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May 20, 2025; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Hurricanes forward Sebastian Aho (20) celebrates scoring against Florida Panthers during the first period in game one of the Eastern Conference Final of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Lenovo Center. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-Imagn Images

Carolina Hurricanes 2025-26 Roster Projection 1.0

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers | By Zach Martin | Last updated Jul 5, 2025 8:25 AM ET

As we get ready to close out the first week of free agency, the Carolina Hurricanes have set themselves up for a stellar 2025-26 season after the additions of Nikolaj Ehlers and K’Andre Miller. Even with the eight-year extension for Logan Stankoven that doesn’t kick in until July 1, 2026, the Hurricanes are looking like a team that will be a huge contender for the Stanley Cup this season. The team still has $10.644 million left in cap space after the Ehlers and Miller acquisitions, with room to grow. That said, what would a lineup currently look like with the roster as of Friday, July 4?

Jumping onto the idea from fellow The Hockey Writers members Tony Wolak and Jesse Courville-Lynch, let’s take a look at a projected roster lineup for the Hurricanes going into the 2025-26 season.

Hurricanes Roster Projection 1.0

While the Hurricanes did address their defensemen and top-six winger concerns, the only need left is a bona fide second-line center. Currently, they have Jesperi Kotkaniemi as their current 2C on the roster, and unfortunately, that will not get the job done to win a Stanley Cup. Even with his $4.82 million average annual value (AAV), his lack of overall production in the regular season and playoffs is not what teams expect from a 2C behind a player like Sebastian Aho. There could be some external moves via trade if the Hurricanes want to bring in someone to slot behind Aho.

However, if they stick internally, two wingers could move to the center role, if that’s a road the Hurricanes could go down. One option could be Seth Jarvis, as he’s been taking more faceoffs for Rod Brind’Amour in the last couple of seasons, more so during 2024-25. Another could be Stankoven, who’s played center before in his hockey career, going back to Kamloops of the Western Hockey League. He is also a right-shot, which could give the Hurricanes that particular center fit they’ve been looking for. For the sake of argument, let’s say they move Stankoven to the 2C spot; this is what the forward core could look like in 2025-26.

LW	C	RW
Nikolaj Ehlers	Sebastian Aho	Seth Jarvis
Taylor Hall	Logan Stankoven	Andrei Svechnikov
Jordan Martinook	Jordan Staal	Jackson Blake
Eric Robinson	Jesperi Kotkaniemi	William Carrier
Tyson Jost	Mark Jankowski

Kotkaniemi hasn’t thrived as the 4C, but with Jordan Staal being the shutdown 3C for the last few seasons, that is how the bottom-six center roles will have to play out. This means that Mark Jankowski would be the odd-man center out of place; however, he has shown to be a key player when being called upon in certain situations. It’s not ideal, but something the Hurricanes could work with depth-wise. It still leaves Kotkaniemi in the lineup if the Hurricanes don’t move on from him, but they would get a boost in the 2C spot with Stankoven as the right-shot center. Furthermore, their top six gets better with internal moves if that is what’s decided by Brind’Amour and the coaching staff.

Jackson Blake could move down to the third line with Staal and Jordan Martinook after playing a majority of the regular season in the top-six during the 2024-25 season. However, the Jordans have proven to help younger players thrive in the system while on their line. Jarvis has spent time on the third line with those guys and has produced. Even Stankoven, through the back part of 2024-25 and in the 2025 NHL Playoffs, had some productivity on that line. That said, being placed with Staal and Martinook might help Blake grow more into his game within the Hurricanes’ system in 2025-26. He had 17 goals and 34 points in his rookie season, maybe a stable line could see him reach 40-plus points this upcoming season.

Defensively, outside of the Miller addition and possibly having Alexander Nikishin all season, there aren’t many changes in that group. What will change is the pairings after the departure of Brent Burns (Colorado Avalanche) and Dmitry Orlov (San Jose Sharks). While some have said to pair Jaccob Slavin with Nikishin, it might be beneficial to ease the young Russian defenseman into the system by pairing him with Shayne Gostisbehere.

LD	RD	G
Jaccob Slavin	Sean Walker	Frederik Andersen
K’Andre Miller	Jalen Chatfield	Pyotr Kochetkov
Alexander Nikishin	Shayne Gostisbehere
Mike Reilly

While that is two offensively minded players together, having someone like Gostisbehere gives Nikishin someone to learn from when it comes to the Hurricanes’ system, especially from a player who has been in it twice in his career. In that case, you add Miller and Jalen Chatfield together to give speed to that second pairing and two guys who can play all three zones in different aspects of their game. Plus, the physicality from both Miller and Chatfield would be exciting to watch. There is a case to maybe swap Sean Walker and Chatfield. Either way, put Miller on the second pair with either one of those guys, and it could unlock another level for the newest Hurricanes defenseman in this system under assistant coach Tim Gleason.

Finally, whoever you pair with Miller, put him with Slavin, and you’re off to the races with those three pairings. Mike Reilly, as the team’s seventh defenseman, is a nice, tidy addition by general manager Eric Tulsky. By having Scott Morrow leave via the Miller trade and Riley Stillman moving on, Reilly gives the Hurricanes’ defense a left-shot player who can play on both sides of the ice, with a nice cap hit.

Goaltending, the Hurricanes are more than likely running it back again with Frederik Andersen and Pyotr Kochetkov after extending Andersen after Round 2 of the playoffs. The Hurricanes did trade for and sign Cayden Primeau from the Montreal Canadiens to give them goalie depth in Raleigh and in Chicago with the Wolves of the American Hockey League (AHL). They also signed Russian goalie Amir Miftakhov as well to round out the AHL and goalie depth.

All in all, there could be other moves before the offseason is said and done, but the Hurricanes are in a great spot after one week into free agency.

More Moves Coming Soon?

While the Hurricanes do have $10.644 million in cap space, plus assets, to make more moves this season, there are many options for them to continue building for 2025-26. Whether it be trades, offer sheets, and/or signings, Tulsky has said they will always be making moves to improve. Only time will tell, but Hurricanes fans and the team are excited to see what is next after the additions of Ehlers and Miller, along with how the roster looks currently after one week into July and free agency.