Offseason Checklist: Carolina Hurricanes

For the last few years, Jesperi Kotkaniemi has seen his name appear in trade speculation. The former third-overall pick of the 2018 NHL Draft by the Montreal Canadiens joined the Hurricanes via offer sheet in 2022, as revenge for the Canadiens offer sheeting Sebastian Aho a year earlier. The contract came out to be an eight-year, $38.56MM ($4.82MM AAV), one that Montreal was unwilling to match at the time. Years later, Carolina is kicking themselves for performing the maneuver at all. After a dreadful 2025-26 campaign in which he scored two goals and nine points in 42 games, not only is Kotkaniemi a trade candidate, but he was a buyout candidate almost immediately as Jordan Staal touched the Stanley Cup. Now having four years left on his contract, Kotkaniemi’s salary is more reasonable for a bottom-six center as the upper limit of the salary cap continues to rise. Still, the Hurricanes have no business paying a player nearly $5MM a year if they aren’t going to play.

Stabilize Goaltending

One of the Hurricanes’ biggest factors in winning the team’s first Stanley Cup championship in 20 years was the ridiculous play of Frederik Andersen in the postseason. Through the first three rounds, Andersen managed a 12-1-0 record in 13 games with a .931 SV%. Unfortunately, due to an injury in the Stanley Cup Final, rookie netminder Brandon Bussi had to finish the job, which he did. Unfortunately, Andersen was underwhelming in the regular season, while Bussi had strong statistics but played behind a team that allowed few opportunities for opponents to possess the puck. There is an idea that Carolina is unwilling to invest big in the goaltending position, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. The Hurricanes aren’t willing to invest big in mediocre goaltending, which has led to the common year-to-year changes we’ve seen for the last several years. If a franchise goaltender becomes available, and one appears to be by all accounts, the Hurricanes should take a big swing so that goaltending doesn’t become a question mark for the next few summers.

Acquire A Star

I know what everyone is going to say, “but Brennan, they just won the Stanley Cup without a star, why would this be a priority?” I get it, I really do. However, not many Stanley Cup champions enter the following offseason, especially in the salary cap era, with their entire core signed and with $11MM left to spend. I know the Mikko Rantanen trade didn’t work out, but how much better could this team be if they acquired a star talent who wanted to be there? It’s obvious that Rantanen had other priorities, but if defenseman Zach Werenski or netminder Connor Hellebuyck, each of whom has a full no-movement clause and is believed to be available, would sign off on a trade to Carolina, the Hurricanes should be all over it. Recently, the Hurricanes have had difficulty finding star players who want to be there (i.e. Rantanen, Marner). If one is available and would approve a trade, the Hurricanes could become a similar juggernaut in the Eastern Conference like the Panthers and Lightning have been in recent history.