Hurricanes Sign Nicolas Deslauriers To Two-Year Contract

The Carolina Hurricanes are holding their Stanley Cup victory parade today.  During his remarks at the event, GM Eric Tulsky told those in attendance, including team reporter Walt Ruff (Twitter link), that they’ve signed winger Nicolas Deslauriers to a new two-year deal with an AAV of $875K, meaning he’ll receive the NHL minimum salary in each season.  Deslauriers was slated to become an unrestricted free agent next month.

The 35-year-old played this season on a contract that paid him $1.75MM, signed with Philadelphia four years ago.  But while Deslauriers was a full-time regular in the lineup when that deal was signed, playing time was much more limited in 2025-26.  He played in a total of 24 games with the Flyers this season where he had one assist, 85 hits, and 33 penalty minutes while averaging just 8:05 of playing time.  At the trade deadline, the Hurricanes decided they wanted a bit more depth and physicality, flipping a seventh-round pick to Philadelphia to secure the veteran’s services.

As it turns out, playing time was even harder to come by following the swap.  Deslauriers played in just seven games down the stretch, most of those coming in the final days of the regular season when Carolina was resting players for the postseason.  He had an assist along with 35 hits in those outings.  Then, in the playoffs, he only suited up once, playing just 3:09 in the process.

Deslauriers is a veteran of 13 NHL seasons across six different organizations.  A natural defenseman originally, he quickly moved up front and has been a fixture on the wing ever since.  Deslauriers has played in 708 career regular season games, picking up 53 goals, 53 assists, 799 penalty minutes, and 2,236 hits along the way.

With the signing, the Hurricanes now have just under $11MM in cap room remaining, per PuckPedia.  Among those still unsigned from their Cup-winning roster is pending unrestricted free agent goaltender Frederik Andersen and pending restricted free agent blueliner Alexander Nikishin.  Bringing both of them back will probably cut that cap space in half at a minimum but Tulsky should have a bit of wiggle room still heading into free agency next month.