After busy start, Hurricanes’ summer has quieted down. Which isn’t the same as quiet
After an unusually busy start to July, rumors continue to fly but the Carolina Hurricanes have gone quiet. Since signing Brendan Lemieux on July 11, a coda to their flurry of signings and re-signings to start the month, the Hurricanes’ roster has remained unchanged.
It’s likely to stay that way for a while.
The proposed trade to reacquire Tony DeAngelo was first blocked by the NHL over cap-circumvention concerns and then put on the back burner when the Hurricanes were able to land Dmitri Orlov on the first day of free agency. DeAngelo has since been bought out by the Philadelphia Flyers and is now a free agent, but the Hurricanes have not spoken to his agent, general manager Don Waddell said Monday — which, all things considered, would probably be for the best.
As for the bigger names, the Hurricanes’ interest in free agent Vladimir Tarasenko has cooled and while they continue to monitor the situation surrounding Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson in San Jose, their cap situation makes that a difficult deal to complete — unless they make another trade first. Which, given their contract situation on defense, is a distinct possibility.
But all of that other business is considerably less pressing, which means the pace isn’t likely to pick up anytime soon.
That includes finalizing an eight-year contract extension with Sebastian Aho as well as making decisions on players like Brett Pesce, Brady Skjei and Teuvo Teravainen heading into the final year of their contracts. It seems neither likely nor prudent the Hurricanes would go into the season with all three still in that limbo, but any resolution — either via trade or contract extension — is not yet facing any time pressure.
“I don’t think anything’s going to happen quickly, that’s for sure,” Waddell said. “Not the way it’s being portrayed. You learn dealing with players, there’s no urgency. We’re three months, two months away from starting the season. There’s no urgency on anybody’s part just yet.”
Which isn’t to say the Hurricanes couldn’t make other moves. While Waddell said they’re content with their forward situation — having re-signed Jordan Staal and Jesper Fast and added Michael Bunting and Lemieux — with Jack Drury as one of their four centers. They would consider adding a defenseman for future depth, even with a stacked top-six and Dylan Coghlan as the seventh, as long as Jalen Chatfield, Coghlan, Pesce and Skjei are all on expiring contracts.
But that’s the way the Hurricanes usually operate, working the margins looking for depressed assets and distressed sellers, waiting out the market. Even this free-agent sort-of frenzy, while uncharacteristic, wasn’t actually out of character. Paying more for Orlov on a two-year deal weaponized their available short-term cap space, something they’ve excelled at doing.
It was all a nice piece of business to start the summer — making the NHL’s deepest defense deeper, signing a player who addresses multiple needs (goal-scoring, orneriness) in Bunting, re-upping the goalie tandem at a reasonable price and bringing back Fast.
Of course, now they’ve essentially spent that surplus cap space, which means they’re going to have to subtract to add. And that, given the situation with the expiring contracts on defense, is certainly a possibility. Maybe just not immediately.
“We’ve talked about some other things,” Waddell said. “Again, we have an owner who would spend $100 million if he could, but the cap only went up $1 million this year.”
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This story was originally published July 17, 2023 at 5:26 PM with the headline "After busy start, Hurricanes’ summer has quieted down. Which isn’t the same as quiet."
