The way too early "Takeaway from Carolina's success?" thread

[NotCommitted]

It’s a Daver thread

Yeah I wasn't replying to the thread I thought I was it seems

 

[PaulD]

Madden had 16 points. Aho would have to have one of the best final performances of all time to overtake him. Closest 1C to win the cup is Yzerman in 97 with just 13 points, so Aho needs 7 points in the finals to not be the worst 1C to win the cup. That's not going to happen...

If it goes 7 . ...it's a slight possibility.
But I tend to agree with you.

 

[PaulD]

Im sorry, their competition was tough in the 3rd round? Lul

No there competition was not tough. That might be more relevant if they had close series's with those teams. But 2 sweeps, and a 5 gamer..The knights, aves or Wild could not have done it any quicker.
So the Canes did what any great team is suppose to do.......1.Destroy the weaker teams. 2. End them quickly.

 

[FiveTacos]

The takeaway is that even if you don't draft a superstar, there's another path to contention. So "we weren't lucky enough to land an elite 1c in the lottery," is not an excuse for other teams to suck.

 

[Unsustainable]

Players have to buy in 100% with the system and each other.

 

[Rorschach]

Meh, a good part of the compelling part of that Kings team was that they were the 8th seed doing all of that. Much less compelling to have the #1 team in the conference put up a similar performance.

That's part of it yes. The fact that they dominated the 1, 2 and 3 teams is also compelling.

 

[Rorschach]

The takeaway is that even if you don't draft a superstar, there's another path to contention. So "we weren't lucky enough to land an elite 1c in the lottery," is not an excuse for other teams to suck.

Anaheim proved that with 2x #1Ds instead.

 

[FiveTacos]

Anaheim proved that with 2x #1Ds instead.

NJ did it as well, multiple Cups in fact, with a deep roster of really good forwards, a great D, and of course a goalie who could make it stick.

 

[Rorschach]

NJ did it as well, multiple Cups in fact, with a deep roster of really good forwards, a great D, and of course a goalie who could make it stick.

While true, that was a different era pre-salary cap/lockout.

 

[superstars]

NJ did it as well, multiple Cups in fact, with a deep roster of really good forwards, a great D, and of course a goalie who could make it stick.

who is today's Getzlaf equivalent on the center ranking list? not stylistically

 

[FiveTacos]

who is today's Getzlaf equivalent on the center ranking list? not stylistically

The year they won? He was a 58 point 2nd year kid, promising but certainly not a stud 1C yet.

He did do well in the playoffs though.

 

[Hockeyholic]

They have been successful thus far. But they can't lose this series. Better team. Home ice. Lots of momentum. Everything is in their favor.

Losing this series would be devastating for the franchise. Look at the 2019 Bruins. Had a clear path to the SCF with Washington & TB out of the way. End up losing in 7 to a team they were better than. I don't think they ever recovered.

 

[superstars]

The year they won? He was a 58 point 2nd year kid, promising but certainly not a stud 1C yet.

He did do well in the playoffs though.

in his prime. where do you think he would rank among today's centers? somewhere in the top 10 i'm guessing, above Point

 

[WarriorofTime]

Carolina was bad for quite some time, but somewhat unexpectedly didn't just do the usual trick of hit a few top of the draft type selections, get a core and get good, the way it 'typically' goes. Theirs is a bit more unusual. They did get some building block pieces via the Draft, just not where you'd expect. Slavin (Number 1 Defenseman) and Aho (Number 1 Center) were a 4th round pick in 2012 and 2nd round pick in 2015, respectively. Those have been their consistent foundational players throughout their run and players most difficult to replace when gone. But they are otherwise a somewhat difficult team to try and primary source as you trace their journey through the years.

As early as 2009-10 when Carolina misses the Playoffs, they start acquiring a bunch of 2nd/3rd round picks. They use their 1st round pick (7th) on Jeff Skinner and their own 2nd round pick on Justin Faulk. Funny enough they use a 7th round pick on Frederik Andersen, who they don't sign and he ended up back in draft going to Anaheim (and then subsequently Toronto and 11 years later, ends up in Carolina).

2010-11 comes around, Carolina misses Playoffs again. They make a trade in May, irrelevant in a vacuum, they trade a 5th round pick to Phoenix for Jared Staal. It's a win for Phoenix because Jared Staal is a recent 2nd round pick who flops in his pro rookie year, spending much of it in the ECHL. Carolina essentially throws away a pick for the brother of their best player. Keep this in mind. They start dealing some of their excess picks acquired previously for "buy low" candidates, recent high-ish picks that aren't doing well like Riley Nash and Bobby Sanguinetti. They sign Anton Babchuk from the KHL, use him to get Ian White from the Flames and re-flip him for a 2nd round pick. They got into the draft and take a popular pick in Ryan Murphy (BUST) in their 1st, and grab Victor Rask in the 2nd.

Now onto 2011-12. Another bad season. Fairly uneventful season. Erik Cole is signed away as a Free Agent. Tomas Fairly uneventful season, get a couple of 4ths for Joe Corvo and Alexi Ponikarovsky. Evgenii Dadonov briefly passes through after his Florida years but goes to KHL. Come draft time, they make the big move, they traded their 1st round pick (7th overall), young NHLer Brandon Sutter. and a former 2nd round pick Brian Dumoulin for Jordan Staal. Seldom has a Top 10 pick for a 24 year old worked out so well. It's basically the dream scenario everyone wishes for in these cases. The guy you get for 10-15 years that's already proven for a mystery box. Rarely does it work out so well. Why does it work out here? Perhaps in no small part because they have Eric Staal and in perhaps not irrelevant, they also have the "fourth Staal" brother in the organization. Staal (a year removed from UFA) instantly commits to a 10-year extension, removing any shadow of a doubt of his long-term commmitment and becoming a building block player. So still, no 1st round pick, but they still have a couple of 2nds, they grab Phillip Di Giuseppe and Brock McGinn. And of course most critically of all, in a D Man heavy draft towards the top with a whole bunch of nobodies that went high off the board, all the way in the 4th round, they draft a little known player named Jaccob Slavin.

Onto 2012-13, they sign Alex Semin for exactly one year at a $7 million price tag, who goes PPG. They extend Jeff Skinner (2010 1st) for 6 years. And still again, they miss the Playoffs now for a fourth straight year. It's otherwise another fairly low event season in terms of activity. After the reason, they move out their 2nd round pick and 25 year old Jamie McBain (draft pick seven years prior) for 27 year old Andrej Sekera. They draft 5th overall (highest they've held), and take Elias Lindholm. From other activity, they only hold a single 3rd, 5th and 6th in the rest of the draft, and use the third round pick to select Brett Pesce. They extend Semin for 5 years.

Now onto 2013-14, they sign Ron Hainsey in Free Agency, extend Justin Faulk for 6 years. During the season they trade long standing Tim Gleason (acquired seven years earlier) for John-Michael Liles, but then re-sign Gleason in the offseason. And they miss the Playoffs for a fifth straight year. Another longstanding player, Tuomo Ruuttu is sent out at the deadline for a 3rd round pick and a guy that goes back to the KHL after the year. Onto the draft, where they have their picks (minus a 6th) and only excess pick is an additional 4th. They use their 7th overall to draft a bust, Haydn Fleury. They use their 2nd to grab goalie Alex Nedeljkovic and their 3rd to grab Warren Foegele, along with one of the 4ths on Lucas Wallmark.

At this point, 5 straight missed playoffs resulted in the following 1st round picks: Jeff Skinner, Ryan Murphy, N/A, Elias Lindholm, Haydn Fleury.

2014-15. New General Manager, Jim Rutherford is out, and Ron Francis (who worked in the org since 2011) is now the GM. Nothing of note on the Free Agency front. Low event season again. Jay Harrison gets moved for a 6th, Jiri Tlusty for a 3rd and a 6th. Tim Gleason traded again for a 4th round pick. Bigger move is they get a first (that turns into a 2016 1st) along with Roland McKeown for Andrej Sekera. Again Hurricanes miss Playoffs, now six straight times. Come Draft time, Carolina is picking 5th overall. They use it to pick Defenseman Noah Hanifin. With their 2nd round pick, they draft a center named Sebastian Aho. This year, it's a stacked draft, but wow, incredible that he's still on the board at 35. They have two fourths and use on to acquire Nicolas Roy. And they use a 7th on Steven Lorentz.

2015-16 now. 3-year extension for Slavin, 2-year extension for Lindholm. Semin is bought out. Another low event free agency period. Trade front sees Joakim Nordstrom and Kris Versteeg brought in as a cap dump (and get paid difference of a 3rd and a 5th), Versteeg later that season flipped for Valentin Zykov and a 5th. A 3rd and 7th go out the door for Goalie Eddie Lack. They get a 3rd and a 5th for John-Michael Liles. And towards the deadline, we see the departure of long-time Franchise Legend, Eric Staal, four years after acquiring his brother to play together, as he goes to the Rangers for a prospect and two 2nd round picks (and Carolina retaining on his deal). But alas, now a 7th straight missed playoffs. Draft, Carolina is picking 13th after three prior years picking top 10. At the draft, the trade a 2nd round pick and 3rd round pick for 22-year old Teuvo Teravainen and also the cap dump of Bryan Pickell. They take Jake Bean 13th overall. The pick they got from the Kings (21st) they use on Julien Gauthier. They use a 2nd on Janne Kuokkanen and nothing else despite having excess picks.

Now it's 2016-17. They sign Lee Stempniak, Victor Stalberg (who they flip for a 3rd round pick at the deadline). And that's about it. They also trade Ron Hainsey at the deadline for a 2nd round pick. And low and behold, 8th straight missed playoffs. After the season, they traded a 3rd for Goaltender Scott Darling's negotiating rights and extended him. Picking 12th this time, they snag Martin Necas. Two 2nds and two 3rd, they grab Eetu Luostarinen with one of the 2nds and they grab Morgan Geekie with one of the 3rds. They trade a 5th to the Knights so they take Connor Brickley in the expnasion draft. They traded a 2nd to the Knights for Trevor van Riemsdyk.

2017-18 now. They traded the Knights a 5th for Marcus Kruger. They sign old favorite Justin Williams in Free Agency. They extend Jaccob Slavin for 7 years at $5.3 million AAV. And they miss the Playoffs for now the 9th straight time.

Tom Dundon becomes the Majority Owner in January of 2018. Ron Francis is let go. Don Waddell becomes General Manager. Franchise Legend Rod Brind'Amour is hired as the Head Coach. A new era dawns. The Draft Lottery takes place, and Carolina catches a lucky break moving from 11th up to 2nd. Marcus Kruger is traded along with a 4th round pick for Jordan Martinook and a 3rd round pick. They use the 2nd overall on Andrei Svechnikov and grab Jack Drury in the 2nd round. At the draft, they trade two former 5th overall picks - Elias Lindholm and Noah Hanifin, to Calary for Dougie Hamilton, Micheal Ferland and the negotiating rights to Adam Fox (that April, knowing they won't sign Fox they trade him to his preferred destination New York for a 2nd and a 3rd, completing the total package). In August, they trade longtime stalwart Jeff Skinner for a prospect, a 2nd, a 3rd, and a 6th.

2018-19 season, they sign Petr Mrazek and allow longtime Franchise stalwart Cam Ward to go. They sign Calvin de Haan for 4 years. The 21 year old Sebastian Aho is given the keys to become the 1st line center. They have a top 6 defense all between ages 24-27 (Jaccob Slavin, Justin Faulk, Brett Pesce, Dougie Hamilton, Calvin de Haan, and Trevor van Riemsdyk). During the season, they trade Victor Rask for Nino Niederreiter. With Coach Rod's system and a young roster (only over 27 year olds on roster are the grizzled vet Justin Williams, 30 year old Jordan Staal, and backup goalie Curtis McElhinney, they do something they've never done in quite some time.. they improve by 16 points and make the Playoffs. Teuvo Teravainen is extended for 5 years during the season. Come postseason, they defeat the defending champion Capitals (5 points better in standings) in 7 games, they sweep the Islanders (who were 4 points better in standings). But they're ultimately outclassed and swept by Boston in the Conference Finals. What's interesting and unique is that despite making the Conference Finals, Carolina enters the 2019 Draft loaded with draft capital. They hold onto their own 1st, have two 2nds, three 3rds, two 4ths, a 5th, two 6ths and a 7th. Their now very late 1st is used on Ryan Suzuki, they grab goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov and Jamieson Rees with their 2nds.

2019-20 season, high off the surprise conference finals. And they are active. The Leafs trade the Hurricanes Patrick Marleau and attach a 2020 1st round pick. The Hurricanes buyout Marleau. They trade Calvin de Haan to Chicago for Gustav Forsling (who signs a 2-way contract and plays in AHL). They trade Nicolas Roy and a 5th to Vegas for Erik Haula. They sign college free agent Chase Priskie after he is unsigned by the Capitals. They let Micheal Ferland walk in Free Agency. They trade away Scott Darling for James Reimer and a 6th, and extend Petr Mrazek. They match Montreal's offer sheet and extend Sebastian Aho for 5 years at $8.454 AAV. Sign Ryan Dzingel in free agency, extend Brock McGinn. Sign Jake Gardiner for 4 years in free agency. Then big trade, they move out another stalwart in Justin Faulk (who extends in St. Louis) for one year remaining on contract Joel Edmundsson, prospect Dominik Bokk (2018 1st rounder) and a 7th. At the trade deadline, it's a big one. Julien Gauthier is sent away for a prospect. Big trade - they acquire Vincent Trocheck for Erik Haula, Lucas Wallmark, Chase Priskie Eetu Luostarinen. From the Devils, they acquire Deadline Rental Sami Vatanen for Janne Kuokkanen, AHLer Frederik Claesson, and a 3rd. The New York Rangers trade them Defenseman Brady Skjei for a 1st round pick (the lesser of Toronto or Carolina's at Carolina's discretion). The season is impacted by the COVID-19 stoppage. The Hurricanes finish roughly similar in the regular season as the prior year with 81 points in 68 games. 6th in the East, they defeat the Rangers 3-0 in the Play-In round, but again they meet Boston and again, they fall way short, being defeated in 5 games. The games are close, but the series score is not. The Leafs do worse so the Canes convey their own 1st round pick (22nd overall), and retain the Leafs pick at 13th. They trade Joel Edmundsson's UFA negotiating rights to Montreal for a 5th round pick. Again, the Canes have decent draft capital despite being a Playoff team, holding the 13th pick, two 2nds, a 3rd, a 4th, a 6th and two 7ths. With the Leafs pick, they select Seth Jarvis. They use the 2nds on Noah Gunler and Vasili Ponomaryov, use a 3rd on Russian Defenseman Alexander Nikishin, a 6th on Lucas Mercuri, and a 7th on Ronan Seeley.

