37 MHL games in 2019-20 along with 19 goals and 26 assists in 41 games in the MHL in 2020-21. Moving to the VHL in 2021-22, Pashin again impressed with 17 goals and 13 assists in 34 games. Pashin was part of this year’s World Juniors team for Russia, but played in just one game before the tournament was canceled due to COVID-19. What the next steps are for Pashin as he comes over to North America are unclear, however without much experience in the highest levels, one would expect him to be slated for additional development before he makes an appearance in the NHL.
Frederik Andersen Dealing With Sprained Knee
- Emily Kaplan of ESPN reports that Carolina Hurricanes starter Frederik Andersen has a sprained knee, though there is no structural damage. She believes it is highly unlikely that the primary Jennings winner will be ready for game two. Antti Raanta will get the start tonight, though with his own history of injuries the team has brought along an extra goaltender. Jack LaFontaine has been recalled from the minor leagues, and will likely serve as the emergency backup tonight. Unlike the regular season, where each venue hosts an EBUG that can end up dressing for either team, in the playoffs teams can carry their own.
Frederik Andersen, Antti Raanta Win William M. Jennings Trophy
With the conclusion of their final regular season game tonight, a 6-3 win over the New Jersey Devils at home, Carolina Hurricanes goaltenders Frederik Andersen and Antti Raanta have officially clinched the William M. Jennings Trophy. The award, frequently known just as the “Jennings,” is “given to the goalies ’having played a minimum of 25 games for the team with the fewest goals scored against it’ during the regular season” (link).
While the award is a tremendous accomplishment for the goaltenders who are fortunate enough to win it, many will say this is a team award. Teams who win the Jennings not only have great goaltending, but have a great defense to go along with it, limiting the number of dangerous chances their goaltenders have to see, and thus the number of goals they give up. Recent winners of this award include Marc-Andre Fleury and Robin Lehner of the Vegas Golden Knights in 2020-21, Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak of the Boston Bruins in 2019-20, and Lehner and Thomas Greiss of the New York Islanders in 2018-19. Though Raanta has not won the award before, Andersen has as a member of the Anaheim Ducks in 2015-16, sharing it with John Gibson.
This year, the Hurricanes have given up just 202 goals over their 82 games, an average of 2.46 goals per game. Interestingly, this was both Raanta and Andersen’s first season in Carolina, both having impressive years after being allowed to walk from their previous teams. Raanta posted a .913 save percentage and 2.43 goals-against average in 27 games this season, while Andersen carried a bulk of the playing time, tallying a .922 save percentage and 2.17 goals-against average in 52 games. Not credited with the award, but also factoring in, is 22-year-old Pyotr Kochetkov, who played in three games for Carolina, starting two. Perhaps best of all for Carolina, is that they will have both goaltenders under contract next season at just $6.5MM combined, Andersen making $4.5MM and Raanta $2MM.
Looking At Max Domi’s Impending Free Agency
After taking a look at the upcoming free agency situation of Vincent Trocheck, we now pivot to looking at the future of his Hurricanes teammate, Max Domi. Tonight Domi hit an important milestone in his career: 500 NHL games played. Domi is famously the son of enforcer Tie Domi, who spent the majority of his career with just one team: the Toronto Maple Leafs. The stability that Tie Domi found once he established himself in Toronto is not something Max has managed in his career, and as a pending unrestricted free agent, the second Domi looks set to potentially land on the fifth NHL team of his career despite being just 27 years old.
As we previously mentioned when going over the situation of Trocheck, the Hurricanes already have significant cap dollars tied to their forward corps, (and more specifically their top three centers) and have important extensions to consider down the line. As a result, it is likely that Domi, who arrived in Carolina as part of a buzzer-beating deadline-day trade, is a pure rental for the team. So the former London Knights star looks primed to hit the unrestricted free-agent market for the first time in his career.
But what should his market look like? Domi is a bit of an enigmatic player. He is very talented offensively, having produced at an elite level once before (when he had 72 points for the Montreal Canadiens in the 2018-19 season) and having the overall skill level to appear on highlight reels. Additionally, Domi plays with a level of energy and enthusiasm that one would expect from the son of Tie Domi, and he plays a style that allows him to quickly endear himself to fans. Although coaches have mostly preferred to keep him on the wing, Domi also has experience playing center, which adds to his value. But with those positives comes a sometimes maddening level of inconsistency, as well as a shaky defensive game. Domi butted heads with coach John Tortorella in Columbus, and near the end of his tenure in Montreal, he found himself relegated to fourth-line center duty. So despite his intriguing package of skills and desirable work ethic, Domi’s overall offering as a free agent is more mixed than it may initially seem.
