ThirstNHowl
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That’s our Batesy - BBC line forever!
2026 Hurricanes Off Season Thread
- Thread starter jeffbear
- Start date
CanadaCanes
Well-known member
The NHL XM guys got a kick out of saying "Teets" on air today when talking about last night's festive Cup party...it's a family show afterall...
LJG
Well-known member
Was "Tits" taken already?
Fayettenamcanesfan
Well-known member
cmaleski2
Well-known member
It will be interesting to see what the Canes do in the offseason, which pretty much starts tonight with the buyout window. Rolling it back appears to be the obvious option given that just about everyone is already under contract for next season, but even rolling it back has some work to be done:
* Goaltending. Bussi is clearly one of our goalies. Kochetkov is entering the final season of his 4 year deal and will be a UFA after that. And of course Freddie? Is he retiring? Not being retained? Coming back to the Canes on another 1 year deal with incentives (if so, do we keep Kochetkov?) Things to be sorted out there.
* #7 Dman? Mike Reilly is a UFA. Do we trust Legault/Nystrom to this role? Do we re-sign Reilly? Do we bring in a different vet willing to not play unless someone needs rest or as an injury replacement?
* KK. Buyout? Dump in a trade? Keep around another year as unhappy depth (I doubt we really do that)
That is all just the easier 'roll it back route'
And that could be all the Canes really do in the offseason.
BUT
Rolling it back comes with some issues beyond the smaller things I listed above.
Conn Smythe winner Jordan Staal is going to turn 38 years old before next season and will be a pending UFA. I'm not really worried about the Canes ability to sign Jordan Staal beyond this coming season if Jordan wants to continue to play and can still play at a high enough level. What I am worried about is that he will be 38 years old, and the effectiveness cliff can arrive much faster than one expects (see Rod Brind'Amour). Now maybe that is a 27-28 problem to be addressed and we simply wait to see how effective Jordan Staal is after playing 94 games this past season. But I am worried that there really isn't anyone in the organization that could fill Jordan's role.
The other reason I wonder about the Canes longer term thinking is that Dylan Larkin is looking for a new home. He wouldn't be a perfect replacement for Staal, but he would be much closer than anyone else we currently have in the organization. Of course, trading for Dylan Larkin would almost certainly disrupt 'roll it back'. And for all we know, Dylan Larkin might not really like winning, or like smaller city living, or doesn't like BBQ and just won't accept a trade here even if we had the best offer.
But that type of thing does make me think....are we REALLY going to just roll it back? Maybe we end up where Tulsky and crew try to make some sort of bigger move for the present and future but just cannot get a trade over the finish line so we just work through the Goaltending, 7th Dman and KK situations and call it an offseason. Or do we actually make a huge spash that moves out some fan favorite (oh the screams!!!!!)
How much does the Canes winning the Cup change the thinking of high end NHL talent looking for new landing spots? Biz on Spitting Chicklets for 6/15 actually said that he considers the Canes now in the top 5 for potential landing spots for Connor McDavid. I think that is crazy talk still and that if McDavid leaves Edmonton, he would only go to a big media market team (Toronto, NY Rangers, LA).
Anyhow, should be a relatively quiet offseason for the Canes.....maybe....
* Goaltending. Bussi is clearly one of our goalies. Kochetkov is entering the final season of his 4 year deal and will be a UFA after that. And of course Freddie? Is he retiring? Not being retained? Coming back to the Canes on another 1 year deal with incentives (if so, do we keep Kochetkov?) Things to be sorted out there.
* #7 Dman? Mike Reilly is a UFA. Do we trust Legault/Nystrom to this role? Do we re-sign Reilly? Do we bring in a different vet willing to not play unless someone needs rest or as an injury replacement?
* KK. Buyout? Dump in a trade? Keep around another year as unhappy depth (I doubt we really do that)
That is all just the easier 'roll it back route'
And that could be all the Canes really do in the offseason.
BUT
Rolling it back comes with some issues beyond the smaller things I listed above.
