RALEIGH, N.C. — The Carolina Hurricanes are on the road until just before Halloween, so it seemed like a good time to ask the readers what topics they’re interested in just a handful of games into the season.
Let’s get answering!
Alexander Nikishin! Tell us about Alexander Nikishin! — Every Hurricanes fan
There were a few questions about perhaps the most anticipated prospect in Hurricanes history, and I cut through them and summarized it into the above statement.
Yes, fans should be excited. Several people within the organization have told me Nikishin could show up in Raleigh tomorrow and be a top-four defenseman out of the gate. The 23-year-old defenseman is a unicorn: big, fast, physical, skilled and proven.
Nikishin plays for SKA alongside two former Hurricanes, Tony DeAngelo and Evgeny Kuznetsov. Last season, he led all KHL defensemen in points for the second consecutive season and was named the league’s top blueliner. He’s in the final year of his contract, hence all the fervor.
SKA is a powerhouse, so Nikishin’s potential arrival on this side of the Atlantic would come, at the earliest, after the KHL’s postseason. The league’s regular season ends in late March, followed by a two-month playoff.
Should Carolina make the playoffs — the NHL’s regular season ends in mid-April — it’s possible Nikishin could arrive for the postseason. He’d be in line for a two-year entry-level contract at $950,000 annually before cashing in on his second deal (see how Kirill Kaprizov’s contracts ended up with the Wild) as an RFA.
Where Nikishin, who is left-handed, would fit in should he arrive for the playoffs is up for debate, but when he does arrive, I fully expect a lot of Nikishin jerseys (No. 21?) to fill Lenovo Center.
The fan base was very upset (understandably) after seeing so many fan favorites leave this summer. While that was tough, could you explain how well this team is set up for next year (prospects, cap space, etc.)? I get that the whole “next year” mentality is stale, but this appears to be much different. — Will L.
This question dovetails with the Nikishin queries. The Hurricanes certainly lost quite a few mainstays this offseason, but the team has set itself up well for the short- and long-term future.
Jaccob Slavin and Shayne Gostisbhere are locked in (at just under $9.6 million combined) on the left side, with Dmitry Orlov and his $7.75 million set to come off the books after this season. Replacing Orlov with Nikishin would save Carolina approximately $6.8 million against the cap.
Brent Burns is also in the final year of his deal, and Scott Morrow is a ready-made right-handed defenseman to join Sean Walker and Jalen Chatfield (combined $6.6 million) on that side of the ice. Burns costs the Hurricanes $5.28 million against the cap this season, and Morrow could replace him at $916,667 — a bit more than $4.3 million in savings.
Among the other players making more than a million dollars, Jesper Fast ($2.4 million), Jack Roslovic ($2.8 million) and Frederik Andersen ($3.4 million) are also on expiring deals — another $8.6 million — plus the salary cap is expected to increase by $4 million next year, to $92 million.
Add all that up and the Hurricanes are poised to have nearly $24 million in cap space with which to play. If the two young defensemen jump in, plus at least one more young forward grabs a forward spot, Carolina would still have close to $21 million to add a couple of forwards and a goaltender.
Cue the wolf with his eyes shooting out of his head and tongue unfurling onto the floor.
GM Eric Tulsky and the Hurricanes’ front office can add big-ticket players with space to spare if they so choose. They’ll also have room for that Nikishin extension in a couple of years.
How do you explain the unreal comments from Wolves owner Don Levin? — Jeremy M.
Usually the “stay together for the kids” comes before the messy divorce. Not in this case.
The Hurricanes’ nasty split with their AHL affiliate two offseasons ago left Carolina without a minor league team in 2023-24 and the Chicago Wolves cobbling together a roster that wound up finishing with the second-worst record in the league.
The NHL and AHL brought the two sides back together — but not without a bunch of bitterness. As part of the agreement to have the Wolves return as Carolina’s top affiliate, the Hurricanes claimed total control of hockey operations for the team. That pushed longtime Wolves GM and former journeyman goalie Wendell Young, Levin’s right-hand man, out of all hockey decisions.
Young now serves as vice chairman/governor of the team — a move Levin called a promotion but is more like when Ron Francis was kicked upstairs by Tom Dundon in March 2018.