And we're onto 2020-21. Lower activity season. Justin Williams calls it a career and retires. The Canes sign Jesper Fast to a 3-year UFA deal. Re-sign Warren Foegele for 1 year. COVID results in a shortened season and temporary divisions. They lose Gustav Forsling off Waivers to Florida. During the season, they trade Ryan Dzingel to Ottawa for Cedric Paquette and Alex Galchenyuk then flip Galchenyuk to Toronto. They trade Clark Bishop for Maxim Lajoie. They trade Haydn Fleury for deadline rental Jani Hakanpaa and a 6th round pick. The Canes finish in 1st place in a re-vamped Central Division with a much improved 80 points in 56 games. 25 year old Goalie Alex Nedeljkovic finished 3rd in the Calder voting. In the first round, they dispose of Nashville in 6 games. But in the next round, they run into the defending champion Lightning (working with an extra $9 million in cap due to LTIR) and are knocked out in 5 games. At the draft, Canes trade Alex Nedeljkovic for Jonathan Bernier and a 3rd ronder. They trade Jake Bean for a 2nd rounder. They execute a bunch of trade-downs of draft picks and end up a total of 13 selections.. with three 2nds, two 3rds, a 4th, two 5ths, two 6ths and three sevenths. They take Scott Morrow, Aleksi Heimosalmni and Ville Koivunen in the 2nd. They use a 3rd on Aiden Hreschuk. They grab Jackson Blake in the 4th round. Justin Robidas in the 5th round. Joel Nystrom in the 7th round.

2021-22 season. Morgan Geekie is claimed by Seattle in the expansion draft. They trade Warren Foegele to Edmonton for Ethan Bear. It's a busy free agent period in and out the door. They let Dougie Hamilton go who signs a 7-year deal with New Jersey. Two other goalies sign away - Petr Mrazek and James Reimer. Brock McGinn signs a 4 year deal in Pittsburgh. Cedric Paquette signs in Montreal. To make up for the lost goaltenders, the Canes sign Frederik Andersen for 2 years at $4.5 million AAV, Antti Raanta for 2 years at $2 million AAV and Alex Lyon for a league minimum deal. They sign Ian Cole to a 1 year deal. They sign Tony DeAngelo to a 1 year deal. They sign Stefan Noesen to a 1-year deal. They sign Derek Stepan for a 1-year deal. They sign Brendan Smith to a 1-year deal. They also sign a little known defenseman named Jalen Chatfield from Vancouver on a league minimum 1-year deal. On the housekeeping front, they extend Jordan Martinook for 3 years. They sign Andrei Svechnikov, coming off his ELC, to an 8-year extension at $7.75 million AAV. And before the season starts, they sign Jesper Kotkaniemi to a 1-year offer sheet at $6.1 million AAV that goes unmatched by Montreal. The Habs get a 1st and 3rd in offer sheet compensation. The divisions are back to normal along with the season length. During the season, the Canes give Jalen Chatfield a 2-year extension. At the Trade Deadline, the Canes bring in deadline rental Max Domi as part of a 3-team swap for Aiden Hreschuk and a 6th round pick. The Canes extend Jesper Kotkaniemi for 8 years at $4.82 million AAV. Another great regular season sees the Canes finish 1st in the Metro with an impressive 116 points. This time they defeat the Bruins in a hard-fought 7 game series. However, in the next round, they lose the Rangers in a 7 game series, coming up short once again. At the draft, no 1st round pick this time, they hold a 2nd used to take Gleb Trikozov, a 3rd used to take Alexander Perevalov, two 4ths used to take Simons Forsmark and Cruz Lucius, a 5th, a 6th and a 7th.

2022-23 season. They trade Tony DeAngelo's RFA rights to Philadelphia for a 4th in 2022, a 3rd in 2023 and a 2nd in 2024. The Hurricanes trade for Brent Burns and Lane Pedersen in exchange for Steven Lorentz, Eetu Makiniemi and a 3rd. From the Knights they receive Max Paccioretty and Dylan Coghlan for future considerations. In free agency, they lose Ian Cole, Max Domi, Alex Lyon, and Brendan Smith. Nino Niederreiter is signed away to Nashville. They also lose a big player in free agency in Vincent Trochek who signs a 7-year deal with the Rangers. They sign Ondrej Kase to a 1-year deal who goes on LTIR for concussion issues after one game. They sign MacKenzie MacEachern for league minimum. They sign Paul Stastny for 1-year at $1.5 million. They bring back Calvin de Haan on a 1-year deal. On housekeeping, they extend Stefan Noesen for 2 years at the minimum. They sign Ethan Bear to 1 year/$2.2 million. Sign Maxim Lajoie to 1 year at the minimum. They extend Martin Necas for 2 years on a bridge deal at $3 million AAV. They bring back Derek Stepan for 1 year. As season kicks off, they trade Ethan Bear and Lane Pedersen for a 5th round pick. They extend Pyotr Kochetkov for 4 years at $2 million AAV. At the trade deadline, they acquire Jesse Puljujarvi for a European prospect. They add Shayne Gostisbehere for a 3rd round pick. Another strong season, Canes finish 1st in the Metro again, this time with 113 points. In the Playoffs, they beat the Islanders in 6 games in the first round. In the 2nd round, they beat the Devils in 5 games to reach their first Conference Finals since 2019. However, in the Conference Finals, they are swept by Florida, despite all the games being close, ending the season on a disappointing note. Carolina at the Draft, and again despite making the Conference Finals, holds a 1st, 2nd, 3rd, two 4ths, two 5ths, two 6ths and a 7th. They use the 1st on Bradley Nadeau, 2nd on Felix Unger Sorum, 3rd on Jayden Perron, 5 of their other 7 picks on Russians and a 5th on Charles Alexis-Legault.

Now it's 2023-24, they extend Jordan Staal for 4 years at $2.9 AAV. They extend Frederik Andersen for 2 years at $3.4 million AAV. They re-sign Jesper Fast for 2 years at $2.4 million AAV and Antti Raanta for 1 year at $1.5 million. In Free Agency, they lose all of Maxim Lajoie, Mackenzie McEachern, Max Paccioretty, Calvin de Haan and Shayne Gostisbehere to 1-year deals. Derek Stepan retires. In Free Agency, they add Michael Buntin for 3 years at $4.5 million AAV. They also add Dmitry Orlov for 2 years at $7.75 million AAV. They sign Brendan Lemiux for 1 year at the minimum. They sign Caleb Jones for 1 year at the minimum then trade him to Colorado before the season for Cal Burke. They bring back Tony DeAngelo (after he is bought out by Philadelphia) for 1 year at $1.675 million. They extend Dylan Coghlan for 1 year at the minimum. The Canes extend Sebastian Aho for 8 years at $9.75 million. They acquire the rights to David Kase for Massimo Rizzo and a 5th round pick. During the season, they pick up Goaltender Spencer Martin off waivers. They have an active Trade Deadline. They act as a broker in an Ilya Lyubushkin to Toronto deal to get a 6th. They trade the Leafs a college prospect for another 6th. The Canes make a big move, acquiring deadline rental Jake Guentzel from Pittsburgh for Michael Bunting, Vasilily Ponomarev, Ville Koivunen, Cruz Lucius and a 2nd round pick. They also acquire Evgeny Kuznetsov for a 3rd round pick. They trade Jamieson Rees to Ottawa for a 6th. Carolina ends the season strong again, with 111 points, although this time in 2nd in the Metro. They dispose of the Islanders in 5 games. However, they are unable to reach the Conference Finals, falling in the 2nd round to the Rangers in 6 games. Following the season, Don Waddell resigns as President and GM. The Canes replace him internally with Assistant GM and long-time analytics guru, Eric Tulsky as GM. At the Draft, Carolina trades down from the 1st and does another trade down of a late 2nd, and ends up 2 seconds, a 3rd, a 4th, two 5ths, three 6ths and a 7th. They draft Dominik Badinka and Nikita Artamonov in the 2nd, Noel Fransen in the 3rd, use 5 of their remaining 7 picks on Russians, and also take Justin Poirier in the 5th.

For 2024-25, the Canes re-sign Jalen Chatfield for 3-years at $3.025 million AAV. They also give a 1 year extension to Ryan Suzuki, and sign 1 year deal league minimum deal with Ty Smith. Unable to reach a deal, they traded Jake Guentzel's UFA negotiating rights to Tampa Bay for a 3rd round pick. They trade Dylan Coghlan to Winnipeg for Future Considerations. They lose a number of players in Free Agency. Stefan Noesen signs for 3 years in New Jersey, Brett Pesce signs for 6 years in New Jersey, Brady Skjei signs for 7 years in Nashville and Teuvo Teravainen signs for 3 years in Chicago. Cal Burke also signs for 1 year in Las Vegas, and Evgeny Kuznetsov, Antti Raanta and Tony DeAngelo all go to Europe. They replace them with their own signings. In Free Agency, Carolina signs back Shayne Gostisbehere for 3 years at $3.2 million AAV. They sign William Carrier for 6 years at $2 million AAV. They sign Sean Walker for 5 years at $3.6 million AAV. They sign Tyson Jost and Riley Stillman to 1 year deals at the minimum. The Canes sign Jack Roslovic for 1 year at $2.8 million. They also sign Josiah Slavin and Joakim Ryan to 2-way deals. In terms of housekeeping, the extend Jordan Martinook for 3 years $3.075 million AAV. They commit to a new 8-year term with Jaccob Slavin at $6.4 million AAV. They re-sign Jack Drury for 2 years at $1.725 million. The Canes and Martin Necas sign another 2 year extension, this time at $6.5 million AAV. Finally, before the season the extend Seth Jarvis for 8 years at $7.42 million. During the season, they terminate the contract of Brendan Lemieux. In late January, the Canes make a monster move and in a 3-team deal they acquire pending free agent Mikko Rantanen, Taylor Hall and Nils Juntorp for Martin Necas, Jack Drury, a 2nd, a 3rd, and a 4th. After only 6 weeks and only 13 games, with the deadline looming, the Canes decide they will likely not re-sign Mikko Rantanen and that his play doesn't fit their system very well. Rather than hang onto him, they trade Rantanen to Dallas for Logan Stankoven, two 1sts and two 3rd. Combining the two deals the effect is (out: Martin Necas, Jack, Drury, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and in: Logan Stankoven, Taylor Hall, Nils Juntorp, 1st, 1st, 3rd, 3rd.. plus 13 games of Rantanen). Also at the deadline, the acquire Mark Jankowski for a 5th round pick, and trade Lucas Mecuri for a 6th round pick. Before the season, KHL prospect Alexander Nikishin signs a 2 year ELC following the conclusion of his KHL season. The Canes extend Taylor Hall for 3 years at $3.167 million AAV and they also extend Frederik Andersen for 1 more year at $2.75 milion. In the standings, Carolina takes a bit of a step back, only finishing this time with 99 points. They are 2nd in the Metro. In the 1st round, they beat the Devils in 5 games. The 2nd round proves no more challenging and they beat the Capitals in 5 games. However, the Conference Finals again proves a roadblock as the Canes are defeated by the Panthers, this time in 5 games. At the Draft, the Canes once again execute more trade down transactions. They end up with three 2nd round picks, two thirds, a sixth and a seventh. They use the 2nds on Semyon Frolov, Charlie Cerrato and Ivan Ryabkin and the remaining picks on more Europeans.

And now that brings us to the current year, 2025-26, the Canes extend Eric Robinson for 4 years at $1.7 million AAV. They sign Finnish Pro Juha Jaaska for a 2 year minimum deal. They acquire Goaltender Cayden Primeau from Montreal for a 7th round pick. They re-sign Logan Stankoven for 8 years at $6 million AAV. In Free Agency, they lose Brent Burns to Colorado, Dmitry Orlov to the Sharks, Riley Stillman to the Oilers, and (eventually) Jack Roslovic to the Oilers. They sign depth defenseman Mike Reilly to a 1 year/$1 million deal. They sign goalie Amir Miftakhov to a 2-way deal. They make a big trade, acquiring Defenseman K'Andre Miller and then extending him for 8 years at $7.5 million AAV, and give up Scott Morrow, a 1st and a 2nd. They make another big move by signing Free Agent Nikolaj Ehlers for 6 years at $8.5 million AAV. They re-sign minor leaguers Noel Gunler, Skyler Brind'Amour, Domenick Fensore, Ronan Seeley and Ryan Suzuki each for 1-year. They also re-sign veteran Tyson Jost to a 2-way deal. They also commit long to another player, and extend Jackson Blake for 8 years at $5.1 million AAV. At the start of the season, Tyson Jost is claimed off Waivers by Nashville and Carolina signs Giovani Smith. Goaltender Cayden Primeau is claimed off Waivers by Toronto (but returned a month later when Toronto waives him back). Carolina also claims Goaltender Brandon Bussi off Waivers from Florida. In December, Carolina extends AHL Defenseman Joel Nystrom on a 4 year deal at $1.225 million AAV. In January, they acquire Depth Defenseman Jusso Valimaki for Future Considerations and acquire Kyle Masters and a 4th round pick in exchange for a 5th round pick. They also acquire AHL forward Viktor Neuchev for Gavin Bayreutcher. In February, they extend Goalie Brandon Bussi for 3 years at $1.9 million AAV. They have a quiet trade deadline, only acquiring Nicolas Deslauriers for a 7th. In May, they extend Mark Jankowski for 2 years at $1.85 million. They finish the season with 113 points, the most in the Eastern Conference. They sweep Ottawa in 4 in the first round. They sweep Philadelphia in the second round to improve to 8-0 and reach their old nemesis the Eastern Conference Finals. This time though, after dropping the first game, they rip off four straight against Montreal and reach the Stanley Cup Final for the third time in their franchise history. And that's where we stand today...




TAKEAWAYS: Constant churn. On the draft pick front, if you ask is Carolina buying or selling draft futures, the answer is "yes". They've mastered the art of the trade down to ensure a consistent highly related prospect pool. But they also treat draft picks as currency, and they use a lot of that currency to account for their current team. So they're basically cycling a lot of picks in and out constantly, and seem to end up every year with 8-12 draft picks while making the Conference Finals. They also have a gift of accepting departures. They don't get too attached to anyone and have seen a lot of players that have provided them a lot of value over the years go. Justin Faulk, Dougie Hamilton, Vincent Trocheck, Brett Pesce, Brady Skjei, Teuvo Teravainen, Jake Guentzel, Brock McGinn, Nino Niederreiter, Petr Mrazek, Mikko Rantanen, it's an impressive list that have come and gone. The reaction seems to be less panic and more "Thank you for service, good luck. Next man up." As an analytic driven front-office, you can tell they aggressively hunt for inefficiencies and compound micro-wins into good value. It's an organization that values sytems over stars, hence why they never seem to have players that rank particularly high on the "best in NHL" list but they're consistently up there in the standings. At this point, the players themselves are more temporary while Brind'Amour/System is the stabilizing piece.

My one-sentence summary of that is the 2025-26 Hurricanes are what happens when an organization combines elite amateur scouting, relentless asset management, emotional detachment from individual players, and a decade-long commitment to process over splashy moves.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Carolina was bad for quite some time, but somewhat unexpectedly didn't just do the usual trick of hit a few top of the draft type selections, get a core and get good, the way it 'typically' goes. Theirs is a bit more unusual. They did get some building block pieces via the Draft, just not where you'd expect. Slavin (Number 1 Defenseman) and Aho (Number 1 Center) were a 4th round pick in 2012 and 2nd round pick in 2015, respectively. Those have been their consistent foundational players throughout their run and players most difficult to replace when gone. But they are otherwise a somewhat difficult team to try and primary source as you trace their journey through the years.

As early as 2009-10 when Carolina misses the Playoffs, they start acquiring a bunch of 2nd/3rd round picks. They use their 1st round pick (7th) on Jeff Skinner and their own 2nd round pick on Justin Faulk. Funny enough they use a 7th round pick on Frederik Andersen, who they don't sign and he ended up back in draft going to Anaheim (and then subsequently Toronto and 11 years later, ends up in Carolina).

2010-11 comes around, Carolina misses Playoffs again. They make a trade in May, irrelevant in a vacuum, they trade a 5th round pick to Phoenix for Jared Staal. It's a win for Phoenix because Jared Staal is a recent 2nd round pick who flops in his pro rookie year, spending much of it in the ECHL. Carolina essentially throws away a pick for the brother of their best player. Keep this in mind. They start dealing some of their excess picks acquired previously for "buy low" candidates, recent high-ish picks that aren't doing well like Riley Nash and Bobby Sanguinetti. They sign Anton Babchuk from the KHL, use him to get Ian White from the Flames and re-flip him for a 2nd round pick. They got into the draft and take a popular pick in Ryan Murphy (BUST) in their 1st, and grab Victor Rask in the 2nd.

Now onto 2011-12. Another bad season. Fairly uneventful season. Erik Cole is signed away as a Free Agent. Tomas Fairly uneventful season, get a couple of 4ths for Joe Corvo and Alexi Ponikarovsky. Evgenii Dadonov briefly passes through after his Florida years but goes to KHL. Come draft time, they make the big move, they traded their 1st round pick (7th overall), young NHLer Brandon Sutter. and a former 2nd round pick Brian Dumoulin for Jordan Staal. Seldom has a Top 10 pick for a 24 year old worked out so well. It's basically the dream scenario everyone wishes for in these cases. The guy you get for 10-15 years that's already proven for a mystery box. Rarely does it work out so well. Why does it work out here? Perhaps in no small part because they have Eric Staal and in perhaps not irrelevant, they also have the "fourth Staal" brother in the organization. Staal (a year removed from UFA) instantly commits to a 10-year extension, removing any shadow of a doubt of his long-term commmitment and becoming a building block player. So still, no 1st round pick, but they still have a couple of 2nds, they grab Phillip Di Giuseppe and Brock McGinn. And of course most critically of all, in a D Man heavy draft towards the top with a whole bunch of nobodies that went high off the board, all the way in the 4th round, they draft a little known player named Jaccob Slavin.

Onto 2012-13, they sign Alex Semin for exactly one year at a $7 million price tag, who goes PPG. They extend Jeff Skinner (2010 1st) for 6 years. And still again, they miss the Playoffs now for a fourth straight year. It's otherwise another fairly low event season in terms of activity. After the reason, they move out their 2nd round pick and 25 year old Jamie McBain (draft pick seven years prior) for 27 year old Andrej Sekera. They draft 5th overall (highest they've held), and take Elias Lindholm. From other activity, they only hold a single 3rd, 5th and 6th in the rest of the draft, and use the third round pick to select Brett Pesce. They extend Semin for 5 years.

Now onto 2013-14, they sign Ron Hainsey in Free Agency, extend Justin Faulk for 6 years. During the season they trade long standing Tim Gleason (acquired seven years earlier) for John-Michael Liles, but then re-sign Gleason in the offseason. And they miss the Playoffs for a fifth straight year. Another longstanding player, Tuomo Ruuttu is sent out at the deadline for a 3rd round pick and a guy that goes back to the KHL after the year. Onto the draft, where they have their picks (minus a 6th) and only excess pick is an additional 4th. They use their 7th overall to draft a bust, Haydn Fleury. They use their 2nd to grab goalie Alex Nedeljkovic and their 3rd to grab Warren Foegele, along with one of the 4ths on Lucas Wallmark.

At this point, 5 straight missed playoffs resulted in the following 1st round picks: Jeff Skinner, Ryan Murphy, N/A, Elias Lindholm, Haydn Fleury.

2014-15. New General Manager, Jim Rutherford is out, and Ron Francis (who worked in the org since 2011) is now the GM. Nothing of note on the Free Agency front. Low event season again. Jay Harrison gets moved for a 6th, Jiri Tlusty for a 3rd and a 6th. Tim Gleason traded again for a 4th round pick. Bigger move is they get a first (that turns into a 2016 1st) along with Roland McKeown for Andrej Sekera. Again Hurricanes miss Playoffs, now six straight times. Come Draft time, Carolina is picking 5th overall. They use it to pick Defenseman Noah Hanifin. With their 2nd round pick, they draft a center named Sebastian Aho. This year, it's a stacked draft, but wow, incredible that he's still on the board at 35. They have two fourths and use on to acquire Nicolas Roy. And they use a 7th on Steven Lorentz.

2015-16 now. 3-year extension for Slavin, 2-year extension for Lindholm. Semin is bought out. Another low event free agency period. Trade front sees Joakim Nordstrom and Kris Versteeg brought in as a cap dump (and get paid difference of a 3rd and a 5th), Versteeg later that season flipped for Valentin Zykov and a 5th. A 3rd and 7th go out the door for Goalie Eddie Lack. They get a 3rd and a 5th for John-Michael Liles. And towards the deadline, we see the departure of long-time Franchise Legend, Eric Staal, four years after acquiring his brother to play together, as he goes to the Rangers for a prospect and two 2nd round picks (and Carolina retaining on his deal). But alas, now a 7th straight missed playoffs. Draft, Carolina is picking 13th after three prior years picking top 10. At the draft, the trade a 2nd round pick and 3rd round pick for 22-year old Teuvo Teravainen and also the cap dump of Bryan Pickell. They take Jake Bean 13th overall. The pick they got from the Kings (21st) they use on Julien Gauthier. They use a 2nd on Janne Kuokkanen and nothing else despite having excess picks.

Now it's 2016-17. They sign Lee Stempniak, Victor Stalberg (who they flip for a 3rd round pick at the deadline). And that's about it. They also trade Ron Hainsey at the deadline for a 2nd round pick. And low and behold, 8th straight missed playoffs. After the season, they traded a 3rd for Goaltender Scott Darling's negotiating rights and extended him. Picking 12th this time, they snag Martin Necas. Two 2nds and two 3rd, they grab Eetu Luostarinen with one of the 2nds and they grab Morgan Geekie with one of the 3rds. They trade a 5th to the Knights so they take Connor Brickley in the expnasion draft. They traded a 2nd to the Knights for Trevor van Riemsdyk.

2017-18 now. They traded the Knights a 5th for Marcus Kruger. They sign old favorite Justin Williams in Free Agency. They extend Jaccob Slavin for 7 years at $5.3 million AAV. And they miss the Playoffs for now the 9th straight time.

Tom Dundon becomes the Majority Owner in January of 2018. Ron Francis is let go. Don Waddell becomes General Manager. Franchise Legend Rod Brind'Amour is hired as the Head Coach. A new era dawns. The Draft Lottery takes place, and Carolina catches a lucky break moving from 11th up to 2nd. Marcus Kruger is traded along with a 4th round pick for Jordan Martinook and a 3rd round pick. They use the 2nd overall on Andrei Svechnikov and grab Jack Drury in the 2nd round. At the draft, they trade two former 5th overall picks - Elias Lindholm and Noah Hanifin, to Calary for Dougie Hamilton, Micheal Ferland and the negotiating rights to Adam Fox (that April, knowing they won't sign Fox they trade him to his preferred destination New York for a 2nd and a 3rd, completing the total package). In August, they trade longtime stalwart Jeff Skinner for a prospect, a 2nd, a 3rd, and a 6th.

2018-19 season, they sign Petr Mrazek and allow longtime Franchise stalwart Cam Ward to go. They sign Calvin de Haan for 4 years. The 21 year old Sebastian Aho is given the keys to become the 1st line center. They have a top 6 defense all between ages 24-27 (Jaccob Slavin, Justin Faulk, Brett Pesce, Dougie Hamilton, Calvin de Haan, and Trevor van Riemsdyk). During the season, they trade Victor Rask for Nino Niederreiter. With Coach Rod's system and a young roster (only over 27 year olds on roster are the grizzled vet Justin Williams, 30 year old Jordan Staal, and backup goalie Curtis McElhinney, they do something they've never done in quite some time.. they improve by 16 points and make the Playoffs. Teuvo Teravainen is extended for 5 years during the season. Come postseason, they defeat the defending champion Capitals (5 points better in standings) in 7 games, they sweep the Islanders (who were 4 points better in standings). But they're ultimately outclassed and swept by Boston in the Conference Finals. What's interesting and unique is that despite making the Conference Finals, Carolina enters the 2019 Draft loaded with draft capital. They hold onto their own 1st, have two 2nds, three 3rds, two 4ths, a 5th, two 6ths and a 7th. Their now very late 1st is used on Ryan Suzuki, they grab goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov and Jamieson Rees with their 2nds.

2019-20 season, high off the surprise conference finals. And they are active. The Leafs trade the Hurricanes Patrick Marleau and attach a 2020 1st round pick. The Hurricanes buyout Marleau. They trade Calvin de Haan to Chicago for Gustav Forsling (who signs a 2-way contract and plays in AHL). They trade Nicolas Roy and a 5th to Vegas for Erik Haula. They sign college free agent Chase Priskie after he is unsigned by the Capitals. They let Micheal Ferland walk in Free Agency. They trade away Scott Darling for James Reimer and a 6th, and extend Petr Mrazek. They match Montreal's offer sheet and extend Sebastian Aho for 5 years at $8.454 AAV. Sign Ryan Dzingel in free agency, extend Brock McGinn. Sign Jake Gardiner for 4 years in free agency. Then big trade, they move out another stalwart in Justin Faulk (who extends in St. Louis) for one year remaining on contract Joel Edmundsson, prospect Dominik Bokk (2018 1st rounder) and a 7th. At the trade deadline, it's a big one. Julien Gauthier is sent away for a prospect. Big trade - they acquire Vincent Trocheck for Erik Haula, Lucas Wallmark, Chase Priskie Eetu Luostarinen. From the Devils, they acquire Deadline Rental Sami Vatanen for Janne Kuokkanen, AHLer Frederik Claesson, and a 3rd. The New York Rangers trade them Defenseman Brady Skjei for a 1st round pick (the lesser of Toronto or Carolina's at Carolina's discretion). The season is impacted by the COVID-19 stoppage. The Hurricanes finish roughly similar in the regular season as the prior year with 81 points in 68 games. 6th in the East, they defeat the Rangers 3-0 in the Play-In round, but again they meet Boston and again, they fall way short, being defeated in 5 games. The games are close, but the series score is not. The Leafs do worse so the Canes convey their own 1st round pick (22nd overall), and retain the Leafs pick at 13th. They trade Joel Edmundsson's UFA negotiating rights to Montreal for a 5th round pick. Again, the Canes have decent draft capital despite being a Playoff team, holding the 13th pick, two 2nds, a 3rd, a 4th, a 6th and two 7ths. With the Leafs pick, they select Seth Jarvis. They use the 2nds on Noah Gunler and Vasili Ponomaryov, use a 3rd on Russian Defenseman Alexander Nikishin, a 6th on Lucas Mercuri, and a 7th on Ronan Seeley.

And we're onto 2020-21. Lower activity season. Justin Williams calls it a career and retires. The Canes sign Jesper Fast to a 3-year UFA deal. Re-sign Warren Foegele for 1 year. COVID results in a shortened season and temporary divisions. They lose Gustav Forsling off Waivers to Florida. During the season, they trade Ryan Dzingel to Ottawa for Cedric Paquette and Alex Galchenyuk then flip Galchenyuk to Toronto. They trade Clark Bishop for Maxim Lajoie. They trade Haydn Fleury for deadline rental Jani Hakanpaa and a 6th round pick. The Canes finish in 1st place in a re-vamped Central Division with a much improved 80 points in 56 games. 25 year old Goalie Alex Nedeljkovic finished 3rd in the Calder voting. In the first round, they dispose of Nashville in 6 games. But in the next round, they run into the defending champion Lightning (working with an extra $9 million in cap due to LTIR) and are knocked out in 5 games. At the draft, Canes trade Alex Nedeljkovic for Jonathan Bernier and a 3rd ronder. They trade Jake Bean for a 2nd rounder. They execute a bunch of trade-downs of draft picks and end up a total of 13 selections.. with three 2nds, two 3rds, a 4th, two 5ths, two 6ths and three sevenths. They take Scott Morrow, Aleksi Heimosalmni and Ville Koivunen in the 2nd. They use a 3rd on Aiden Hreschuk. They grab Jackson Blake in the 4th round. Justin Robidas in the 5th round. Joel Nystrom in the 7th round.

