With July 1st in the rear-view mirror, there seems to be a bit of a log jam on the defensive market in the NHL. It’s no secret that Erik Karlsson is available via trade and Matt Dumba via free agency. In the short term, many people overlook that the Hurricanes have a few moves left to make.
They were involved in a trade with the Philadelphia Flyers involving Tony DeAngelo returning to Carolina, which was ultimately nixed by the league due to a fringe rule of a salary retention player returning to the previous team within a calendar year. This trade is now able to be completed(today is July 9th). Will we see this trade? It’s still unclear. The Hurricanes have a stacked blueline after the addition of Dimitry Orlov, but they’ve been rumored to be shopping Brett Pesce.
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Pesce is in the final year of his $4m AAV contract and is set to be looking for a raise, and the Hurricanes traditionally don’t overpay for players. There have been multiple reports that Pesce and the Canes are not close on contract talks, and they are making him available via trade this offseason. The early speculation is that the Dallas Stars and the Nashville Predators have an interest in Pesce if the Hurricanes pull the trigger.
This season is going to be a roller coaster for Hurricanes fans as they only have TEN players signed past this year. With a plethora of expiring contracts on the books, the Hurricanes will have an immense amount of flexibility to make trades during the season to improve their hockey club.
