Getty The Carolina Hurricanes will have to navigate a difficult offseason.
The Carolina Hurricanes held two end-of-season media availability sessions on May 18 and May 19. All players and coaches talked to reporters for one last time this season, with Jake Guentzel speaking about his free-agency plans and willingness to sign a contract extension with the Canes.
That extension would depend on Guentzel accepting Carolina’s offer. That, however, might not be the case with other free agents who have already rejected contracts offered by the Hurricanes.
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NHL insider Elliotte Friedman touched on the upcoming Carolina Hurricanes free agents and what might happen with them ahead of the July 1 opening of free agency in an episode of the 32 Thoughts podcast released on May 17.
According to Friedman, the Hurricanes already tried to reach a deal with Brett Pesce but the player, originally drafted by Carolina, seemingly rejected a $55 million offer.
“Brett Pesce, it didn’t seem likely,” Friedman said about the defenseman signing an extension with Carolina. “They kind of told them what they were willing to do last year. I think it was in the 5-times-5 range.
“It didn’t work. I don’t know that it’s changed.”
This intel shared by Friedman seems to align with Pesce’s father writing a now-deleted farewell post (h/t Daily Faceoff) on the social network X, formerly known as Twitter, after the Hurricanes’ elimination from the playoffs.
Hurricanes Prioritizing Jake Guentzel‘s Extension
Friedman offered insight about a few other pending free agents currently rostered by Carolina, including their primary 2024 trade-deadline acquisition, superstar forward Jake Guentzel.
“I would expect that they’re going to take a run at it,” Friedman told co-host Jeff Marek about the Hurricanes plans to extend Guentzel. “I don’t know how to handicap it at this point in time. But I think they’re gonna take a run at it.”
Jordan Staal, Brent Burns, and Jake Guentzel were among the players who met with the media on the first day of end-of-season interviews.
Notables from Saturday’s session ⬇️
During his exit interview on May 18, Guentzel left the door open to a potential exit from Carolina as a free agent in the 2024 summer but he sounded happy about the city of Raleigh and his brief tenure with the Canes.
“This team for sure can win the Stanley Cup,” Guentzel said, via NHL.com. “I think it’s right there. This puts you in a good spot to do that. I want to do that more than anything, and that’s all I care about. That definitely plays a factor in it. Hopefully, you can kind of get some stability and be able to sign here long-term.”
Hurricanes Interested in Re-Signing Brady Skjei, Embracing Flexibility
Friedman discussed Carolina defenseman Brady Skjei’s situation and how the Hurricanes tried to approach him for an extension ahead of free agency.
“Brady Skjei, I think they looked at a couple of deals with him,” Friedman said. “One of them I think might have been like [Dmitry] Orlov-style; low term but a big number. I heard they were creative. But obviously, at this point in time, they haven’t sorted anything out.”
Dmitry Orlov #LetsGoCanes
$7.75M x 2
Breakdown:
23-24: $4.75M + $3M SB
24-25: $7.75M
*Does not include any trade protection
The Hurricanes signed Orlov to a huge 2-year, $7.75 million-per-season deal in July 2023, just hours after the defenseman hit the open market.
Friedman concluded the segment about the Canes with a summarization of their situation entering free agent, one that should have fans excited about what might happen from July 1 on.
“I think the other thing too about the Hurricanes is they might just like the flexibility to see what drops on their lap because of it,” Friedman said. “What good players become available? Where do we–does somebody who needs cap space have to come to us because we have the flexibility?
“I always wonder if there’s something there that we’re not seeing yet, that we’re not monitoring.”
The Canes can afford to play the “wait game” this summer. PuckPedia projects Carolina to have a huge $28.13 million in cap space. That figure only includes 16 players under contract for next season of the minimum 25 required on the roster.
Nonetheless, that flexibility will allow Carolina to either re-sign their players or try to acquire upcoming free agents from elsewhere.