2021-22 season. Morgan Geekie is claimed by Seattle in the expansion draft. They trade Warren Foegele to Edmonton for Ethan Bear. It's a busy free agent period in and out the door. They let Dougie Hamilton go who signs a 7-year deal with New Jersey. Two other goalies sign away - Petr Mrazek and James Reimer. Brock McGinn signs a 4 year deal in Pittsburgh. Cedric Paquette signs in Montreal. To make up for the lost goaltenders, the Canes sign Frederik Andersen for 2 years at $4.5 million AAV, Antti Raanta for 2 years at $2 million AAV and Alex Lyon for a league minimum deal. They sign Ian Cole to a 1 year deal. They sign Tony DeAngelo to a 1 year deal. They sign Stefan Noesen to a 1-year deal. They sign Derek Stepan for a 1-year deal. They sign Brendan Smith to a 1-year deal. They also sign a little known defenseman named Jalen Chatfield from Vancouver on a league minimum 1-year deal. On the housekeeping front, they extend Jordan Martinook for 3 years. They sign Andrei Svechnikov, coming off his ELC, to an 8-year extension at $7.75 million AAV. And before the season starts, they sign Jesper Kotkaniemi to a 1-year offer sheet at $6.1 million AAV that goes unmatched by Montreal. The Habs get a 1st and 3rd in offer sheet compensation. The divisions are back to normal along with the season length. During the season, the Canes give Jalen Chatfield a 2-year extension. At the Trade Deadline, the Canes bring in deadline rental Max Domi as part of a 3-team swap for Aiden Hreschuk and a 6th round pick. The Canes extend Jesper Kotkaniemi for 8 years at $4.82 million AAV. Another great regular season sees the Canes finish 1st in the Metro with an impressive 116 points. This time they defeat the Bruins in a hard-fought 7 game series. However, in the next round, they lose the Rangers in a 7 game series, coming up short once again. At the draft, no 1st round pick this time, they hold a 2nd used to take Gleb Trikozov, a 3rd used to take Alexander Perevalov, two 4ths used to take Simons Forsmark and Cruz Lucius, a 5th, a 6th and a 7th.

2022-23 season. They trade Tony DeAngelo's RFA rights to Philadelphia for a 4th in 2022, a 3rd in 2023 and a 2nd in 2024. The Hurricanes trade for Brent Burns and Lane Pedersen in exchange for Steven Lorentz, Eetu Makiniemi and a 3rd. From the Knights they receive Max Paccioretty and Dylan Coghlan for future considerations. In free agency, they lose Ian Cole, Max Domi, Alex Lyon, and Brendan Smith. Nino Niederreiter is signed away to Nashville. They also lose a big player in free agency in Vincent Trochek who signs a 7-year deal with the Rangers. They sign Ondrej Kase to a 1-year deal who goes on LTIR for concussion issues after one game. They sign MacKenzie MacEachern for league minimum. They sign Paul Stastny for 1-year at $1.5 million. They bring back Calvin de Haan on a 1-year deal. On housekeeping, they extend Stefan Noesen for 2 years at the minimum. They sign Ethan Bear to 1 year/$2.2 million. Sign Maxim Lajoie to 1 year at the minimum. They extend Martin Necas for 2 years on a bridge deal at $3 million AAV. They bring back Derek Stepan for 1 year. As season kicks off, they trade Ethan Bear and Lane Pedersen for a 5th round pick. They extend Pyotr Kochetkov for 4 years at $2 million AAV. At the trade deadline, they acquire Jesse Puljujarvi for a European prospect. They add Shayne Gostisbehere for a 3rd round pick. Another strong season, Canes finish 1st in the Metro again, this time with 113 points. In the Playoffs, they beat the Islanders in 6 games in the first round. In the 2nd round, they beat the Devils in 5 games to reach their first Conference Finals since 2019. However, in the Conference Finals, they are swept by Florida, despite all the games being close, ending the season on a disappointing note. Carolina at the Draft, and again despite making the Conference Finals, holds a 1st, 2nd, 3rd, two 4ths, two 5ths, two 6ths and a 7th. They use the 1st on Bradley Nadeau, 2nd on Felix Unger Sorum, 3rd on Jayden Perron, 5 of their other 7 picks on Russians and a 5th on Charles Alexis-Legault.

Now it's 2023-24, they extend Jordan Staal for 4 years at $2.9 AAV. They extend Frederik Andersen for 2 years at $3.4 million AAV. They re-sign Jesper Fast for 2 years at $2.4 million AAV and Antti Raanta for 1 year at $1.5 million. In Free Agency, they lose all of Maxim Lajoie, Mackenzie McEachern, Max Paccioretty, Calvin de Haan and Shayne Gostisbehere to 1-year deals. Derek Stepan retires. In Free Agency, they add Michael Buntin for 3 years at $4.5 million AAV. They also add Dmitry Orlov for 2 years at $7.75 million AAV. They sign Brendan Lemiux for 1 year at the minimum. They sign Caleb Jones for 1 year at the minimum then trade him to Colorado before the season for Cal Burke. They bring back Tony DeAngelo (after he is bought out by Philadelphia) for 1 year at $1.675 million. They extend Dylan Coghlan for 1 year at the minimum. The Canes extend Sebastian Aho for 8 years at $9.75 million. They acquire the rights to David Kase for Massimo Rizzo and a 5th round pick. During the season, they pick up Goaltender Spencer Martin off waivers. They have an active Trade Deadline. They act as a broker in an Ilya Lyubushkin to Toronto deal to get a 6th. They trade the Leafs a college prospect for another 6th. The Canes make a big move, acquiring deadline rental Jake Guentzel from Pittsburgh for Michael Bunting, Vasilily Ponomarev, Ville Koivunen, Cruz Lucius and a 2nd round pick. They also acquire Evgeny Kuznetsov for a 3rd round pick. They trade Jamieson Rees to Ottawa for a 6th. Carolina ends the season strong again, with 111 points, although this time in 2nd in the Metro. They dispose of the Islanders in 5 games. However, they are unable to reach the Conference Finals, falling in the 2nd round to the Rangers in 6 games. Following the season, Don Waddell resigns as President and GM. The Canes replace him internally with Assistant GM and long-time analytics guru, Eric Tulsky as GM. At the Draft, Carolina trades down from the 1st and does another trade down of a late 2nd, and ends up 2 seconds, a 3rd, a 4th, two 5ths, three 6ths and a 7th. They draft Dominik Badinka and Nikita Artamonov in the 2nd, Noel Fransen in the 3rd, use 5 of their remaining 7 picks on Russians, and also take Justin Poirier in the 5th.

For 2024-25, the Canes re-sign Jalen Chatfield for 3-years at $3.025 million AAV. They also give a 1 year extension to Ryan Suzuki, and sign 1 year deal league minimum deal with Ty Smith. Unable to reach a deal, they traded Jake Guentzel's UFA negotiating rights to Tampa Bay for a 3rd round pick. They trade Dylan Coghlan to Winnipeg for Future Considerations. They lose a number of players in Free Agency. Stefan Noesen signs for 3 years in New Jersey, Brett Pesce signs for 6 years in New Jersey, Brady Skjei signs for 7 years in Nashville and Teuvo Teravainen signs for 3 years in Chicago. Cal Burke also signs for 1 year in Las Vegas, and Evgeny Kuznetsov, Antti Raanta and Tony DeAngelo all go to Europe. They replace them with their own signings. In Free Agency, Carolina signs back Shayne Gostisbehere for 3 years at $3.2 million AAV. They sign William Carrier for 6 years at $2 million AAV. They sign Sean Walker for 5 years at $3.6 million AAV. They sign Tyson Jost and Riley Stillman to 1 year deals at the minimum. The Canes sign Jack Roslovic for 1 year at $2.8 million. They also sign Josiah Slavin and Joakim Ryan to 2-way deals. In terms of housekeeping, the extend Jordan Martinook for 3 years $3.075 million AAV. They commit to a new 8-year term with Jaccob Slavin at $6.4 million AAV. They re-sign Jack Drury for 2 years at $1.725 million. The Canes and Martin Necas sign another 2 year extension, this time at $6.5 million AAV. Finally, before the season the extend Seth Jarvis for 8 years at $7.42 million. During the season, they terminate the contract of Brendan Lemieux. In late January, the Canes make a monster move and in a 3-team deal they acquire pending free agent Mikko Rantanen, Taylor Hall and Nils Juntorp for Martin Necas, Jack Drury, a 2nd, a 3rd, and a 4th. After only 6 weeks and only 13 games, with the deadline looming, the Canes decide they will likely not re-sign Mikko Rantanen and that his play doesn't fit their system very well. Rather than hang onto him, they trade Rantanen to Dallas for Logan Stankoven, two 1sts and two 3rd. Combining the two deals the effect is (out: Martin Necas, Jack, Drury, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and in: Logan Stankoven, Taylor Hall, Nils Juntorp, 1st, 1st, 3rd, 3rd.. plus 13 games of Rantanen). Also at the deadline, the acquire Mark Jankowski for a 5th round pick, and trade Lucas Mecuri for a 6th round pick. Before the season, KHL prospect Alexander Nikishin signs a 2 year ELC following the conclusion of his KHL season. The Canes extend Taylor Hall for 3 years at $3.167 million AAV and they also extend Frederik Andersen for 1 more year at $2.75 milion. In the standings, Carolina takes a bit of a step back, only finishing this time with 99 points. They are 2nd in the Metro. In the 1st round, they beat the Devils in 5 games. The 2nd round proves no more challenging and they beat the Capitals in 5 games. However, the Conference Finals again proves a roadblock as the Canes are defeated by the Panthers, this time in 5 games. At the Draft, the Canes once again execute more trade down transactions. They end up with three 2nd round picks, two thirds, a sixth and a seventh. They use the 2nds on Semyon Frolov, Charlie Cerrato and Ivan Ryabkin and the remaining picks on more Europeans.

And now that brings us to the current year, 2025-26, the Canes extend Eric Robinson for 4 years at $1.7 million AAV. They sign Finnish Pro Juha Jaaska for a 2 year minimum deal. They acquire Goaltender Cayden Primeau from Montreal for a 7th round pick. They re-sign Logan Stankoven for 8 years at $6 million AAV. In Free Agency, they lose Brent Burns to Colorado, Dmitry Orlov to the Sharks, Riley Stillman to the Oilers, and (eventually) Jack Roslovic to the Oilers. They sign depth defenseman Mike Reilly to a 1 year/$1 million deal. They sign goalie Amir Miftakhov to a 2-way deal. They make a big trade, acquiring Defenseman K'Andre Miller and then extending him for 8 years at $7.5 million AAV, and give up Scott Morrow, a 1st and a 2nd. They make another big move by signing Free Agent Nikolaj Ehlers for 6 years at $8.5 million AAV. They re-sign minor leaguers Noel Gunler, Skyler Brind'Amour, Domenick Fensore, Ronan Seeley and Ryan Suzuki each for 1-year. They also re-sign veteran Tyson Jost to a 2-way deal. They also commit long to another player, and extend Jackson Blake for 8 years at $5.1 million AAV. At the start of the season, Tyson Jost is claimed off Waivers by Nashville and Carolina signs Giovani Smith. Goaltender Cayden Primeau is claimed off Waivers by Toronto (but returned a month later when Toronto waives him back). Carolina also claims Goaltender Brandon Bussi off Waivers from Florida. In December, Carolina extends AHL Defenseman Joel Nystrom on a 4 year deal at $1.225 million AAV. In January, they acquire Depth Defenseman Jusso Valimaki for Future Considerations and acquire Kyle Masters and a 4th round pick in exchange for a 5th round pick. They also acquire AHL forward Viktor Neuchev for Gavin Bayreutcher. In February, they extend Goalie Brandon Bussi for 3 years at $1.9 million AAV. They have a quiet trade deadline, only acquiring Nicolas Deslauriers for a 7th. In May, they extend Mark Jankowski for 2 years at $1.85 million. They finish the season with 113 points, the most in the Eastern Conference. They sweep Ottawa in 4 in the first round. They sweep Philadelphia in the second round to improve to 8-0 and reach their old nemesis the Eastern Conference Finals. This time though, after dropping the first game, they rip off four straight against Montreal and reach the Stanley Cup Final for the third time in their franchise history. And that's where we stand today...




TAKEAWAYS: Constant churn. On the draft pick front, if you ask is Carolina buying or selling draft futures, the answer is "yes". They've mastered the art of the trade down to ensure a consistent highly related prospect pool. But they also treat draft picks as currency, and they use a lot of that currency to account for their current team. So they're basically cycling a lot of picks in and out constantly, and seem to end up every year with 8-12 draft picks while making the Conference Finals. They also have a gift of accepting departures. They don't get too attached to anyone and have seen a lot of players that have provided them a lot of value over the years go. Justin Faulk, Dougie Hamilton, Vincent Trocheck, Brett Pesce, Brady Skjei, Teuvo Teravainen, Jake Guentzel, Brock McGinn, Nino Niederreiter, Petr Mrazek, Mikko Rantanen, it's an impressive list that have come and gone. The reaction seems to be less panic and more "Thank you for service, good luck. Next man up." As an analytic driven front-office, you can tell they aggressively hunt for inefficiencies and compound micro-wins into good value. It's an organization that values sytems over stars, hence why they never seem to have players that rank particularly high on the "best in NHL" list but they're consistently up there in the standings. At this point, the players themselves are more temporary while Brind'Amour/System is the stabilizing piece.

My one-sentence summary of that is the 2025-26 Hurricanes are what happens when an organization combines elite amateur scouting, relentless asset management, emotional detachment from individual players, and a decade-long commitment to process over splashy moves.

It would be a fun but daunting exercise to simply try and map out all the Draft Picks that have come in and out of the org in the last decade or so. They have what I can presume is one of the hardest working front offices in the league because on this front, they hardly leave any stone unturned.

 

[Borsig]

Carolina was bad for quite some time, but somewhat unexpectedly didn't just do the usual trick of hit a few top of the draft type selections, get a core and get good, the way it 'typically' goes. Theirs is a bit more unusual. They did get some building block pieces via the Draft, just not where you'd expect. Slavin (Number 1 Defenseman) and Aho (Number 1 Center) were a 4th round pick in 2012 and 2nd round pick in 2015, respectively. Those have been their consistent foundational players throughout their run and players most difficult to replace when gone. But they are otherwise a somewhat difficult team to try and primary source as you trace their journey through the years.

As early as 2009-10 when Carolina misses the Playoffs, they start acquiring a bunch of 2nd/3rd round picks. They use their 1st round pick (7th) on Jeff Skinner and their own 2nd round pick on Justin Faulk. Funny enough they use a 7th round pick on Frederik Andersen, who they don't sign and he ended up back in draft going to Anaheim (and then subsequently Toronto and 11 years later, ends up in Carolina).

