Countdown to Free Agent Frenzy: Hurricanes have money to spend
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While the Stanley Cup Final is just underway, the NHL's off-season has arrived for 30 teams who are preparing for the NHL Draft starting on June 27 and Free Agent Frenzy on July 1. TSN.ca keeps you up to date with all the latest rumours and speculation from around the NHL beat.
Hurricanes looking to spend
The Carolina Hurricanes are flush with cap space this summer and intend to use to go big-game hunting after falling in the Eastern Conference Final for the second time in three years this spring.
According to PuckPedia, the Hurricanes have the fifth-most cap space ahead of the off-season with $28.42 million in space with 20 players already under contract for next season.
“If there’s any chance to get better, we’re going to take it,” Hurricanes general manager Eric Tulsky told reporters this week. “We have the full buy-in to spend to the cap if there are ways to do it to get better.
"We have so much space and such a strong team. There’s no guarantee we can find ways to spend all that money, but we’re going to spend all summer trying.”
The Hurricanes have tried - and failed - to lock in a superstar before. The team acquired winger Jake Guentzel last season before losing him in free agency to the Tampa Bay Lightning and spent big to trade for Mikko Rantanen from the Colorado Avalanche in January. When contract talks failed to progress with Rantanen, the team flipped him to the Dallas Stars rather than risk losing another asset for nothing.
Among the offers for Rantanen, the Hurricanes pursued a deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs with Mitch Marner at the centre point. Marner declined to waive no-move clause, closing the door on a swap of the pending unrestricted free agents.
James Mirtle of The Athletic, who lists the Hurricanes among the most likely fits for Marner, writes that the 28-year-old's trade deadline decision was tied to the fact he was about to become a father and it hasn't dampened Carolina's interest level. Whether Marner will be interested in joining the team on his own accord now, however, remains unclear.
Carolina can offer Marner the chance to join an immediate contender, with the team's focus on winning now.
“Our goal is to win a Cup, and our goal is to win more Cups after that and keep going,” Tulsky added. “We’re trying to build a team that can compete year after year. But competing isn’t enough. We want to win. So you’ve got to find a way to do that.”
Devils focused on re-signing RFA Hughes
The New Jersey Devils enter this off-season with limited cap space and a key restricted free-agent to re-sign in defenceman Luke Hughes.
Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald told NHL.com on Wednesday that extending Hughes is a top priority for the club with both sides committed to finding a deal.
"We've only got so much cap space, and we've got to figure out strategically how we can better our team on trades, [the] market and what cap space we have available while also thinking what we can allocate towards a great young player," Fitzgerald said of Hughes. "Both parties are in agreement. ... We're going to get this done."
Hughes, 21, recorded seven goals and 44 points in 71 games with the New Jersey Devils last season while averaging 21:09 of ice time. He appeared in one playoff game before his team was eliminated by the Carolina Hurricanes in the first round.
Drafted fourth overall by the Devils in 2021, Hughes has 17 goals and 93 points in 155 career games. The 6-foot-2 left-shot defenceman is coming off of his three-year, entry-level contract that carried an annual cap hit of $925,000.
Fitzgerald vowed at his season-ending press conference that he would be making changes to his roster this summer and struck that same tone again Wednesday. He noted, however, that the team would like to re-sign Jake Allen to keep their goalie tandem intact with Jacob Markstrom entrenched as their No. 1.
"We're trying to figure out where some of the holes are in our group and how do we fill those holes with the funds we have and who's available via trade or unrestricted free agency," Fitzgerald said. "I'd say the back end is probably the safest place where we feel very comfortable. As far as goaltending, Jake Allen is one of the better ones on the market. His camp tells me he would like to stay. He really enjoyed his time here. We're trying to figure out what that number is, and then does it work for us?"
According to Puckpedia, the Devils have $12 million in cap space to work with this summer with 19 players under contract for next season.
Forwards Tomas Tatar, Nathan Bastian, Curtis Lazar, Daniel Sprong and Justin Dowling are set to become unrestricted free agents on July 1, as are defencemen Brian Dumoulin and Dennis Cholowski, along with Allen.
Set for restricted free agency are Hughes and forwards Cody Glass and Nolan Foote.
Any impact on Crosby's future?
Bryan Hayes, Jeff O’Neill and Jamie McLennan discussed Wednesday what the Pittsburgh Penguins hiring Dan Muse means for the state of the team moving forward.
The OverDrive hosts debated whether the hiring will have an impact on Sidney Crosby's future, given the team parted with two-time Stanley Cup winning head coach Mike Sullivan last month.
If the team elects for a full-scale rebuild, the trio suggested that veterans Evgeni Malkin and Erik Karlsson could become available, with Crosby's future likely in his own hands.
The 37-year-old team captain signed a two-year, $17.4 million extension last summer that will kick on July 1. He had 33 goals and 91 points in 80 games this season.
Watch the full debate below: