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2025-26 Canes Miscellaneous Thread

Carlson will have to come off his supposed $10 million AAV ask if he really wants to play for us. If he does sign with us, this fits like this:

Slavin-Carlson
Miller-Walker
Ghost-Chatfield

And goodbye Nikishin.

Now if you are trying to fit Carlson and Hellebuyck onto the roster....let's say Carlson settles for $9 million...Hellebuyck's cap hit is $8.5 million.

You remove Kochetkov from the roster as part of the Hellebuyck trade and you buy out KK, our cap space is:

17,340,706

As in $160k short. If you can convince Carlson to take $8.8 million AAV then we could squeeze both him and Hellebuyck under the cap and be pennies from the cap ceiling. While Seth Jarvis is out early in the season, LTIR will allow the Canes to bring Nadeau up (if he is still with the organization). Another possibility is that we trade Ghost somewhere, given that if we did sign Carlson, we are not going to be not playing him on PP1.

The thing is, if the Canes front office thinks Carlson is still good enough to play in our top 4, then I have no reason not to believe them. And if we cannot get him to come off his ridiculous $10 million per AAV ask, then no harm done, we lost a low 6th round pick that we probably would have wasted on a Russian.
 
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Well he may be getting older but he was more productive than anyone on our d corp last season as an old man. I trust Tulsky and Brindy…. They pinpoint players they think will fit in the system and they haven’t really missed yet minus 1 or 2 guys the last 5+ years. If they think he’s worth it, then more than likely he is. They don’t usually go after guys for the sake of making a move. Or maybe they get him as part of a sign and trade package. Either way, this org has given me zero reasons not to trust their moves
 
Fayettenamcanesfan said:
Well he may be getting older but he was more productive than anyone on our d corp last season as an old man.
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This is important to keep in mind. And also keep in mind that even as a slower, older guy Carlson was still winning his shifts in both Washington and Anaheim … playing two different systems. He was well over 50% of expected goal share both of the last two seasons. And he played in the Top 4 in a zone system in DC and a hybrid system in Anaheim without really missing a beat. It’s easy to dismiss him as a bad fit, but we’ve done that with a lot of guys before and been wrong.
 
I'm still leaning towards Nikishin getting signed. It's hard to imagine him being unhappy, and wanting out. If he wants more minutes, wants more responsibilities, etc, that's great. I wouldn't want a player who doesn't want more of those things. Everyone should want that. But if he's literally pouting, and thinks he doesn't fit in here, then screw him. That's one hell of an ego and attitude. And that just seems far fetched. His agent has shown multiple times that's he's a toolbag. I have to assume that's who is complaining. If Nikishin truly believes he'd be happier somewhere else, on a worse team, in a worse city, with a worse coach, then don't let the doorknob hit you. But I have a hard time thinking he feels that way. I don' think an 8x7.5m is that far fetched. Neither is a 3x6.5.
 
Ship Nikishin and KK off to Seattle for Shane Wright and Blake Fiddler. Nikishin should get more playing time there, KK probably would crack their lineup and we won't have to care about how well either of them do there.
 
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Well, I don't believe for one second he ends up in NY. Already talked to death, but they don't have anything of value to trade. Not too many teams with cap space do.
 
cmaleski2 said:
Ship Nikishin and KK off to Seattle for Shane Wright and Blake Fiddler. Nikishin should get more playing time there, KK probably would crack their lineup and we won't have to care about how well either of them do there.
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I agree, send them somewhere like that and they are probably never heard from again and Boom cannot complain about not getting the ice time or opportunity.
 
I'm just not buying this story from Sports Illustrated that the Canes and Rangers had a deal done for Nikishin, but at the very last second the Rangers backed out because they found out his asking price was 5 years at $8m. And I also don't think trading Nikishin for Edvinsson with Detroit makes much sense. Edvinsson isn't going to take $5m a year either. He's already playing top paring minutes out of necessity.
 
If the Rangers thought they could get Nikishin for less AAV than their currently available $7.7 million then they were smoking some of LJG’s stuff. But since Friedman has been reporting on the Rangers’ interest, there’s no reason to doubt the general gist of the reporting. One assumes that Carolina would have taken back Schneider plus some stuff to agree to that deal. That’s … OK, I guess. Schneider, like Miller, is another guy who’s career has been completely derailed by NY’s general mess. He’s a solid skater, does everything pretty well and has good size and compete. Early in his career he looked great and was consistently winning his shifts and then the Rangers structure fell apart and so did his numbers. The raw tools are still there and he’s young enough to bounce back.

Edvinsson … I mean, it depends on the scouting. Another chaotic team with terrible structure. It’s REALLY hard to judge guys in that environment. I know one thing, guys with that dude’s size don’t normally move as well as Edvinsson. There’s obviously plenty there to work with. With his mobility and reach, I could see Edvinsson really thriving in Carolina’s system.

On the money … the more I’m hearing, the less I think Carolina’s issues with Nikishin are actually about the money. I think the problem is that the kid wants out. Doubt me, debate me, do whatever, that’s the read I’m getting. And honestly, when a guy is even willing to act like he wants out immediately after you’ve won a Cup, then you oblige him if you can.

It does sound like Carolina has started to explore trading D for D with Nikishin though. So that probably takes the threat of Pettersson off the table.
 
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If Nikishin really is squawking about playing time and his opportunity going forward with LH shots Slavin and Miller ahead of him, even after winning the Stanley Cup in his first full season in the NHL, then we are definitely doing the right thing in trading him and letting someone else commit the massive amount of money to him.

I get that he has a whole NHL career ahead of him, but if Nikishin really is unhappy about his role, that is the most anti-Canes position you can have. That is NOT going to play in this locker room. A locker room where Taylor Hall is saying "play me anywhere in the lineup" and Ehlers is on the 3rd line. This team is about winning, not about juicing stats and bank accounts as a result.
 
Seems like quite the arseholish things to say. If he's actually saying them, then screw him. But that's a very outlandish attitude for a rookie who just won the cup.
 
Look around the league. The ask is big but 100% in line with what other, lesser, defensemen are getting. Hell, even if it took $10 mil AAV to get him signed, Carolina’s both got the money (you’d have to jetison KK, but whatever) and the will to spend it. That alone simply doesn’t explain what’s going on. And we can doubt the reporting all we want, but when Elliotte Friedman is reporting stuff then it’s coming from somewhere. Usually the agent community, but he also has front office sources around the league. Friedman doesn’t make stuff up, so when he says stuff like “the player would definitely like to play in NY, then it came from either the Rangers or the agent. And the agent represents the player.

Niki wouldn’t be the first guy to a-hole his way out of town and I suspect he won’t be the last. Also, it’s not that big a deal. Better to move on now than once he becomes an even bigger part of the core group. Right now he’s a 3rd pairing luxury item. Say you get him bridged for 2 years. By then he’s a power play fixture and almost surely in the Top 4. THEN it gets tricky. Right now, you just need a guy with some upside who can play next to Ghost and anything else you get is a bonus. So long as you cover that part, then you could even go futures for the rest of the value.
 
BTW, all that said, you 100% trade Nikishin outside the division if at all possible. Screw what New York wants. They can pound sand unless the return is 100% beneficial to Carolina.
 
Not fair to compare Nikishin to a guy who was trying to bail on the Hurricanes before he even came to a development camp. IMO
 
jeffbear said:
BTW, all that said, you 100% trade Nikishin outside the division if at all possible. Screw what New York wants. They can pound sand unless the return is 100% beneficial to Carolina.
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Do the Rangers have anything on that roster worth trading for? I don't see it.
 
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