2010-11 comes around, Carolina misses Playoffs again. They make a trade in May, irrelevant in a vacuum, they trade a 5th round pick to Phoenix for Jared Staal. It's a win for Phoenix because Jared Staal is a recent 2nd round pick who flops in his pro rookie year, spending much of it in the ECHL. Carolina essentially throws away a pick for the brother of their best player. Keep this in mind. They start dealing some of their excess picks acquired previously for "buy low" candidates, recent high-ish picks that aren't doing well like Riley Nash and Bobby Sanguinetti. They sign Anton Babchuk from the KHL, use him to get Ian White from the Flames and re-flip him for a 2nd round pick. They got into the draft and take a popular pick in Ryan Murphy (BUST) in their 1st, and grab Victor Rask in the 2nd.

Now onto 2011-12. Another bad season. Fairly uneventful season. Erik Cole is signed away as a Free Agent. Tomas Fairly uneventful season, get a couple of 4ths for Joe Corvo and Alexi Ponikarovsky. Evgenii Dadonov briefly passes through after his Florida years but goes to KHL. Come draft time, they make the big move, they traded their 1st round pick (7th overall), young NHLer Brandon Sutter. and a former 2nd round pick Brian Dumoulin for Jordan Staal. Seldom has a Top 10 pick for a 24 year old worked out so well. It's basically the dream scenario everyone wishes for in these cases. The guy you get for 10-15 years that's already proven for a mystery box. Rarely does it work out so well. Why does it work out here? Perhaps in no small part because they have Eric Staal and in perhaps not irrelevant, they also have the "fourth Staal" brother in the organization. Staal (a year removed from UFA) instantly commits to a 10-year extension, removing any shadow of a doubt of his long-term commmitment and becoming a building block player. So still, no 1st round pick, but they still have a couple of 2nds, they grab Phillip Di Giuseppe and Brock McGinn. And of course most critically of all, in a D Man heavy draft towards the top with a whole bunch of nobodies that went high off the board, all the way in the 4th round, they draft a little known player named Jaccob Slavin.

Onto 2012-13, they sign Alex Semin for exactly one year at a $7 million price tag, who goes PPG. They extend Jeff Skinner (2010 1st) for 6 years. And still again, they miss the Playoffs now for a fourth straight year. It's otherwise another fairly low event season in terms of activity. After the reason, they move out their 2nd round pick and 25 year old Jamie McBain (draft pick seven years prior) for 27 year old Andrej Sekera. They draft 5th overall (highest they've held), and take Elias Lindholm. From other activity, they only hold a single 3rd, 5th and 6th in the rest of the draft, and use the third round pick to select Brett Pesce. They extend Semin for 5 years.

Now onto 2013-14, they sign Ron Hainsey in Free Agency, extend Justin Faulk for 6 years. During the season they trade long standing Tim Gleason (acquired seven years earlier) for John-Michael Liles, but then re-sign Gleason in the offseason. And they miss the Playoffs for a fifth straight year. Another longstanding player, Tuomo Ruuttu is sent out at the deadline for a 3rd round pick and a guy that goes back to the KHL after the year. Onto the draft, where they have their picks (minus a 6th) and only excess pick is an additional 4th. They use their 7th overall to draft a bust, Haydn Fleury. They use their 2nd to grab goalie Alex Nedeljkovic and their 3rd to grab Warren Foegele, along with one of the 4ths on Lucas Wallmark.

At this point, 5 straight missed playoffs resulted in the following 1st round picks: Jeff Skinner, Ryan Murphy, N/A, Elias Lindholm, Haydn Fleury.

2014-15. New General Manager, Jim Rutherford is out, and Ron Francis (who worked in the org since 2011) is now the GM. Nothing of note on the Free Agency front. Low event season again. Jay Harrison gets moved for a 6th, Jiri Tlusty for a 3rd and a 6th. Tim Gleason traded again for a 4th round pick. Bigger move is they get a first (that turns into a 2016 1st) along with Roland McKeown for Andrej Sekera. Again Hurricanes miss Playoffs, now six straight times. Come Draft time, Carolina is picking 5th overall. They use it to pick Defenseman Noah Hanifin. With their 2nd round pick, they draft a center named Sebastian Aho. This year, it's a stacked draft, but wow, incredible that he's still on the board at 35. They have two fourths and use on to acquire Nicolas Roy. And they use a 7th on Steven Lorentz.

2015-16 now. 3-year extension for Slavin, 2-year extension for Lindholm. Semin is bought out. Another low event free agency period. Trade front sees Joakim Nordstrom and Kris Versteeg brought in as a cap dump (and get paid difference of a 3rd and a 5th), Versteeg later that season flipped for Valentin Zykov and a 5th. A 3rd and 7th go out the door for Goalie Eddie Lack. They get a 3rd and a 5th for John-Michael Liles. And towards the deadline, we see the departure of long-time Franchise Legend, Eric Staal, four years after acquiring his brother to play together, as he goes to the Rangers for a prospect and two 2nd round picks (and Carolina retaining on his deal). But alas, now a 7th straight missed playoffs. Draft, Carolina is picking 13th after three prior years picking top 10. At the draft, the trade a 2nd round pick and 3rd round pick for 22-year old Teuvo Teravainen and also the cap dump of Bryan Pickell. They take Jake Bean 13th overall. The pick they got from the Kings (21st) they use on Julien Gauthier. They use a 2nd on Janne Kuokkanen and nothing else despite having excess picks.

Now it's 2016-17. They sign Lee Stempniak, Victor Stalberg (who they flip for a 3rd round pick at the deadline). And that's about it. They also trade Ron Hainsey at the deadline for a 2nd round pick. And low and behold, 8th straight missed playoffs. After the season, they traded a 3rd for Goaltender Scott Darling's negotiating rights and extended him. Picking 12th this time, they snag Martin Necas. Two 2nds and two 3rd, they grab Eetu Luostarinen with one of the 2nds and they grab Morgan Geekie with one of the 3rds. They trade a 5th to the Knights so they take Connor Brickley in the expnasion draft. They traded a 2nd to the Knights for Trevor van Riemsdyk.

2017-18 now. They traded the Knights a 5th for Marcus Kruger. They sign old favorite Justin Williams in Free Agency. They extend Jaccob Slavin for 7 years at $5.3 million AAV. And they miss the Playoffs for now the 9th straight time.

Tom Dundon becomes the Majority Owner in January of 2018. Ron Francis is let go. Don Waddell becomes General Manager. Franchise Legend Rod Brind'Amour is hired as the Head Coach. A new era dawns. The Draft Lottery takes place, and Carolina catches a lucky break moving from 11th up to 2nd. Marcus Kruger is traded along with a 4th round pick for Jordan Martinook and a 3rd round pick. They use the 2nd overall on Andrei Svechnikov and grab Jack Drury in the 2nd round. At the draft, they trade two former 5th overall picks - Elias Lindholm and Noah Hanifin, to Calary for Dougie Hamilton, Micheal Ferland and the negotiating rights to Adam Fox (that April, knowing they won't sign Fox they trade him to his preferred destination New York for a 2nd and a 3rd, completing the total package). In August, they trade longtime stalwart Jeff Skinner for a prospect, a 2nd, a 3rd, and a 6th.

2018-19 season, they sign Petr Mrazek and allow longtime Franchise stalwart Cam Ward to go. They sign Calvin de Haan for 4 years. The 21 year old Sebastian Aho is given the keys to become the 1st line center. They have a top 6 defense all between ages 24-27 (Jaccob Slavin, Justin Faulk, Brett Pesce, Dougie Hamilton, Calvin de Haan, and Trevor van Riemsdyk). During the season, they trade Victor Rask for Nino Niederreiter. With Coach Rod's system and a young roster (only over 27 year olds on roster are the grizzled vet Justin Williams, 30 year old Jordan Staal, and backup goalie Curtis McElhinney, they do something they've never done in quite some time.. they improve by 16 points and make the Playoffs. Teuvo Teravainen is extended for 5 years during the season. Come postseason, they defeat the defending champion Capitals (5 points better in standings) in 7 games, they sweep the Islanders (who were 4 points better in standings). But they're ultimately outclassed and swept by Boston in the Conference Finals. What's interesting and unique is that despite making the Conference Finals, Carolina enters the 2019 Draft loaded with draft capital. They hold onto their own 1st, have two 2nds, three 3rds, two 4ths, a 5th, two 6ths and a 7th. Their now very late 1st is used on Ryan Suzuki, they grab goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov and Jamieson Rees with their 2nds.

2019-20 season, high off the surprise conference finals. And they are active. The Leafs trade the Hurricanes Patrick Marleau and attach a 2020 1st round pick. The Hurricanes buyout Marleau. They trade Calvin de Haan to Chicago for Gustav Forsling (who signs a 2-way contract and plays in AHL). They trade Nicolas Roy and a 5th to Vegas for Erik Haula. They sign college free agent Chase Priskie after he is unsigned by the Capitals. They let Micheal Ferland walk in Free Agency. They trade away Scott Darling for James Reimer and a 6th, and extend Petr Mrazek. They match Montreal's offer sheet and extend Sebastian Aho for 5 years at $8.454 AAV. Sign Ryan Dzingel in free agency, extend Brock McGinn. Sign Jake Gardiner for 4 years in free agency. Then big trade, they move out another stalwart in Justin Faulk (who extends in St. Louis) for one year remaining on contract Joel Edmundsson, prospect Dominik Bokk (2018 1st rounder) and a 7th. At the trade deadline, it's a big one. Julien Gauthier is sent away for a prospect. Big trade - they acquire Vincent Trocheck for Erik Haula, Lucas Wallmark, Chase Priskie Eetu Luostarinen. From the Devils, they acquire Deadline Rental Sami Vatanen for Janne Kuokkanen, AHLer Frederik Claesson, and a 3rd. The New York Rangers trade them Defenseman Brady Skjei for a 1st round pick (the lesser of Toronto or Carolina's at Carolina's discretion). The season is impacted by the COVID-19 stoppage. The Hurricanes finish roughly similar in the regular season as the prior year with 81 points in 68 games. 6th in the East, they defeat the Rangers 3-0 in the Play-In round, but again they meet Boston and again, they fall way short, being defeated in 5 games. The games are close, but the series score is not. The Leafs do worse so the Canes convey their own 1st round pick (22nd overall), and retain the Leafs pick at 13th. They trade Joel Edmundsson's UFA negotiating rights to Montreal for a 5th round pick. Again, the Canes have decent draft capital despite being a Playoff team, holding the 13th pick, two 2nds, a 3rd, a 4th, a 6th and two 7ths. With the Leafs pick, they select Seth Jarvis. They use the 2nds on Noah Gunler and Vasili Ponomaryov, use a 3rd on Russian Defenseman Alexander Nikishin, a 6th on Lucas Mercuri, and a 7th on Ronan Seeley.

And we're onto 2020-21. Lower activity season. Justin Williams calls it a career and retires. The Canes sign Jesper Fast to a 3-year UFA deal. Re-sign Warren Foegele for 1 year. COVID results in a shortened season and temporary divisions. They lose Gustav Forsling off Waivers to Florida. During the season, they trade Ryan Dzingel to Ottawa for Cedric Paquette and Alex Galchenyuk then flip Galchenyuk to Toronto. They trade Clark Bishop for Maxim Lajoie. They trade Haydn Fleury for deadline rental Jani Hakanpaa and a 6th round pick. The Canes finish in 1st place in a re-vamped Central Division with a much improved 80 points in 56 games. 25 year old Goalie Alex Nedeljkovic finished 3rd in the Calder voting. In the first round, they dispose of Nashville in 6 games. But in the next round, they run into the defending champion Lightning (working with an extra $9 million in cap due to LTIR) and are knocked out in 5 games. At the draft, Canes trade Alex Nedeljkovic for Jonathan Bernier and a 3rd ronder. They trade Jake Bean for a 2nd rounder. They execute a bunch of trade-downs of draft picks and end up a total of 13 selections.. with three 2nds, two 3rds, a 4th, two 5ths, two 6ths and three sevenths. They take Scott Morrow, Aleksi Heimosalmni and Ville Koivunen in the 2nd. They use a 3rd on Aiden Hreschuk. They grab Jackson Blake in the 4th round. Justin Robidas in the 5th round. Joel Nystrom in the 7th round.

2021-22 season. Morgan Geekie is claimed by Seattle in the expansion draft. They trade Warren Foegele to Edmonton for Ethan Bear. It's a busy free agent period in and out the door. They let Dougie Hamilton go who signs a 7-year deal with New Jersey. Two other goalies sign away - Petr Mrazek and James Reimer. Brock McGinn signs a 4 year deal in Pittsburgh. Cedric Paquette signs in Montreal. To make up for the lost goaltenders, the Canes sign Frederik Andersen for 2 years at $4.5 million AAV, Antti Raanta for 2 years at $2 million AAV and Alex Lyon for a league minimum deal. They sign Ian Cole to a 1 year deal. They sign Tony DeAngelo to a 1 year deal. They sign Stefan Noesen to a 1-year deal. They sign Derek Stepan for a 1-year deal. They sign Brendan Smith to a 1-year deal. They also sign a little known defenseman named Jalen Chatfield from Vancouver on a league minimum 1-year deal. On the housekeeping front, they extend Jordan Martinook for 3 years. They sign Andrei Svechnikov, coming off his ELC, to an 8-year extension at $7.75 million AAV. And before the season starts, they sign Jesper Kotkaniemi to a 1-year offer sheet at $6.1 million AAV that goes unmatched by Montreal. The Habs get a 1st and 3rd in offer sheet compensation. The divisions are back to normal along with the season length. During the season, the Canes give Jalen Chatfield a 2-year extension. At the Trade Deadline, the Canes bring in deadline rental Max Domi as part of a 3-team swap for Aiden Hreschuk and a 6th round pick. The Canes extend Jesper Kotkaniemi for 8 years at $4.82 million AAV. Another great regular season sees the Canes finish 1st in the Metro with an impressive 116 points. This time they defeat the Bruins in a hard-fought 7 game series. However, in the next round, they lose the Rangers in a 7 game series, coming up short once again. At the draft, no 1st round pick this time, they hold a 2nd used to take Gleb Trikozov, a 3rd used to take Alexander Perevalov, two 4ths used to take Simons Forsmark and Cruz Lucius, a 5th, a 6th and a 7th.

