The Carolina Hurricanes could already find themselves in big trouble in their Eastern Conference Final matchup with the Florida Panthers. After dropping Game 1 on home ice and losing that advantage, the series could completely swing in the Panthers’ favour if they go back home up 2-0, and the Hurricanes will have their backs against the wall in a series where they were already considered the underdog.
Frank Seravalli talked about the stakes for the Hurricanes in Game 2 and how they need to stay on their game on Daily Faceoff Live.
Frank Seravalli: The Carolina Hurricanes are skating for their lives tonight. You go down two-cop to the defending Cup champs on home ice, and say good night Gracie, it’s over. I mean, that’s just fact of life. This Panthers team, they’ve got a killer instinct like few others that we’ve seen in recent NHL history, and so this is it for the Canes.
I don’t want to hear someone ever say again that the canes are 0-13 in Conference Final games. Stop with the nonsense, okay? Because there’s only four guys left from the 2019 team. If you want to say that they’re 0-5 against the Panthers in the Conference Finals in the last three seasons, by all means, fill your boots. But nonetheless, they’re wearing part of that against this Panthers team, and they are hungry to erase it.
So, this is their opportunity. The big thing that stood out to me from Game 1: they got off their game. The Panthers took them off of their game and when that happened, they got themselves into a position where they tried to play a way that they’re not going to be successful in. Only the Florida Panthers in this series are capable of running a team into row three of the seats, and it’s not the Carolina Hurricanes.
So if you think that you’re going to go pound for pound and play tough against this team, focus on what you’re good at, which is defending, which is structure, which is getting pucks on net. And if you get away from that, you’re going to be in big, big trouble.
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The Hurricanes announced Thursday night that they’ve signed winger Jackson Blake to an eight-year, $45M extension that will kick in for the 2026-27. While that would normally mean an average annual value and cap hit of $5.625M, the actual cap hit of the contract will fall in the $5.1M range due to deferred compensation, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. The contract buys out the extent of Blake’s RFA eligibility and will make him a UFA following the 2033-34 season. Blake’s stock has been on the rise since immediately after Carolina selected him in the fourth round in 2021. He was a USHL All-Star in his post-draft season with the Chicago Steel before making the jump to NCAA hockey with North Dakota, where he totaled 102 points in 79 games in two seasons — earning a Hobey Baker finalist nod in his sophomore year. He signed his entry-level contract with the Hurricanes in April 2024 and joined them for the brief remainder of the regular season. In his first full pro season, Blake hit the ground running. He made the Canes out of camp and had five points through his first nine games despite seeing less than 12 minutes of ice time per night. That offense didn’t quite hold up the rest of the way, though. While he ended up seeing significant deployment alongside Sebastian Aho at even strength, he ended up finishing the year with a 17-17–34 scoring line in 80 games, finishing ninth on the team in scoring and ninth in Calder Trophy voting as the league’s Rookie of the Year. That’s fine production, especially considering he averaged under 14 minutes per game on the year. He’ll need to build on it to justify that cap hit, though, especially with so much risk attached to a max-term deal. The good news is that Blake has another year left on his entry-level contract to continue his development before he’ll need to start justifying that cap hit. The son of former NHLer Jason Blake turns 22 next month, yet with this deal, he’s guaranteed to surpass his dad’s career earnings. The Hurricanes have historically opted to sign their young players for as long and as early as possible, a trend that continues here. Sometimes, it’s paid off — their eight-year, $59.4M commitment to Seth Jarvis last offseason looks like a steal after he put up a repeat 67-point performance in 2024-25. There’s also the glaring example of where that strategy has failed regarding center Jesperi Kotkaniemi, whose $4.82M cap hit looks more stomachable now with a rising ceiling but is still well above his market value four years into the deal. The jury is still out on newly acquired Logan Stankoven, who they inked to an eight-year, $48M extension at the beginning of the month. Blake’s deal will be one of the last of its kind. It contains two elements — deferred compensation and an eight-year term — that will be outlawed when the new CBA Memorandum of Understanding takes effect on Sep. 15, 2026. If he waited until reaching RFA status next summer to sign, a lengthy negotiation could have lost him that eighth year if the two sides didn’t come to terms until the beginning of training camp. With the salary cap’s upper limit projected to reach $104M in 2026-27, the Hurricanes have around $16M in projected space with Blake’s and Stankoven’s deals taken care of. While they’re projected to be Carolina’s 11th- and 12th-highest-paid forwards on their opening night roster this season, they’ll be their fifth- and sixth-highest-paid forwards in 2026-27.
The New York Knicks have had a busy summer thus far as they have made multiple additions to their roster to try and improve off their run to the Eastern Conference Finals last season. Of course, the Knicks also made a head coaching change to begin the summer as they fried Tom Thibodeau and replaced him with two-time Coach of the Year winner Mike Brown. During free agency, New York added Jordan Clarkson and Guerschon Yabusele to upgrade their bench at a cheap cost, which is an area that they struggled with last season. The Knicks do have one more roster spot open which they will likely use to add another veteran player to their bench. While the Knicks have focused on upgrading their depth this summer, Sports Illustrated’s Jackson Caudell recently created a mock trade that would see New York send Karl-Anthony Towns to the Dallas Mavericks for one of their star players along with depth. In the trade, the Knicks would acquire Klay Thompson, Daniel Gafford and P.J. Washington from the Mavericks while Dallas would land Towns and Vit Krejci. The Atlanta Hawks are the third team involved in the trade and they would receive Caleb Martin and two second-round picks from the Mavericks. For the Knicks, it would be a tough decision to move on from Towns but they would be able to fill some glaring holes in their roster with their return in this deal. Thompson would give them a much-needed three-point sharpshooter in their starting lineup while both Washington and Gafford would be major additions to their frontcourt, especially on the defensive end. Despite this, the Mavericks may not want to move on from three of their key players to acquire Towns, who struggled in the playoffs last season, primarily on defense. While that may be the case, making this trade would be a massive upgrade to the Knicks’ lineup and depth that could make them the team to beat in the Eastern Conference next season.
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The Green Bay Packers released star cornerback Jaire Alexander earlier this offseason, which frustrated the fan base because they did so without an obvious solution. Packers fans have been clamoring for the team to sign veteran and former Defensive Player of the Year Stephon Gilmore, but Green Bay does not appear all that interested in doing so. But you know who could represent a possible replacement for Alexander? Wide receiver Bo Melton. Yes, you read that right: wide receiver Bo Melton. Melton has started Packers training camp as a cornerback, which could ultimately lead to the 26-year-old assuming a major role in Green Bay’s secondary. Why the position switch? Well, Melton was struggling finding playing time in the Packers’ receiving corps as it was. Now, Green Bay added Matthew Golden and Savon Williams into the equation, so the chances of him actually getting on the field as a receiver in 2025 are slim to none. Melton logged just eight catches for 91 yards last season, and in 2024, he finished with 16 receptions for 218 yards and a touchdown. The funny thing is, he actually has shown promise in very limited action, but there is simply no room for him. The Rutgers product seems to want to stay in Green Bay, hence his decision to flip to the other side of the ball. He knows he has no chance to play as a wide out. Why not utilize his athleticism as a cornerback? Of course, this does not necessarily mean that Melton will serve as Alexander’s primary replacement. In fact, it would be pretty concerning if the Packers choose not to bring in another corner between now and the start of the regular season. But hey, maybe Melton will be so impressive in camp that Green Bay will actually give him a look.
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