Why Hurricanes will not buy out Jesperi Kotkaniemi

The Carolina Hurricanes are fresh off winning their second Stanley Cup championship in franchise history this spring — but it was no thanks to forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi, who was scratched for the entire postseason run.

Kotkaniemi hasn’t played an NHL game since April 14, and although he’s widely speculated to be a buyout candidate, hockey insider Frank Seravalli believes general manager Eric Tulsky will try to trade the 25-year-old instead.

“Not expecting a buyout for [Hurricanes]’ Jesperi Kotkaniemi, despite last shot at 1/3rd buyout. Kotkaniemi was a healthy scratch for every playoff game; Carolina is willing to play the long game with a rapidly rising cap,” Seravalli reported on Sunday.

“To be clear, Carolina is actively seeking to trade Kotkaniemi now. With rising cap, $4.8 million for a 3C will be the new norm, so he is seen as a player with trade value considering there are so few centers available. They’ll wait til that materializes. But no buyout.”

Hopes were high for the Finnish forward when he was selected third overall by the Montreal Canadiens in the 2018 NHL Draft. But he was never able to find his game offensively in Quebec, and was successfully offer-sheeted by Carolina in August of 2021.

He’s played in Raleigh ever since, but despite staying relatively healthy over the last five seasons, he’s never been able to chip in more than 43 points, and has never surpassed the 20-goal threshold.

Things were particularly poor in 2025-26; Kotkaniemi managed just nine points in 42 regular season games while frequently being a healthy scratch. That continued throughout the playoffs, although he is still a Stanley Cup champion.

It seems his time is done with the Hurricanes one way or another, whether he ends up getting bought out or traded. With four years remaining on his contract at a $4.82 million cap hit — and a one-third buyout cost for this summer only (it will become two-thirds afterwards) — Carolina has a way to get out of most of his contract.

Instead, Tulsky and the front office could hope that Kotkaniemi can be a reclamation project of sorts, with so few centers available in both free agency and on the trade market this offseason.

If neither a buyout nor a trade materializes, it’s possible the Finn will return to Raleigh for the 2026-27 season. It’s unclear what kind of role he would play with most of the Stanley Cup-winning forward core remaining intact for at least one more campaign.