2022-23 season. They trade Tony DeAngelo's RFA rights to Philadelphia for a 4th in 2022, a 3rd in 2023 and a 2nd in 2024. The Hurricanes trade for Brent Burns and Lane Pedersen in exchange for Steven Lorentz, Eetu Makiniemi and a 3rd. From the Knights they receive Max Paccioretty and Dylan Coghlan for future considerations. In free agency, they lose Ian Cole, Max Domi, Alex Lyon, and Brendan Smith. Nino Niederreiter is signed away to Nashville. They also lose a big player in free agency in Vincent Trochek who signs a 7-year deal with the Rangers. They sign Ondrej Kase to a 1-year deal who goes on LTIR for concussion issues after one game. They sign MacKenzie MacEachern for league minimum. They sign Paul Stastny for 1-year at $1.5 million. They bring back Calvin de Haan on a 1-year deal. On housekeeping, they extend Stefan Noesen for 2 years at the minimum. They sign Ethan Bear to 1 year/$2.2 million. Sign Maxim Lajoie to 1 year at the minimum. They extend Martin Necas for 2 years on a bridge deal at $3 million AAV. They bring back Derek Stepan for 1 year. As season kicks off, they trade Ethan Bear and Lane Pedersen for a 5th round pick. They extend Pyotr Kochetkov for 4 years at $2 million AAV. At the trade deadline, they acquire Jesse Puljujarvi for a European prospect. They add Shayne Gostisbehere for a 3rd round pick. Another strong season, Canes finish 1st in the Metro again, this time with 113 points. In the Playoffs, they beat the Islanders in 6 games in the first round. In the 2nd round, they beat the Devils in 5 games to reach their first Conference Finals since 2019. However, in the Conference Finals, they are swept by Florida, despite all the games being close, ending the season on a disappointing note. Carolina at the Draft, and again despite making the Conference Finals, holds a 1st, 2nd, 3rd, two 4ths, two 5ths, two 6ths and a 7th. They use the 1st on Bradley Nadeau, 2nd on Felix Unger Sorum, 3rd on Jayden Perron, 5 of their other 7 picks on Russians and a 5th on Charles Alexis-Legault.

Now it's 2023-24, they extend Jordan Staal for 4 years at $2.9 AAV. They extend Frederik Andersen for 2 years at $3.4 million AAV. They re-sign Jesper Fast for 2 years at $2.4 million AAV and Antti Raanta for 1 year at $1.5 million. In Free Agency, they lose all of Maxim Lajoie, Mackenzie McEachern, Max Paccioretty, Calvin de Haan and Shayne Gostisbehere to 1-year deals. Derek Stepan retires. In Free Agency, they add Michael Buntin for 3 years at $4.5 million AAV. They also add Dmitry Orlov for 2 years at $7.75 million AAV. They sign Brendan Lemiux for 1 year at the minimum. They sign Caleb Jones for 1 year at the minimum then trade him to Colorado before the season for Cal Burke. They bring back Tony DeAngelo (after he is bought out by Philadelphia) for 1 year at $1.675 million. They extend Dylan Coghlan for 1 year at the minimum. The Canes extend Sebastian Aho for 8 years at $9.75 million. They acquire the rights to David Kase for Massimo Rizzo and a 5th round pick. During the season, they pick up Goaltender Spencer Martin off waivers. They have an active Trade Deadline. They act as a broker in an Ilya Lyubushkin to Toronto deal to get a 6th. They trade the Leafs a college prospect for another 6th. The Canes make a big move, acquiring deadline rental Jake Guentzel from Pittsburgh for Michael Bunting, Vasilily Ponomarev, Ville Koivunen, Cruz Lucius and a 2nd round pick. They also acquire Evgeny Kuznetsov for a 3rd round pick. They trade Jamieson Rees to Ottawa for a 6th. Carolina ends the season strong again, with 111 points, although this time in 2nd in the Metro. They dispose of the Islanders in 5 games. However, they are unable to reach the Conference Finals, falling in the 2nd round to the Rangers in 6 games. Following the season, Don Waddell resigns as President and GM. The Canes replace him internally with Assistant GM and long-time analytics guru, Eric Tulsky as GM. At the Draft, Carolina trades down from the 1st and does another trade down of a late 2nd, and ends up 2 seconds, a 3rd, a 4th, two 5ths, three 6ths and a 7th. They draft Dominik Badinka and Nikita Artamonov in the 2nd, Noel Fransen in the 3rd, use 5 of their remaining 7 picks on Russians, and also take Justin Poirier in the 5th.

For 2024-25, the Canes re-sign Jalen Chatfield for 3-years at $3.025 million AAV. They also give a 1 year extension to Ryan Suzuki, and sign 1 year deal league minimum deal with Ty Smith. Unable to reach a deal, they traded Jake Guentzel's UFA negotiating rights to Tampa Bay for a 3rd round pick. They trade Dylan Coghlan to Winnipeg for Future Considerations. They lose a number of players in Free Agency. Stefan Noesen signs for 3 years in New Jersey, Brett Pesce signs for 6 years in New Jersey, Brady Skjei signs for 7 years in Nashville and Teuvo Teravainen signs for 3 years in Chicago. Cal Burke also signs for 1 year in Las Vegas, and Evgeny Kuznetsov, Antti Raanta and Tony DeAngelo all go to Europe. They replace them with their own signings. In Free Agency, Carolina signs back Shayne Gostisbehere for 3 years at $3.2 million AAV. They sign William Carrier for 6 years at $2 million AAV. They sign Sean Walker for 5 years at $3.6 million AAV. They sign Tyson Jost and Riley Stillman to 1 year deals at the minimum. The Canes sign Jack Roslovic for 1 year at $2.8 million. They also sign Josiah Slavin and Joakim Ryan to 2-way deals. In terms of housekeeping, the extend Jordan Martinook for 3 years $3.075 million AAV. They commit to a new 8-year term with Jaccob Slavin at $6.4 million AAV. They re-sign Jack Drury for 2 years at $1.725 million. The Canes and Martin Necas sign another 2 year extension, this time at $6.5 million AAV. Finally, before the season the extend Seth Jarvis for 8 years at $7.42 million. During the season, they terminate the contract of Brendan Lemieux. In late January, the Canes make a monster move and in a 3-team deal they acquire pending free agent Mikko Rantanen, Taylor Hall and Nils Juntorp for Martin Necas, Jack Drury, a 2nd, a 3rd, and a 4th. After only 6 weeks and only 13 games, with the deadline looming, the Canes decide they will likely not re-sign Mikko Rantanen and that his play doesn't fit their system very well. Rather than hang onto him, they trade Rantanen to Dallas for Logan Stankoven, two 1sts and two 3rd. Combining the two deals the effect is (out: Martin Necas, Jack, Drury, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and in: Logan Stankoven, Taylor Hall, Nils Juntorp, 1st, 1st, 3rd, 3rd.. plus 13 games of Rantanen). Also at the deadline, the acquire Mark Jankowski for a 5th round pick, and trade Lucas Mecuri for a 6th round pick. Before the season, KHL prospect Alexander Nikishin signs a 2 year ELC following the conclusion of his KHL season. The Canes extend Taylor Hall for 3 years at $3.167 million AAV and they also extend Frederik Andersen for 1 more year at $2.75 milion. In the standings, Carolina takes a bit of a step back, only finishing this time with 99 points. They are 2nd in the Metro. In the 1st round, they beat the Devils in 5 games. The 2nd round proves no more challenging and they beat the Capitals in 5 games. However, the Conference Finals again proves a roadblock as the Canes are defeated by the Panthers, this time in 5 games. At the Draft, the Canes once again execute more trade down transactions. They end up with three 2nd round picks, two thirds, a sixth and a seventh. They use the 2nds on Semyon Frolov, Charlie Cerrato and Ivan Ryabkin and the remaining picks on more Europeans.

And now that brings us to the current year, 2025-26, the Canes extend Eric Robinson for 4 years at $1.7 million AAV. They sign Finnish Pro Juha Jaaska for a 2 year minimum deal. They acquire Goaltender Cayden Primeau from Montreal for a 7th round pick. They re-sign Logan Stankoven for 8 years at $6 million AAV. In Free Agency, they lose Brent Burns to Colorado, Dmitry Orlov to the Sharks, Riley Stillman to the Oilers, and (eventually) Jack Roslovic to the Oilers. They sign depth defenseman Mike Reilly to a 1 year/$1 million deal. They sign goalie Amir Miftakhov to a 2-way deal. They make a big trade, acquiring Defenseman K'Andre Miller and then extending him for 8 years at $7.5 million AAV, and give up Scott Morrow, a 1st and a 2nd. They make another big move by signing Free Agent Nikolaj Ehlers for 6 years at $8.5 million AAV. They re-sign minor leaguers Noel Gunler, Skyler Brind'Amour, Domenick Fensore, Ronan Seeley and Ryan Suzuki each for 1-year. They also re-sign veteran Tyson Jost to a 2-way deal. They also commit long to another player, and extend Jackson Blake for 8 years at $5.1 million AAV. At the start of the season, Tyson Jost is claimed off Waivers by Nashville and Carolina signs Giovani Smith. Goaltender Cayden Primeau is claimed off Waivers by Toronto (but returned a month later when Toronto waives him back). Carolina also claims Goaltender Brandon Bussi off Waivers from Florida. In December, Carolina extends AHL Defenseman Joel Nystrom on a 4 year deal at $1.225 million AAV. In January, they acquire Depth Defenseman Jusso Valimaki for Future Considerations and acquire Kyle Masters and a 4th round pick in exchange for a 5th round pick. They also acquire AHL forward Viktor Neuchev for Gavin Bayreutcher. In February, they extend Goalie Brandon Bussi for 3 years at $1.9 million AAV. They have a quiet trade deadline, only acquiring Nicolas Deslauriers for a 7th. In May, they extend Mark Jankowski for 2 years at $1.85 million. They finish the season with 113 points, the most in the Eastern Conference. They sweep Ottawa in 4 in the first round. They sweep Philadelphia in the second round to improve to 8-0 and reach their old nemesis the Eastern Conference Finals. This time though, after dropping the first game, they rip off four straight against Montreal and reach the Stanley Cup Final for the third time in their franchise history. And that's where we stand today...




TAKEAWAYS: Constant churn. On the draft pick front, if you ask is Carolina buying or selling draft futures, the answer is "yes". They've mastered the art of the trade down to ensure a consistent highly related prospect pool. But they also treat draft picks as currency, and they use a lot of that currency to account for their current team. So they're basically cycling a lot of picks in and out constantly, and seem to end up every year with 8-12 draft picks while making the Conference Finals. They also have a gift of accepting departures. They don't get too attached to anyone and have seen a lot of players that have provided them a lot of value over the years go. Justin Faulk, Dougie Hamilton, Vincent Trocheck, Brett Pesce, Brady Skjei, Teuvo Teravainen, Jake Guentzel, Brock McGinn, Nino Niederreiter, Petr Mrazek, Mikko Rantanen, it's an impressive list that have come and gone. The reaction seems to be less panic and more "Thank you for service, good luck. Next man up." As an analytic driven front-office, you can tell they aggressively hunt for inefficiencies and compound micro-wins into good value. It's an organization that values sytems over stars, hence why they never seem to have players that rank particularly high on the "best in NHL" list but they're consistently up there in the standings. At this point, the players themselves are more temporary while Brind'Amour/System is the stabilizing piece.

My one-sentence summary of that is the 2025-26 Hurricanes are what happens when an organization combines elite amateur scouting, relentless asset management, emotional detachment from individual players, and a decade-long commitment to process over splashy moves.

I'll push back on this just a little - Carolina is absolutely attached to:
Staal
Slavin
Aho
Jarvis
Martinook
These 5 are going nowhere, period. They will all retire canes.
The future remains to be seen, but I am guessing Hall retires a cane, and ends up much like RBA and Gleason, on the staff. In fact I would BET on Hall staying with the org after retirement. I also think Blake and Stankoven (especially stankoven) will become part of an immovable core. Note I don't have Svech or any other D man on this list. Time needs to tell on Miller. Right now Miller is in the Skjei category, but he also could become part of that Slavin vibe - people don't realize how good Miller's stick is. NYR really ruined that guy. Unless Bussi shits the bed next season, I also see him as a guy who might have a long tenure here.

And for what its worth, Necas showed us this year why he was never going to come to a deal here. Great during the regular season, vaporware in the playoffs because that dance up the middle shit doesn't work in May and June. I'll take Ehlers and Stankoven over Necas and Rantanen for their respective salaraies any day of the week. But, I'm a canes fan, and our system is different.

 

[grapes55]

Carolina almost did the reverse tampa where improving their rush play and puck skills helped them to get over the hump.

 

[WarriorofTime]

I'll push back on this just a little - Carolina is absolutely attached to:
Staal
Slavin
Aho
Jarvis
Martinook
These 5 are going nowhere, period. They will all retire canes.
The future remains to be seen, but I am guessing Hall retires a cane, and ends up much like RBA and Gleason, on the staff. In fact I would BET on Hall staying with the org after retirement. I also think Blake and Stankoven (especially stankoven) will become part of an immovable core. Note I don't have Svech or any other D man on this list. Time needs to tell on Miller. Right now Miller is in the Skjei category, but he also could become part of that Slavin vibe - people don't realize how good Miller's stick is. NYR really ruined that guy. Unless Bussi shits the bed next season, I also see him as a guy who might have a long tenure here.

And for what its worth, Necas showed us this year why he was never going to come to a deal here. Great during the regular season, vaporware in the playoffs because that dance up the middle shit doesn't work in May and June. I'll take Ehlers and Stankoven over Necas and Rantanen for their respective salaraies any day of the week. But, I'm a canes fan, and our system is different.

I'd venture moving forward they will be more of a "mortgage future/ride out the core" group

 

[FiveTacos]

Carolina was bad for quite some time, but somewhat unexpectedly didn't just do the usual trick of hit a few top of the draft type selections, get a core and get good, the way it 'typically' goes. Theirs is a bit more unusual. They did get some building block pieces via the Draft, just not where you'd expect. Slavin (Number 1 Defenseman) and Aho (Number 1 Center) were a 4th round pick in 2012 and 2nd round pick in 2015, respectively. Those have been their consistent foundational players throughout their run and players most difficult to replace when gone. But they are otherwise a somewhat difficult team to try and primary source as you trace their journey through the years.

