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Hurricanes 2024-25 Post Mortem and Off Season Stuff

polarbare said:
Florida won't have enough cap to sign everyone, neither will Dallas and a few others. Guys will become available, just don't know that they'll be the right guys.
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The Panthers have $19 million in cap space but only 16 players under contract, 10 forwards, 5 dmen and Bob. The Checkers are in the Calder Cup semifinals but of the players that scored at least 10 goals, only 1 is under contract next year, the rest are either out of contract or on AHL contracts. And of the 4 goalies they used this year, only 1 is under contract for next year.

Jim Nill will have to get creative in Dallas. They have just under $5 million available and only 16 players under contract, 8 forwards, 6 dmen and 2 goalies. They have $1.8 million in dead money from Ryan Suter’s buyout and bonus overages. Like Charlotte, the Texas Stars are in the Calder Cup semifinals but they have more of their team under contract than the Panthers. And after next season they have to deal with Jason Robertson and Thomas Harley, both of whom will have arbitration rights.
 
So given our abundance of assets we’re in good position to work out a trade. They can’t afford keep all their toys so we can trade them some future toys in exchange.
 
andyt said:
Jim Nill will have to get creative in Dallas. They have just under $5 million available and only 16 players under contract, 8 forwards, 6 dmen and 2 goalies. They have $1.8 million in dead money from Ryan Suter’s buyout and bonus overages. Like Charlotte, the Texas Stars are in the Calder Cup semifinals but they have more of their team under contract than the Panthers. And after next season they have to deal with Jason Robertson and Thomas Harley, both of whom will have arbitration rights.
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I just posted a post motem on the Stars in the NHL thread, and I almost ... almost ... started to feel sorry for them by the end. And then I didn't. They can eff off with all the free passes they get for achieving arguably less than Carolina, who gets bashed for their approach all the freaking time. Screw Dallas and their over-rated GM.
 
andyt said:
The Panthers fans sitting next to us last night are convinced that Bennett wants to go to Toronto.

Rossi is listed at 5’9”. If you think the top 6 needs to get bigger, he’s not your man. Vilardi and McTacish have decent size. Nelson will be 34 when the season starts.
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Yeah, I don't see Rossi as a fit here. His commitment to defense wasn't sufficient for the Wild, so imagine how that would go over in Raleigh. Vilardi is interesting and he came up in a Kings system that's not miles away from what the Canes do. I like McTavish and you can almost talk yourself into believing that he finally found his scoring this season ... almost. I'm afraid he's just KK with more of a physical edge though. I could see a Geekie return being far more than the usual recycling project. He was very highly thought of here and really found his game in heavy usage in Boston. He also kept plowing when things got ugly there, which is a big plus. Speaking of returns, if Florida wants to make some space and decides to move Luostarinen I hope we'd be in there for him as well. He's the one I wished had never gotten away.

Bottom line ... there are some non-UFA possibilities at center. In the UFA pile you're probably looking at Tavares and Nelson ... and I guess Giroux. Maybe you could eake a couple of years out of Tavares or Nelson, (both of whom offer a skill set Carolina is lacking, albeit in different ways) but Giroux looks close to cooked. Bennett, as hard as it is to say, would be a great fit but most people say he's game for the Leafs. Others of note would be Duchene (bad fit IMO) and and Granlund (great fit, especially if he can maintain his resurgence). Aside from Bennett the problem is going to be term, not AAV. Plus, guys in their mid-30s may not be up for the sheer amount on cardio work it takes to play Canes hockey.
 
Sitting here going ready for my surgery catching up on all these post mortems and what we need posts, so I thought I’d chime in with my uninformed opinion. I’d love Bennett and Toronto can’t sign every player in the league regardless of what they think. Overpay a little and get him in Raleigh. I also like the Geekie idea. Not really feeling Granlund. I think his ‘resurgence’ in San Jose and Dallas was a mirage. Not sure he’ll be as good in the future. But there aren’t many great options out there so you may have to bite the bullet and take a chance.
 
I made the same point about Luostrarinen on Bluesky a few weeks ago. Cory Lavalette pointed out that KK has outproduced him over his 4 years here, 54 goals, 78 assists to 47 goals, 73 assists for Luostarinen. But he plays with a physical edge that KK doesn’t, even though they’re the same size. So I’m not sure what problem he solves
 
Fayettenamcanesfan said:
Sitting here going ready for my surgery catching up on all these post mortems and what we need posts, so I thought I’d chime in with my uninformed opinion. I’d love Bennett and Toronto can’t sign every player in the league regardless of what they think. Overpay a little and get him in Raleigh. I also like the Geekie idea. Not really feeling Granlund. I think his ‘resurgence’ in San Jose and Dallas was a mirage. Not sure he’ll be as good in the future. But there aren’t many great options out there so you may have to bite the bullet and take a chance.
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Heal up quickly!
 
andyt said:
I made the same point about Luostrarinen on Bluesky a few weeks ago. Cory Lavalette pointed out that KK has outproduced him over his 4 years here, 54 goals, 78 assists to 47 goals, 73 assists for Luostarinen. But he plays with a physical edge that KK doesn’t, even though they’re the same size. So I’m not sure what problem he solves
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Loustarinen would be a legit Staal replacement. Even Brind'Amour would ease off on Staal's usage if he had Louie to center his checking line. There's maybe 5 or 6 guys in the league that could move that needle, but they move almost as infrequently as centers who can carry a scoring line. If Rod had any faith in KK, I'd say it's past time to hand 3rd line duties over to him and let Staal ease off his minutes, which would be a win/win for everyone. He doesn't ... and probably shouldn't ... so a guy like Louie might ease that transition. And make no mistake. While we all sit here and tinker with big guys and scorers, the fact that Staal is slowing down and that his coach doesn't see it, or at least doesn't adjust the usage like he sees it, is probably a bigger issue.
 