Conn Smythe winner Jordan Staal is going to turn 38 years old before next season and will be a pending UFA. I'm not really worried about the Canes ability to sign Jordan Staal beyond this coming season if Jordan wants to continue to play and can still play at a high enough level. What I am worried about is that he will be 38 years old, and the effectiveness cliff can arrive much faster than one expects (see Rod Brind'Amour). Now maybe that is a 27-28 problem to be addressed and we simply wait to see how effective Jordan Staal is after playing 94 games this past season. But I am worried that there really isn't anyone in the organization that could fill Jordan's role.
The other reason I wonder about the Canes longer term thinking is that Dylan Larkin is looking for a new home. He wouldn't be a perfect replacement for Staal, but he would be much closer than anyone else we currently have in the organization. Of course, trading for Dylan Larkin would almost certainly disrupt 'roll it back'. And for all we know, Dylan Larkin might not really like winning, or like smaller city living, or doesn't like BBQ and just won't accept a trade here even if we had the best offer.
But that type of thing does make me think....are we REALLY going to just roll it back? Maybe we end up where Tulsky and crew try to make some sort of bigger move for the present and future but just cannot get a trade over the finish line so we just work through the Goaltending, 7th Dman and KK situations and call it an offseason. Or do we actually make a huge spash that moves out some fan favorite (oh the screams!!!!!)
How much does the Canes winning the Cup change the thinking of high end NHL talent looking for new landing spots? Biz on Spitting Chicklets for 6/15 actually said that he considers the Canes now in the top 5 for potential landing spots for Connor McDavid. I think that is crazy talk still and that if McDavid leaves Edmonton, he would only go to a big media market team (Toronto, NY Rangers, LA).
Anyhow, should be a relatively quiet offseason for the Canes.....maybe....
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Fayettenamcanesfan
Well-known member
I will eat my underpants if Connor McDavid suits up in Raleigh
Rolling it back just doesn’t feel like Tulsky’s move, honestly. And if they don’t make a run at Larkin, I’d kind of be surprised. He’s got 2 way game and he’s really good in that bumper slot on the power play where Carolina’s better players struggle. Also, because he’d have to buy into the idea up front, you avoid the Rantanen/Guentzel issue. His money is up there, but not out of whack with the rest of the Canes salary ladder either. Detroit would want the first (no biggie) and probably Nikishin. Debate away, but that’s do-able.
McDavid WOULD surprise me … duh … but you know who wouldn’t? Matthews. Yeah, he’s going to want to go somewhere sexy and sunny but when he finds out that nobody in those markets have any money and are already all star player-ed up, the idea of going from Toronto to a market with 4 beat writers, only two of whom are full time, and playing on a team actually built to contend is going to start to look good. Plus, those $10 million houses in those places cost like $3.5 mil here. That’s a next year project though.
McDavid WOULD surprise me … duh … but you know who wouldn’t? Matthews. Yeah, he’s going to want to go somewhere sexy and sunny but when he finds out that nobody in those markets have any money and are already all star player-ed up, the idea of going from Toronto to a market with 4 beat writers, only two of whom are full time, and playing on a team actually built to contend is going to start to look good. Plus, those $10 million houses in those places cost like $3.5 mil here. That’s a next year project though.
Fayettenamcanesfan
Well-known member
Svech is at Raising Canes in Raleigh serving Chicken Tenders to fans. Hilarious
LJG
Well-known member
Do I detect a George Carlin fan?
CanadaCanes
Well-known member
KK gone is a given to me, Freddy back would surely be on a one year affordable deal because he wants to be here, that is probably a 50/50 proposition at best. Legault to me is a great seventh defenseman option more than Nystrom, but signing another Reilly type of vet on a two way deal makes sense too. I agree with JB that you cannot count Tulsky out on anything big out there, that includes Larkin and any other big fish forwards that might become available via trade. I’d still like to see some more center depth here, especially once KK departs…you can never have enough. Is Pyotr fit enough to play 30 games next year if Freddy is gone? This team will look very much the same and probably win the Metro again but I’m not sure Tulsky will just sit back and admire his Cup season without wanting to improve even more…
