The Carolina Hurricanes are fully in a season of change.
After months of organizational adjustments, it was expected that the beloved team fans had come to adore over the past several seasons would be split up. The Hurricanes had some of the NHL’s most desired UFAs on the 2023-2024 roster and did not have the cap space to keep each player.
Free agency began with a tough blow for Canes fans, as star Jake Guentzel departed for Tampa Bay on June 30. In exchange, Carolina received a third-round 2025 NHL Draft pick. July 1 kept the punches coming for fans, with defensive outliers Brett Pesce and Stefan Noesen leaving for the New Jersey Devils. Another defensive star Brady Skjei signed a deal with the Nashville Predators later in the day. Teuvo Teravainen, fan favorite and longtime Hurricane, went back to the Chicago Blackhawks, where he won the Stanley Cup with the franchise in 2015.
Free agency wasn’t all doom and gloom for fans. Fan favorite and Carolina alternate captain Jordan Martinook inked a three-year deal to stay with the Hurricanes organization. Martinook’s contract is now structured as a 3×3.05. The front office also signed former Carolina defenseman Shane Gostisbehere to a three-year deal, and former Avalanche defenseman Sean Walker to a five-year contract. Gostisbehere and Walker will likely be the Skjei/Pesce replacements for the Hurricanes’ defensive core.
The two major deals of July 1’s Free Agency were expected and a complete shock for fans. The first, a Jaccob Slavin extension, had been reported on since the start of the offseason. Slavin’s eight-year extension begins during the 2025-2026 season. Alternate captain and the franchise’s two-time Lady Byng winner, this extension was a top priority this offseason, similarly to other alternate captain Sebastian Aho’s eight-year deal completed last offseason.
The second deal remains a shock to fans across the NHL. Former Las Vegas forward William Carrier officially signed an eight-year contract with the Hurricanes on July 2. Carrier was not expected to be a part of the organization, and his contract total is worth approximately twelve million.
Other signings haven’t gone unnoticed to Hurricanes fans. The front office, despite still being on the hunt for a President of Hockey Operations, have completed multiple one-year deals. Players on these deals include defenseman Riley Stillman (son of Cory Stillman, who was on the Hurricanes’ 2006 Stanley Cup winning roster), forward Tyson Jost, and forward Eric Robinson. Jack Roslovic was also signed to the Hurricanes roster. However, details have not been released to the public at this time.
There are still urgent questions about the future of rostered RFAs, in particular Martin Necas and Seth Jarvis. Necas’s fate as a Hurricane has been uncertain all summer, with both his camp and the Canes front office expressing mutual desires to part ways. A deal with Columbus fell through directly before the 2024 NHL Draft. The deal would’ve involved the fourth pick in the draft for Carolina in exchange for Necas. However, Necas received a qualifying offer from the Hurricanes on June 30. As for Jarvis, Carolina GM Eric Tulsky has expressed interest in an eight-year extension for the twenty-two-year-old winger. Jarvis’s 2023-2024 season was a career year, despite multiple injuries. A Jarvis deal will likely be one of the offseason’s biggest signings – and possibly challenges in terms of the NHL cap hit.
