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Carolina Hurricanes 2024 Summer Talk ... press the reset button?

Some additional thoughts on contracts.

We know where the Canes are with a few guys, and it's easy to speculate about some others.

Pesce ... they offered him 5x$5 last summer and he passed. IMO he'd be lucky to get that offer again after the year he had, but whatever. Unless he gets little interest on July 1, he's outta here.

Skjei ... talks were off and on this season until they decided to shut it down until the season was over. I think there's probably room for a deal here, but it's going to be really tempting for Skjei to cash in elsewhere.

Jarvis ... they kicked the can on talks, realized it was going to take a while and pushed pause. Fine. The org loves this kid and will want to lock him down if they can. If not, a bridge deal is an option.

Necas ... arbitration eligible RFA and no word that any negotiations have happened. You know how sure everybody was that Necas would get traded two years ago? Yeah, I'm thinking it's even more likely now. He took a bridge deal and won't be looking for another one, but we've seen his ceiling and he regressed off of it this year when asked to carry his own line a bit. He'll be worth something on the market though. He's entertaining and a lot of GMs will be tempted to think they can unlock something. Good luck.

Drury ... not sure. He also has arbitration rights and has always felt under valued and under used. Not sure I agree with him. I like him, he's a smart, useful player. He can also be replaced without too much trouble.

No word on any of the rest of the UFAs, really. Guentzel will be a wait and see, and the rest may come down to just how much restructuring they want to do in one summer, and what the budget looks like once they sort out the higher end guys.
 
KTown11 said:
Please do away with the 1 on 1 single defensive coverage. Is that a coaching change? IDN, but I have disliked it from the beginning. That is what Lavi was keyed on.
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Pretty sure Brind'Amour is married to the man to man and it's more of a limiting issue with new players than it is a performance problem, at least in my book. NYR tried to flip the D down low to make Carolina have to switch, but they didn't really generate anything from it. And it cost them some breakouts against. Reports of Lavy's technical genius out of NY are over-stated by the usual NY press chest thumping. The stuff they did that hurt Carolina in that series is the same stuff they did under Hakstol and Gallant ... it's more about personnel matchups than tactics. If Carolina failed tactically it was on the penalty kill, and that's not a man to man system.
 
When teams have a big athletic forward with great hands who’s not afraid to park himself in front it wreaks havoc on the Canes man to man. But it also does the same thing to any other defense.
 
The Canes really need one of the primary assistants changed. And yes, that is going to be a sticking point for Rod.

KK needs to go by whatever method they want to use. I'm ok with a buyout (which as we discussed is at 1/3 for this final offseason). Now would be the time.

Going into the season with our centers as Aho, Drury, Kuznetsov, Staal would be malpractice, so we need a legit #2 center (you know, like a Vincent Trocheck, too bad we can't get our hands on a guy like that).

I suspect that 2 or all 3 of Turbo, Martinook, Noesen will not be resigned. Martinook is probably the most likely to stay.

Jake Guentzel? Yeah, said all the right stuff, but he is going to chase the bag elsewhere.

So the D. I assume we are 100% banking on Nikishin coming over and stepping right into our 2nd pair after next season. Of course, that is putting faith in this kid really being as good as he looks. The rest of our situation is a total mess. We are overpaying Orlov for one more season. We have Brent Burns who looks like a 40 year old Dman. Slavin is going to need an extension. And then we have no one else other than kids signed. Letting BOTH Pesce and Skjei go for whatever overpays they can get might end up being the result. That could be ok, but obviously we would need to rebuild an entire 2nd pair, and who the heck pulls that off successfully? And if Orlov is the plan, well, that is a crappy plan because he looks more cooked than Burns does. I don't doubt the Canes will spend to get 2nd pair level dmen if Skjei and Pesce go, but WHO are those guys going to be? There are a whole lot of crappy Dmen available.

Necas? So hard to put the right value on him. I suspect if we trade him it would be as a package. While he is maddening out there sometimes, he has some elite offensive skills that are hard to replace. That said, I don't want to give him anything more than 5 years or anything over $6 million. I don't think the Canes will either. Neither that term or those dollars are going to impress Necas' agent.

Jarvis I could see the Canes offering Svech's contract with a bit more for inflation. 8x$8 million per. I do that deal if Jarvis is willing (hopefully he is).

I don't think we change goalies. Freddie and Kochetkov split the starts with Spencer Martin almost certainly filtering in. Remember though, there isn't a guarantee that Martin clears waivers at the beginning of the season, so while we think he is the #3, that might not end up being how it shakes out.

I'm not at all sure how Dundon and crew want to approach this next season and future seasons. Are we 'all in' every season? Do we take this next season as sort of a 'breather' and not necessarily be a max cap team and start to filter in some of our college kids and deal with the pain? Just how good are these kids? Can ANY of them really play in the NHL next season? If we are going to let Skjei go are we going to trust Scott Morrow to run our PP 1?

LOTS of decisions to make. There is more churn potential here than in any season we have had under the Dundon/Waddell/Tulsky regime. I have no idea how all of this shakes out. I do expect to be very surprised by some of the moves we make, that is about all I can bank on. I expect there to be chatter about the Canes being in on everyone again in terms of trying to swing a big trade for a big talent. We might have dodged a bullet not successfully trading for Elias Pettersson and giving him a huge contract. Boy does he look like playoff road kill.
 