As early as 2009-10 when Carolina misses the Playoffs, they start acquiring a bunch of 2nd/3rd round picks. They use their 1st round pick (7th) on Jeff Skinner and their own 2nd round pick on Justin Faulk. Funny enough they use a 7th round pick on Frederik Andersen, who they don't sign and he ended up back in draft going to Anaheim (and then subsequently Toronto and 11 years later, ends up in Carolina).

2010-11 comes around, Carolina misses Playoffs again. They make a trade in May, irrelevant in a vacuum, they trade a 5th round pick to Phoenix for Jared Staal. It's a win for Phoenix because Jared Staal is a recent 2nd round pick who flops in his pro rookie year, spending much of it in the ECHL. Carolina essentially throws away a pick for the brother of their best player. Keep this in mind. They start dealing some of their excess picks acquired previously for "buy low" candidates, recent high-ish picks that aren't doing well like Riley Nash and Bobby Sanguinetti. They sign Anton Babchuk from the KHL, use him to get Ian White from the Flames and re-flip him for a 2nd round pick. They got into the draft and take a popular pick in Ryan Murphy (BUST) in their 1st, and grab Victor Rask in the 2nd.

Now onto 2011-12. Another bad season. Fairly uneventful season. Erik Cole is signed away as a Free Agent. Tomas Fairly uneventful season, get a couple of 4ths for Joe Corvo and Alexi Ponikarovsky. Evgenii Dadonov briefly passes through after his Florida years but goes to KHL. Come draft time, they make the big move, they traded their 1st round pick (7th overall), young NHLer Brandon Sutter. and a former 2nd round pick Brian Dumoulin for Jordan Staal. Seldom has a Top 10 pick for a 24 year old worked out so well. It's basically the dream scenario everyone wishes for in these cases. The guy you get for 10-15 years that's already proven for a mystery box. Rarely does it work out so well. Why does it work out here? Perhaps in no small part because they have Eric Staal and in perhaps not irrelevant, they also have the "fourth Staal" brother in the organization. Staal (a year removed from UFA) instantly commits to a 10-year extension, removing any shadow of a doubt of his long-term commmitment and becoming a building block player. So still, no 1st round pick, but they still have a couple of 2nds, they grab Phillip Di Giuseppe and Brock McGinn. And of course most critically of all, in a D Man heavy draft towards the top with a whole bunch of nobodies that went high off the board, all the way in the 4th round, they draft a little known player named Jaccob Slavin.

Onto 2012-13, they sign Alex Semin for exactly one year at a $7 million price tag, who goes PPG. They extend Jeff Skinner (2010 1st) for 6 years. And still again, they miss the Playoffs now for a fourth straight year. It's otherwise another fairly low event season in terms of activity. After the reason, they move out their 2nd round pick and 25 year old Jamie McBain (draft pick seven years prior) for 27 year old Andrej Sekera. They draft 5th overall (highest they've held), and take Elias Lindholm. From other activity, they only hold a single 3rd, 5th and 6th in the rest of the draft, and use the third round pick to select Brett Pesce. They extend Semin for 5 years.

Now onto 2013-14, they sign Ron Hainsey in Free Agency, extend Justin Faulk for 6 years. During the season they trade long standing Tim Gleason (acquired seven years earlier) for John-Michael Liles, but then re-sign Gleason in the offseason. And they miss the Playoffs for a fifth straight year. Another longstanding player, Tuomo Ruuttu is sent out at the deadline for a 3rd round pick and a guy that goes back to the KHL after the year. Onto the draft, where they have their picks (minus a 6th) and only excess pick is an additional 4th. They use their 7th overall to draft a bust, Haydn Fleury. They use their 2nd to grab goalie Alex Nedeljkovic and their 3rd to grab Warren Foegele, along with one of the 4ths on Lucas Wallmark.

At this point, 5 straight missed playoffs resulted in the following 1st round picks: Jeff Skinner, Ryan Murphy, N/A, Elias Lindholm, Haydn Fleury.

2014-15. New General Manager, Jim Rutherford is out, and Ron Francis (who worked in the org since 2011) is now the GM. Nothing of note on the Free Agency front. Low event season again. Jay Harrison gets moved for a 6th, Jiri Tlusty for a 3rd and a 6th. Tim Gleason traded again for a 4th round pick. Bigger move is they get a first (that turns into a 2016 1st) along with Roland McKeown for Andrej Sekera. Again Hurricanes miss Playoffs, now six straight times. Come Draft time, Carolina is picking 5th overall. They use it to pick Defenseman Noah Hanifin. With their 2nd round pick, they draft a center named Sebastian Aho. This year, it's a stacked draft, but wow, incredible that he's still on the board at 35. They have two fourths and use on to acquire Nicolas Roy. And they use a 7th on Steven Lorentz.

2015-16 now. 3-year extension for Slavin, 2-year extension for Lindholm. Semin is bought out. Another low event free agency period. Trade front sees Joakim Nordstrom and Kris Versteeg brought in as a cap dump (and get paid difference of a 3rd and a 5th), Versteeg later that season flipped for Valentin Zykov and a 5th. A 3rd and 7th go out the door for Goalie Eddie Lack. They get a 3rd and a 5th for John-Michael Liles. And towards the deadline, we see the departure of long-time Franchise Legend, Eric Staal, four years after acquiring his brother to play together, as he goes to the Rangers for a prospect and two 2nd round picks (and Carolina retaining on his deal). But alas, now a 7th straight missed playoffs. Draft, Carolina is picking 13th after three prior years picking top 10. At the draft, the trade a 2nd round pick and 3rd round pick for 22-year old Teuvo Teravainen and also the cap dump of Bryan Pickell. They take Jake Bean 13th overall. The pick they got from the Kings (21st) they use on Julien Gauthier. They use a 2nd on Janne Kuokkanen and nothing else despite having excess picks.

Now it's 2016-17. They sign Lee Stempniak, Victor Stalberg (who they flip for a 3rd round pick at the deadline). And that's about it. They also trade Ron Hainsey at the deadline for a 2nd round pick. And low and behold, 8th straight missed playoffs. After the season, they traded a 3rd for Goaltender Scott Darling's negotiating rights and extended him. Picking 12th this time, they snag Martin Necas. Two 2nds and two 3rd, they grab Eetu Luostarinen with one of the 2nds and they grab Morgan Geekie with one of the 3rds. They trade a 5th to the Knights so they take Connor Brickley in the expnasion draft. They traded a 2nd to the Knights for Trevor van Riemsdyk.

2017-18 now. They traded the Knights a 5th for Marcus Kruger. They sign old favorite Justin Williams in Free Agency. They extend Jaccob Slavin for 7 years at $5.3 million AAV. And they miss the Playoffs for now the 9th straight time.

Tom Dundon becomes the Majority Owner in January of 2018. Ron Francis is let go. Don Waddell becomes General Manager. Franchise Legend Rod Brind'Amour is hired as the Head Coach. A new era dawns. The Draft Lottery takes place, and Carolina catches a lucky break moving from 11th up to 2nd. Marcus Kruger is traded along with a 4th round pick for Jordan Martinook and a 3rd round pick. They use the 2nd overall on Andrei Svechnikov and grab Jack Drury in the 2nd round. At the draft, they trade two former 5th overall picks - Elias Lindholm and Noah Hanifin, to Calary for Dougie Hamilton, Micheal Ferland and the negotiating rights to Adam Fox (that April, knowing they won't sign Fox they trade him to his preferred destination New York for a 2nd and a 3rd, completing the total package). In August, they trade longtime stalwart Jeff Skinner for a prospect, a 2nd, a 3rd, and a 6th.

2018-19 season, they sign Petr Mrazek and allow longtime Franchise stalwart Cam Ward to go. They sign Calvin de Haan for 4 years. The 21 year old Sebastian Aho is given the keys to become the 1st line center. They have a top 6 defense all between ages 24-27 (Jaccob Slavin, Justin Faulk, Brett Pesce, Dougie Hamilton, Calvin de Haan, and Trevor van Riemsdyk). During the season, they trade Victor Rask for Nino Niederreiter. With Coach Rod's system and a young roster (only over 27 year olds on roster are the grizzled vet Justin Williams, 30 year old Jordan Staal, and backup goalie Curtis McElhinney, they do something they've never done in quite some time.. they improve by 16 points and make the Playoffs. Teuvo Teravainen is extended for 5 years during the season. Come postseason, they defeat the defending champion Capitals (5 points better in standings) in 7 games, they sweep the Islanders (who were 4 points better in standings). But they're ultimately outclassed and swept by Boston in the Conference Finals. What's interesting and unique is that despite making the Conference Finals, Carolina enters the 2019 Draft loaded with draft capital. They hold onto their own 1st, have two 2nds, three 3rds, two 4ths, a 5th, two 6ths and a 7th. Their now very late 1st is used on Ryan Suzuki, they grab goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov and Jamieson Rees with their 2nds.

2019-20 season, high off the surprise conference finals. And they are active. The Leafs trade the Hurricanes Patrick Marleau and attach a 2020 1st round pick. The Hurricanes buyout Marleau. They trade Calvin de Haan to Chicago for Gustav Forsling (who signs a 2-way contract and plays in AHL). They trade Nicolas Roy and a 5th to Vegas for Erik Haula. They sign college free agent Chase Priskie after he is unsigned by the Capitals. They let Micheal Ferland walk in Free Agency. They trade away Scott Darling for James Reimer and a 6th, and extend Petr Mrazek. They match Montreal's offer sheet and extend Sebastian Aho for 5 years at $8.454 AAV. Sign Ryan Dzingel in free agency, extend Brock McGinn. Sign Jake Gardiner for 4 years in free agency. Then big trade, they move out another stalwart in Justin Faulk (who extends in St. Louis) for one year remaining on contract Joel Edmundsson, prospect Dominik Bokk (2018 1st rounder) and a 7th. At the trade deadline, it's a big one. Julien Gauthier is sent away for a prospect. Big trade - they acquire Vincent Trocheck for Erik Haula, Lucas Wallmark, Chase Priskie Eetu Luostarinen. From the Devils, they acquire Deadline Rental Sami Vatanen for Janne Kuokkanen, AHLer Frederik Claesson, and a 3rd. The New York Rangers trade them Defenseman Brady Skjei for a 1st round pick (the lesser of Toronto or Carolina's at Carolina's discretion). The season is impacted by the COVID-19 stoppage. The Hurricanes finish roughly similar in the regular season as the prior year with 81 points in 68 games. 6th in the East, they defeat the Rangers 3-0 in the Play-In round, but again they meet Boston and again, they fall way short, being defeated in 5 games. The games are close, but the series score is not. The Leafs do worse so the Canes convey their own 1st round pick (22nd overall), and retain the Leafs pick at 13th. They trade Joel Edmundsson's UFA negotiating rights to Montreal for a 5th round pick. Again, the Canes have decent draft capital despite being a Playoff team, holding the 13th pick, two 2nds, a 3rd, a 4th, a 6th and two 7ths. With the Leafs pick, they select Seth Jarvis. They use the 2nds on Noah Gunler and Vasili Ponomaryov, use a 3rd on Russian Defenseman Alexander Nikishin, a 6th on Lucas Mercuri, and a 7th on Ronan Seeley.

And we're onto 2020-21. Lower activity season. Justin Williams calls it a career and retires. The Canes sign Jesper Fast to a 3-year UFA deal. Re-sign Warren Foegele for 1 year. COVID results in a shortened season and temporary divisions. They lose Gustav Forsling off Waivers to Florida. During the season, they trade Ryan Dzingel to Ottawa for Cedric Paquette and Alex Galchenyuk then flip Galchenyuk to Toronto. They trade Clark Bishop for Maxim Lajoie. They trade Haydn Fleury for deadline rental Jani Hakanpaa and a 6th round pick. The Canes finish in 1st place in a re-vamped Central Division with a much improved 80 points in 56 games. 25 year old Goalie Alex Nedeljkovic finished 3rd in the Calder voting. In the first round, they dispose of Nashville in 6 games. But in the next round, they run into the defending champion Lightning (working with an extra $9 million in cap due to LTIR) and are knocked out in 5 games. At the draft, Canes trade Alex Nedeljkovic for Jonathan Bernier and a 3rd ronder. They trade Jake Bean for a 2nd rounder. They execute a bunch of trade-downs of draft picks and end up a total of 13 selections.. with three 2nds, two 3rds, a 4th, two 5ths, two 6ths and three sevenths. They take Scott Morrow, Aleksi Heimosalmni and Ville Koivunen in the 2nd. They use a 3rd on Aiden Hreschuk. They grab Jackson Blake in the 4th round. Justin Robidas in the 5th round. Joel Nystrom in the 7th round.

2021-22 season. Morgan Geekie is claimed by Seattle in the expansion draft. They trade Warren Foegele to Edmonton for Ethan Bear. It's a busy free agent period in and out the door. They let Dougie Hamilton go who signs a 7-year deal with New Jersey. Two other goalies sign away - Petr Mrazek and James Reimer. Brock McGinn signs a 4 year deal in Pittsburgh. Cedric Paquette signs in Montreal. To make up for the lost goaltenders, the Canes sign Frederik Andersen for 2 years at $4.5 million AAV, Antti Raanta for 2 years at $2 million AAV and Alex Lyon for a league minimum deal. They sign Ian Cole to a 1 year deal. They sign Tony DeAngelo to a 1 year deal. They sign Stefan Noesen to a 1-year deal. They sign Derek Stepan for a 1-year deal. They sign Brendan Smith to a 1-year deal. They also sign a little known defenseman named Jalen Chatfield from Vancouver on a league minimum 1-year deal. On the housekeeping front, they extend Jordan Martinook for 3 years. They sign Andrei Svechnikov, coming off his ELC, to an 8-year extension at $7.75 million AAV. And before the season starts, they sign Jesper Kotkaniemi to a 1-year offer sheet at $6.1 million AAV that goes unmatched by Montreal. The Habs get a 1st and 3rd in offer sheet compensation. The divisions are back to normal along with the season length. During the season, the Canes give Jalen Chatfield a 2-year extension. At the Trade Deadline, the Canes bring in deadline rental Max Domi as part of a 3-team swap for Aiden Hreschuk and a 6th round pick. The Canes extend Jesper Kotkaniemi for 8 years at $4.82 million AAV. Another great regular season sees the Canes finish 1st in the Metro with an impressive 116 points. This time they defeat the Bruins in a hard-fought 7 game series. However, in the next round, they lose the Rangers in a 7 game series, coming up short once again. At the draft, no 1st round pick this time, they hold a 2nd used to take Gleb Trikozov, a 3rd used to take Alexander Perevalov, two 4ths used to take Simons Forsmark and Cruz Lucius, a 5th, a 6th and a 7th.