All of those factors make assessing what Domi could cost on the open market a challenging prospect. With many players, there are typically some generally accurate comparable players to use as a benchmark for estimating what kind of contract a player can command in free agency. But with Domi, are there many comparables that make sense for his situation? One tool we have to assess how Domi is viewed leaguewide is his trade value. It’s not perfect, as there are a whole host of factors that go into an in-season trade that are not present in the summer, but it can paint a somewhat accurate picture. 
Domi’s trade was a complicated three-way deal that involved a “cap broker” and multiple assets being swapped just to account for the financial aspects of the deal. But in the end, the Blue Jackets, the team trading Domi, got just one asset in return for him, the rights to prospect defenseman Aidan Hreschuk, a 19-year-old playing for Boston College. Hreschuk was a third-round pick in 2021 and had 8 points in 37 games in this NCAA season. If that return is any indication, Domi’s value has declined sharply since a few years ago, when he was the main return in Columbus’ Josh Anderson trade and earned a contract worth over $5MM AAV.
This offseason’s market for offensive skill players is one that theoretically offers teams many options, with elite scorers such as Johnny Gaudreau, Filip Forsberg, and Nazem Kadri as the headliners, meaning Domi may not be the beneficiary of a bidding war caused by an imbalance between the supply and demand of scoring talent on the market. That means that Domi may not reach the $5.3MM AAV mark he is currently earning if he wants a long-term contract. But if Domi wants a shorter-term deal, one where he can prioritize role and fit in order to re-enter the market on the back of a better platform year, that would likely make him a desirable player for many cap-strapped teams. Domi’s 2018-19 season showed that he can score at a high level in the NHL, but he hasn’t come close to that since. His decision this offseason regarding where he wants to sign as a first-time UFA could determine if he reaches those heights again.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Frederik Andersen Expected To Miss Beginning Of First Round
There have been many conflicting reports over the past few days regarding the health of the Carolina Hurricanes’ goaltenders, and while there’s largely an optimistic tone around the health of their top netminders, it may not be all sunshine and roses just yet. ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski reported today that the “current expectation” is that Frederik Andersen could miss the first few games of Carolina’s First Round series, which likely looks to be against the Boston Bruins. The report comes after sources suggested to The Athletic’s Sara Civian just yesterday that Andersen would be “good to go” for Game 1.
An undisclosed injury has sidelined Andersen since April 16, when he left the late third period of a game against the Colorado Avalanche. He’s run away with the starter’s crease in Carolina this season with a Vezina-consideration-worthy campaign, compiling 35 wins (7th in NHL), four shutouts (tied for 5th in NHL), a 2.17 goals-against average (2nd among qualified goalies), and .922 save percentage (tied for 3rd among qualified goalies).
With backup netminder Antti Raanta becoming injured a few days ago, it put Andersen’s potential return under the spotlight to shut down any goaltending issues for Carolina ahead of the playoffs. Pyotr Kochetkov, Carolina’s 36th overall selection in 2019, entered the game in relief and started the team’s game the night prior as well. While he’s earned a victory in both games, he has just a .889 save percentage in his now 89 career minutes of NHL ice time.
Especially as the Bruins have caused Carolina fits during their last two playoff meetings, continued stellar goaltending will be essential for the Hurricanes to avoid an upset. They’re just 1-8 in their last nine playoff games against their most likely First Round opponent.
Frederik Andersen Likely To Be Ready To Start The Playoffs
After the Hurricanes got some good news when it came to goaltender Antti Raanta today, it appears things may be looking up even more on the injury front in Carolina. Sara Civian of The Athletic reports (subscription link) that goaltender Frederik Andersen should be good to go for the playoffs as well. The 32-year-old suffered an undisclosed injury a week and a half ago with little information revealed from there. While Civian notes that Andersen isn’t expected to dress for any of Carolina’s games this week, having both him and Raanta available for the postseason will certainly help their chances of a lengthy playoff run.
Antti Raanta Expected To Dress Tomorrow
- Good news for the Carolina Hurricanes, who are crossing their fingers hoping for some health in goal as the playoffs arrive. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet tweets that Antti Raanta, who was pulled from last night’s game, should be ready to go tomorrow. It was apparently a “cramping issue” that Raanta was dealing with when the team was forced to put Pyotr Kochetkov into the net. With no clear timeline at this point for Frederik Andersen, Raanta is obviously of huge importance to the Hurricanes at the moment.