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Which assistant coach should they fire?maybe have them draw straws? I still say the problem is with Brindy And all three should go.
 
I saw Skjei, Pesce and TDA with their significant others at a restaurant tonight. I thought about walking over to their table and begging 2 of the 3 to give the Canes a significant hometown discount. My wife threatened bodily harm to me of I did, so I didn’t.
 
andyt said:
I saw Skjei, Pesce and TDA with their significant others at a restaurant tonight. I thought about walking over to their table and begging 2 of the 3 to give the Canes a significant hometown discount. My wife threatened bodily harm to me of I did, so I didn’t.
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Something tells me you would have been easily able to prance around TDA to the front of their table and grab their breadsticks for a tap in into your mouth…🤣
 
CanadaCanes said:
Something tells me you would have been easily able to prance around TDA to the front of their table and grab their breadsticks for a tap in into your mouth…🤣
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Nah, one of the others would have checked me into the bar. After sitting with their SO’s, they rearranged themselves with boys on one end, girls on the other. Very 4th grade of them…
 
Personally, I think going "all in, all the time" is folly. By the same token, always playing it safe and making prudent long term decisions isn't likely to get you there either unless you catch lightning in a bottle multiple times. So, yeah. I could see Carolina taking a step back and gearing up for 2026, without completely tearing up the roster. How?

Lock up a long contract for Jarvis and an extension for Slavin and Chatfield. Apologize to Slavin for forcing him into what amounted to a third pairing role while you're at it. Package up Necas and some other assets for a guy who could hold down the 2C job. See if there's a market for Kotkaniemi, otherwise take a deep breath and buy him out. Yeah, you'll be paying him forever ... you'll also be saving $20 million and a LOT of frustration. Pick a couple of old buddies for Staal to play with and forget the other veteran forwards. Pay them like the checking line they are. You'll need to find a LD to replace Skjei if you can't get him on a reasonable deal. I don't bother with Pesce. Slide Morrow in for now, and figure it out when Boom hits the fold the following season. Keep the goalie triad and scout the crap out of potential rotation partners for Kochetkov for 2026.

Remember, 90% of the NHL gets by with two decent lines and two competent D pairings. Get that settled, use the season to blood in some kids and don't do anything crazy and you could still figure out how to make the playoffs while looking out for hockey trades in season.
 
Pesce said he broke his fibula, near his ankle. He broke it blocking a shot and twisted it later. He also said he and Skjei both want to stay.
 
andyt said:
Pesce said he broke his fibula, near his ankle. He broke it blocking a shot and twisted it later. He also said he and Skjei both want to stay.
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And for the right price and term, they can. I'm sure they'll be offered whatever Waddell and Co think fits the budget ... and not a dime or year more.
 
I don't think we need to go "all in" for 2025 or "step back" for 2026. I think we're going to have a really good, competitive team even after some significant faces get jobs with other teams. We have the bones to be a playoff contender. Just be smart and strategic - lock in those few key players we've discussed above and find a second line center who can captain a consistent scoring threat. Rod will make sure the other 2 lines will be solid defensively and can score occasionally - or at least not suck. Time to mix in a couple of rookies and make trades to fill the rest.
 
Yeah, any way you slice it I think you can make some structural changes and either take another swing at a top 5 kind of finish or at least set up for that in the near future. What I think is the least likely prospect is blowing it up and starting over, but that kind of noise is already circulating from hockey press who don't really have great sources ... starting with Elliotte Friedman, who was doom and glooming all over Twitter/X less than 24 hours after the Canes bit the dust. Don't get me wrong, Friedman is one of the NHL's most plugged in reporters. It just that he's not as plugged in with the Canes as he is with a lot of other clubs. In the past he's ended up more kinda/sorta right on his Canes feedback than say somebody like Pierre LeBrun who actually has some sources in the Canes front office.

Bottom line ... my advice is to take 90% of what will get discussed about Carolina's off season with a grain of salt. The Canes don't follow the traditional NHL decision tree and they tend not to leak to the media much, which means a lot of the info floating around comes from agents.
 
andyt said:
After sitting with their SO’s, they rearranged themselves with boys on one end, girls on the other. Very 4th grade of them…
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I was supposed to stop doing that in fourth grade? We had dinner last Friday with two other couples (both older than ne and my wife) and the same thing happened!
 
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HeyKurtz said:
I was supposed to stop doing that in fourth grade? We had dinner last Friday with two other couples (both older than my wife) and the same thing happened!
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Actually for many of us, that arrangement is just known as “southern style” seating. Same goes for seating in car trips where one sex sits in the front to talk and the other sits in the back to do the same.
 
HurryCanes said:
Actually for many of us, that arrangement is just known as “southern style” seating. Same goes for seating in car trips where one sex sits in the front to talk and the other sits in the back to do the same.
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I've always referred to that as "Flintstones style" seating.
 
Jarvis said he played with a torn labrum and rotator cuff in his right shoulder that he suffered against Philly about 15 games into the season. He scored 24 of his 33 goals after that game. He said he doesn’t think it needs surgery but conceded that he’s “not a doctor”. Maybe not, but he’s a tough SOB.
 
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