2022-23 season. They trade Tony DeAngelo's RFA rights to Philadelphia for a 4th in 2022, a 3rd in 2023 and a 2nd in 2024. The Hurricanes trade for Brent Burns and Lane Pedersen in exchange for Steven Lorentz, Eetu Makiniemi and a 3rd. From the Knights they receive Max Paccioretty and Dylan Coghlan for future considerations. In free agency, they lose Ian Cole, Max Domi, Alex Lyon, and Brendan Smith. Nino Niederreiter is signed away to Nashville. They also lose a big player in free agency in Vincent Trochek who signs a 7-year deal with the Rangers. They sign Ondrej Kase to a 1-year deal who goes on LTIR for concussion issues after one game. They sign MacKenzie MacEachern for league minimum. They sign Paul Stastny for 1-year at $1.5 million. They bring back Calvin de Haan on a 1-year deal. On housekeeping, they extend Stefan Noesen for 2 years at the minimum. They sign Ethan Bear to 1 year/$2.2 million. Sign Maxim Lajoie to 1 year at the minimum. They extend Martin Necas for 2 years on a bridge deal at $3 million AAV. They bring back Derek Stepan for 1 year. As season kicks off, they trade Ethan Bear and Lane Pedersen for a 5th round pick. They extend Pyotr Kochetkov for 4 years at $2 million AAV. At the trade deadline, they acquire Jesse Puljujarvi for a European prospect. They add Shayne Gostisbehere for a 3rd round pick. Another strong season, Canes finish 1st in the Metro again, this time with 113 points. In the Playoffs, they beat the Islanders in 6 games in the first round. In the 2nd round, they beat the Devils in 5 games to reach their first Conference Finals since 2019. However, in the Conference Finals, they are swept by Florida, despite all the games being close, ending the season on a disappointing note. Carolina at the Draft, and again despite making the Conference Finals, holds a 1st, 2nd, 3rd, two 4ths, two 5ths, two 6ths and a 7th. They use the 1st on Bradley Nadeau, 2nd on Felix Unger Sorum, 3rd on Jayden Perron, 5 of their other 7 picks on Russians and a 5th on Charles Alexis-Legault.

Now it's 2023-24, they extend Jordan Staal for 4 years at $2.9 AAV. They extend Frederik Andersen for 2 years at $3.4 million AAV. They re-sign Jesper Fast for 2 years at $2.4 million AAV and Antti Raanta for 1 year at $1.5 million. In Free Agency, they lose all of Maxim Lajoie, Mackenzie McEachern, Max Paccioretty, Calvin de Haan and Shayne Gostisbehere to 1-year deals. Derek Stepan retires. In Free Agency, they add Michael Buntin for 3 years at $4.5 million AAV. They also add Dmitry Orlov for 2 years at $7.75 million AAV. They sign Brendan Lemiux for 1 year at the minimum. They sign Caleb Jones for 1 year at the minimum then trade him to Colorado before the season for Cal Burke. They bring back Tony DeAngelo (after he is bought out by Philadelphia) for 1 year at $1.675 million. They extend Dylan Coghlan for 1 year at the minimum. The Canes extend Sebastian Aho for 8 years at $9.75 million. They acquire the rights to David Kase for Massimo Rizzo and a 5th round pick. During the season, they pick up Goaltender Spencer Martin off waivers. They have an active Trade Deadline. They act as a broker in an Ilya Lyubushkin to Toronto deal to get a 6th. They trade the Leafs a college prospect for another 6th. The Canes make a big move, acquiring deadline rental Jake Guentzel from Pittsburgh for Michael Bunting, Vasilily Ponomarev, Ville Koivunen, Cruz Lucius and a 2nd round pick. They also acquire Evgeny Kuznetsov for a 3rd round pick. They trade Jamieson Rees to Ottawa for a 6th. Carolina ends the season strong again, with 111 points, although this time in 2nd in the Metro. They dispose of the Islanders in 5 games. However, they are unable to reach the Conference Finals, falling in the 2nd round to the Rangers in 6 games. Following the season, Don Waddell resigns as President and GM. The Canes replace him internally with Assistant GM and long-time analytics guru, Eric Tulsky as GM. At the Draft, Carolina trades down from the 1st and does another trade down of a late 2nd, and ends up 2 seconds, a 3rd, a 4th, two 5ths, three 6ths and a 7th. They draft Dominik Badinka and Nikita Artamonov in the 2nd, Noel Fransen in the 3rd, use 5 of their remaining 7 picks on Russians, and also take Justin Poirier in the 5th.

For 2024-25, the Canes re-sign Jalen Chatfield for 3-years at $3.025 million AAV. They also give a 1 year extension to Ryan Suzuki, and sign 1 year deal league minimum deal with Ty Smith. Unable to reach a deal, they traded Jake Guentzel's UFA negotiating rights to Tampa Bay for a 3rd round pick. They trade Dylan Coghlan to Winnipeg for Future Considerations. They lose a number of players in Free Agency. Stefan Noesen signs for 3 years in New Jersey, Brett Pesce signs for 6 years in New Jersey, Brady Skjei signs for 7 years in Nashville and Teuvo Teravainen signs for 3 years in Chicago. Cal Burke also signs for 1 year in Las Vegas, and Evgeny Kuznetsov, Antti Raanta and Tony DeAngelo all go to Europe. They replace them with their own signings. In Free Agency, Carolina signs back Shayne Gostisbehere for 3 years at $3.2 million AAV. They sign William Carrier for 6 years at $2 million AAV. They sign Sean Walker for 5 years at $3.6 million AAV. They sign Tyson Jost and Riley Stillman to 1 year deals at the minimum. The Canes sign Jack Roslovic for 1 year at $2.8 million. They also sign Josiah Slavin and Joakim Ryan to 2-way deals. In terms of housekeeping, the extend Jordan Martinook for 3 years $3.075 million AAV. They commit to a new 8-year term with Jaccob Slavin at $6.4 million AAV. They re-sign Jack Drury for 2 years at $1.725 million. The Canes and Martin Necas sign another 2 year extension, this time at $6.5 million AAV. Finally, before the season the extend Seth Jarvis for 8 years at $7.42 million. During the season, they terminate the contract of Brendan Lemieux. In late January, the Canes make a monster move and in a 3-team deal they acquire pending free agent Mikko Rantanen, Taylor Hall and Nils Juntorp for Martin Necas, Jack Drury, a 2nd, a 3rd, and a 4th. After only 6 weeks and only 13 games, with the deadline looming, the Canes decide they will likely not re-sign Mikko Rantanen and that his play doesn't fit their system very well. Rather than hang onto him, they trade Rantanen to Dallas for Logan Stankoven, two 1sts and two 3rd. Combining the two deals the effect is (out: Martin Necas, Jack, Drury, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and in: Logan Stankoven, Taylor Hall, Nils Juntorp, 1st, 1st, 3rd, 3rd.. plus 13 games of Rantanen). Also at the deadline, the acquire Mark Jankowski for a 5th round pick, and trade Lucas Mecuri for a 6th round pick. Before the season, KHL prospect Alexander Nikishin signs a 2 year ELC following the conclusion of his KHL season. The Canes extend Taylor Hall for 3 years at $3.167 million AAV and they also extend Frederik Andersen for 1 more year at $2.75 milion. In the standings, Carolina takes a bit of a step back, only finishing this time with 99 points. They are 2nd in the Metro. In the 1st round, they beat the Devils in 5 games. The 2nd round proves no more challenging and they beat the Capitals in 5 games. However, the Conference Finals again proves a roadblock as the Canes are defeated by the Panthers, this time in 5 games. At the Draft, the Canes once again execute more trade down transactions. They end up with three 2nd round picks, two thirds, a sixth and a seventh. They use the 2nds on Semyon Frolov, Charlie Cerrato and Ivan Ryabkin and the remaining picks on more Europeans.

And now that brings us to the current year, 2025-26, the Canes extend Eric Robinson for 4 years at $1.7 million AAV. They sign Finnish Pro Juha Jaaska for a 2 year minimum deal. They acquire Goaltender Cayden Primeau from Montreal for a 7th round pick. They re-sign Logan Stankoven for 8 years at $6 million AAV. In Free Agency, they lose Brent Burns to Colorado, Dmitry Orlov to the Sharks, Riley Stillman to the Oilers, and (eventually) Jack Roslovic to the Oilers. They sign depth defenseman Mike Reilly to a 1 year/$1 million deal. They sign goalie Amir Miftakhov to a 2-way deal. They make a big trade, acquiring Defenseman K'Andre Miller and then extending him for 8 years at $7.5 million AAV, and give up Scott Morrow, a 1st and a 2nd. They make another big move by signing Free Agent Nikolaj Ehlers for 6 years at $8.5 million AAV. They re-sign minor leaguers Noel Gunler, Skyler Brind'Amour, Domenick Fensore, Ronan Seeley and Ryan Suzuki each for 1-year. They also re-sign veteran Tyson Jost to a 2-way deal. They also commit long to another player, and extend Jackson Blake for 8 years at $5.1 million AAV. At the start of the season, Tyson Jost is claimed off Waivers by Nashville and Carolina signs Giovani Smith. Goaltender Cayden Primeau is claimed off Waivers by Toronto (but returned a month later when Toronto waives him back). Carolina also claims Goaltender Brandon Bussi off Waivers from Florida. In December, Carolina extends AHL Defenseman Joel Nystrom on a 4 year deal at $1.225 million AAV. In January, they acquire Depth Defenseman Jusso Valimaki for Future Considerations and acquire Kyle Masters and a 4th round pick in exchange for a 5th round pick. They also acquire AHL forward Viktor Neuchev for Gavin Bayreutcher. In February, they extend Goalie Brandon Bussi for 3 years at $1.9 million AAV. They have a quiet trade deadline, only acquiring Nicolas Deslauriers for a 7th. In May, they extend Mark Jankowski for 2 years at $1.85 million. They finish the season with 113 points, the most in the Eastern Conference. They sweep Ottawa in 4 in the first round. They sweep Philadelphia in the second round to improve to 8-0 and reach their old nemesis the Eastern Conference Finals. This time though, after dropping the first game, they rip off four straight against Montreal and reach the Stanley Cup Final for the third time in their franchise history. And that's where we stand today...




TAKEAWAYS: Constant churn. On the draft pick front, if you ask is Carolina buying or selling draft futures, the answer is "yes". They've mastered the art of the trade down to ensure a consistent highly related prospect pool. But they also treat draft picks as currency, and they use a lot of that currency to account for their current team. So they're basically cycling a lot of picks in and out constantly, and seem to end up every year with 8-12 draft picks while making the Conference Finals. They also have a gift of accepting departures. They don't get too attached to anyone and have seen a lot of players that have provided them a lot of value over the years go. Justin Faulk, Dougie Hamilton, Vincent Trocheck, Brett Pesce, Brady Skjei, Teuvo Teravainen, Jake Guentzel, Brock McGinn, Nino Niederreiter, Petr Mrazek, Mikko Rantanen, it's an impressive list that have come and gone. The reaction seems to be less panic and more "Thank you for service, good luck. Next man up." As an analytic driven front-office, you can tell they aggressively hunt for inefficiencies and compound micro-wins into good value. It's an organization that values sytems over stars, hence why they never seem to have players that rank particularly high on the "best in NHL" list but they're consistently up there in the standings. At this point, the players themselves are more temporary while Brind'Amour/System is the stabilizing piece.

My one-sentence summary of that is the 2025-26 Hurricanes are what happens when an organization combines elite amateur scouting, relentless asset management, emotional detachment from individual players, and a decade-long commitment to process over splashy moves.

I'm sorry could you repeat that?

 

[WarriorofTime]

I'm sorry could you repeat that?

It's largely a players in-players out but with less granularity and more specificity as we get closer to now. Wouldn't expect anyone to read the whole blob, for it's somewhat useful for sourcing how a team that looks nothing like it's team following 9 straight missed playoffs can get where it is.

 

[jfhabs]

I'll push back on this just a little - Carolina is absolutely attached to:
Staal
Slavin
Aho
Jarvis
Martinook
These 5 are going nowhere, period. They will all retire canes.
The future remains to be seen, but I am guessing Hall retires a cane, and ends up much like RBA and Gleason, on the staff. In fact I would BET on Hall staying with the org after retirement. I also think Blake and Stankoven (especially stankoven) will become part of an immovable core. Note I don't have Svech or any other D man on this list. Time needs to tell on Miller. Right now Miller is in the Skjei category, but he also could become part of that Slavin vibe - people don't realize how good Miller's stick is. NYR really ruined that guy. Unless Bussi shits the bed next season, I also see him as a guy who might have a long tenure here.

And for what its worth, Necas showed us this year why he was never going to come to a deal here. Great during the regular season, vaporware in the playoffs because that dance up the middle shit doesn't work in May and June. I'll take Ehlers and Stankoven over Necas and Rantanen for their respective salaraies any day of the week. But, I'm a canes fan, and our system is different.

Martinook?

 

[Borsig]

Martinook?

Yes. Martinook. Rba loves him and hes room glue.

 

[ChuckW]

The only reason they’re where they are is because Florida wasn’t in the east. Their road so far has been pillow soft. Montreal is too inexperienced and it shows. Vegas is going to maul them.

Nah

 

[daver]

People keep talking about their forechecking. This was the strength of the Panthers last year too wasn't it?

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

People keep talking about their forechecking. This was the strength of the Panthers last year too wasn't it?

Everything was a strength of the Panthers last year. They aren't a buzz saw like Carolina is, but they were very heavy on the forecheck. Overall the Canes forecheck is a fair amount better - this iteration of the Canes might be the best forechecking team in league history.

The biggest difference between the two teams (aside from goaltending - Florida blow Carolina out of the water there) was the Panthers forwards were better exiting the zone, with three exceptional two way centers. Canes center core of Aho - Stankoven - Staal is a strong 2 way group but pales in comparison to Barkov - Bennett - Lundell.

Carolina is a very good defensive team, but that has more to do with their forecheck than their in zone defense, which can be exposed by teams that manage to consistently break their forecheck. We even saw that vs Montreal at times - where the Canes get caught running around in their own zone. Which is why they had such a hard time vs Florida and why I suspect Vegas will give them trouble.