Young took shots at the Hurricanes last season amid the fallout of their breakup, and he continues to be a thorn — though mostly a dull one — in the team’s side.
Levin has taken up the mantle, questioning Carolina’s front-office structure, which has three people without playing experience — Tulsky, Darren Yorke and Tyler Dellow — wielding the most power (along with Dundon) in final decisions.
Chicago Wolves owner and chairman Don Levin shares his thoughts on last year and admits concerns to this year’s team during an interview that was aired during Saturday night’s first intermission pic.twitter.com/h7pBWpBcnZ
— Andrew Rinaldi (@Andrew_Rinaldi_) October 14, 2024
Levin has owned the Wolves for more than 30 years and has done plenty of winning, including hoisting three Calder Cups — one of which came in 2022 with the Hurricanes as Chicago’s parent team. The AHL, however, has changed, and Levin’s attempt to go it alone last year flamed out in historic fashion.
Carolina wants and needs a place to develop its prospects, and no matter how badly Levin believes he can win by throwing money at tweeners such as Chris Terry and Rocco Grimaldi, the days of loading up a minor-league team with ringers are over.
I wouldn’t expect any holiday cards to be exchanged between the two sides, but everyone knows Dundon isn’t going to get emotional about the situation. Is the partnership ideal? Nope. Can the Hurricanes get what they need out of the agreement? It looks like they can — at least in the short term.
Why is it that it seems whoever puts on a Canes jersey struggles with finishing? — Steve U.
You could insert any team name and fan into this question and it would sound like a reasonable query. The truth is, the Hurricanes don’t struggle with this any more than other teams.
Carolina had the league’s seventh-worst shooting percentage last year, at 9.2 percent. The year before, the Hurricanes ranked 15th at 10.1 percent. Three seasons ago, Carolina was again seventh-worst at 9.2 percent.
None of that sounds great, but let’s consider this: Do the Oilers have a finishing problem? Last season, Edmonton ranked last in the league with a 6.2 shooting percentage. (Full disclosure: the Oilers were first in the league in 2022-23.)
The Hurricanes are a team that relies on shot volume, and that often means more shots with a lower conversion rate. Still, the team’s best player, Sebastian Aho, has an incredibly consistent shooting percentage of 15.2 percent. In the last four years, Aho’s shooting percentage has been 16.7, 16.5, 16.7 and 16.2.
It’s human nature to think the team you follow does some things exponentially worse than others, but I wouldn’t worry too much about this.
At what point in the season is it most advantageous to place Fast on LTIR, in terms of cap space and movement? — Andrew G.
Here’s something I didn’t hit on in my story about the Hurricanes’ salary cap maneuvering: Fast has been on LTIR, is on LTIR and will remain on LTIR. While everyone thinks a player goes on LTIR when a team needs it, in fact, it’s about paperwork.
The team with an injured player sends documentation to the league with evidence of the need for the LTIR designation, and if the league approves it, the player is on LTIR.
Now, LTIR isn’t used until it’s needed. So when Carolina called up Jackson Blake at the start of the season — after setting their cap recapture number at just $3 below the NHL’s $88 million cap — the team used some of the LTIR space from Fast’s $2.4 million.
As mentioned in the aforementioned story, any time the Hurricanes get under $88 million, they can still accrue cap space for use this season.
So when is the best time? Well, Carolina will want to accrue as much space as they can — this is why Blake was “sent down” to the minors in a paper move this week — and right now is on track for more $7.1 million in accrued space at the deadline, according to PuckPedia. If that was the accrued amount on the day of the deadline, the Hurricanes could add a player with a face cap value of approximately $9.5 million ($7.1 million plus Fast’s $2.4 million).
The short answer is, the more patient Tulsky and the front office can be, the more they’ll have to play with down the road.
Do you think Andy Dalton should continue to start or give Bryce Young another chance? — Ben B.
I really don’t have any opinion on the Carolina Panthers, but I can give one useful perspective. As someone who spent years covering a team spinning its wheels without a playoff appearance or anything to be excited about, I can attest it isn’t easy to be a beat writer in that situation.
So whichever Panthers (or Hornets, for that matter) writers you follow for news, give them a little grace, knowing that it’s tough to slog through season after season of mediocrity — or worse.
(Photo: Codie McLachlan / Getty Images)