And look guys. We do this every summer, but keep in mind that there's no one perfect player on the market. And by "no one" I mean NOBODY is going to make everybody here 100% happy. The question is the same question Tulsky talks about. Does the move make the team better? Generally, that's going to take the full picture and a bit of a nod to sometime beyond the current moment. Just sayin'
 
Sam Bennett is going to get paid way more than he should if he decided to enter the open market. Staying in Florida, even with no state income tax, is going to require he leave a substantial amount of money on the table.

Until Bennett is signed elsewhere, I expect that the Canes will be included on the list of every pundit discussing landing destinations for Bennett. Isn't he exactly what the Canes need? Some snarl? A bit of size (smaller than KK but plays 'bigger'). A bit stinky at faceoffs (46%) but otherwise an ideal 2nd line center who would bring 'intangibles' that the Canes almost completely lack.

The Canes would probably have to be high bidder to get Bennett as an open market UFA....a battle we are unlikely to be willing to win.

In addition to the Canes being linked to Sam Bennett, I expect to hear a whole lot of talk about the Canes revisiting a trade for Elias Pettersson. Now I STILL don't want anything to do with Petterson, I don't think he really fixes much of anything for the Canes and he is another 'soft' player. But there is going to be chatter about the Canucks rebuilding and Petterson probably can be had if the Canes believe he could return to 100 point form.

KK cannot return next season. Buyout or a trade, one or the other. Took a shot, missed. Move on please.

I expect the Canes to be mostly active via the trade market. I'm not quite sure we will weaponize our cap space via offer sheets, but if we elect to throw a few of those out there, certainly Gabe Vilardi would be interesting...although he hasn't played center much. There will be a few suggestions that we would offer sheet Matthew Knies and Morgan Geekie too. I'm not saying we should do that, but you know you are going to read someone suggesting that.

Orlov looked more cooked to me than Burns did this season. I would rather not have either of them back, but if I had to choose 1 I would take Burns back for small money, mostly because it doesn't look like Scott Morrow is ready to take on that NHL spot, whereas Nikishin SHOULD be able to take over Orlov's spot and be solid there. But I agree that the issue with a Burns return is that he would go right into that #1 RHD slot with Slavin.

My prediction for the offseason is that the Canes don't land any 'Big name' UFA forward. No Marner, Granlund, Tavares, Bennett, Duchene, Ehlers, Nelson, Boeser, etc. IF we are going to make a UFA splash signing, it will be a Dman, like Provorov or Ekblad or Gavrikov. MAYBE we mess around a bit in the offer sheet space. I suspect that we will swing a sizable trade that none of us will see coming that will involve our top 6 forward mix.
 
Again, I'd take Burns back on a 1 year deal in a heartbeat if the coach would promise to put him on the 3rd pairing and keep him the hell away from the power play. I have all confidence in Burns' ability to hold his own in 15-16 minutes of sheltered usage. I have zero confidence in Brind'Amour to actually do that. Thus, the old fella's gotta go. Not sure Orlov is going to leave it up to the Canes anyway. There's been rumors linking him to CSKA since January. They need the star power and have the cash.

And yeah, I absolutely could see the Canes shifting to defense in the UFA market and trying to address their forward needs in the trade market. To that end, you might see them make some moves at or near the draft as teams look to clear the decks for their own stupid offers. To your point about them doing something nobody sees coming ... yup, That is the way.
 
Svech and a 1st for Tage Thompson?

After the way DeBoer treated Otter last night, send the firsts that we got for Rantanen back to them for Otter. (Originally suggested by Polarbare on Bluesky)
 
andyt said:
Svech and a 1st for Tage Thompson?

After the way DeBoer treated Otter last night, send the firsts that we got for Rantanen back to them for Otter. (Originally suggested by Polarbare on Bluesky)
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I'd love to keep those two 1sts in 2026, but would offer them this year's 1st in a package for Otter in a heartbeat. This draft is kind of mushy and ill defined, but next summer's looks like one of those you want to stay in if you can.

And yes, if you could pry Thompson out of Buffalo, I think he'll thrive in his next stop ... so long as it's somewhere with a stable organization. I could absolutely see Carolina leveraging Svech's relatively strong playoff performance on the market. A LOT of their offensive problems go away if you could rely on Svech to be the guy he was in the first two rounds. You can't, sadly, but plenty of NHL GMs think it's the Canes' system that's holding him back. It ain't, but we don't need to broadcast that
 
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cmon3 said:
Burns looked better than Orlov because of Slavin. Probably the best roster improvement move we could make is get a d partner for Slavin that he doesn’t have to cover for all the time. Just how good could he be.
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Burns was NOT better than Orlov during the regular season nor the playoffs.
 
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