Navigating the Salary Cap is probably one of the more important tasks for any general manager to have. Teams that can avert total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful. Those that don’t see struggles and front office changes.
PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation heading into the 2017-18 season. This will focus more on those players who are integral parts of the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL. All cap figures are courtesy of CapFriendly.
Carolina Hurricanes
Current Cap Hit: $57,799,166 (under the $75MM Upper Limit)
Entry-Level Contracts
F Sebastian Aho (Two years remaining, $925K)
D Noah Hanifin (One year remaining, $925K)
D Brett Pesce (One year remaining, $809K)
D Jaccob Slavin (One year remaining, $743K)
Potential Bonuses
Aho: $850K
Hanifin: $850K
Pesce: $33K
Slavin: $133K
Total: $1.865MM
Carolina hasn’t wasted much time handing out some early extensions to their blueliners as Slavin received a seven-year, $37.1MM deal while Pesce inked a six-year pact worth $24.125MM in total earlier this offseason. Both deals will kick in for 2018-19. That locked up two of their core defenders through the rest of their RFA-eligible seasons plus three and two years respectively of their UFA eligibility.
As for the third defenseman on the list, the team has also expressed an interest in getting another contract for Hanifin done although there have been no formal discussions yet on one. The former fifth overall pick has played a regular role in his first two seasons but hasn’t progressed a lot and as a result, he’s more likely to wait until next offseason to sign.
Aho had a very productive rookie season that went under the radar thanks to some of the other well-known freshmen. He has already established himself as a legitimate top-six winger and if that carries over for the next two seasons, he’ll be in great shape to continue the trend of bypassing the bridge deal and landing a long-term, big money contract, something that GM Ron Francis is clearly comfortable doing.
One Year Remaining, Non-Entry-Level
D Klas Dahlbeck ($850K, RFA)
F Josh Jooris ($775K, UFA)
F Elias Lindholm ($2.7MM, RFA)
F Joakim Nordstrom ($1.275MM, RFA)
F Derek Ryan ($1.425MM, UFA)
F Lee Stempniak ($2.5MM, UFA)
D Trevor van Riemsdyk ($825K, RFA)
G Cam Ward ($3.3MM, UFA)
Lindholm has yet to take the big leap offensively that the team has been hoping for and as a result, he’s still more of a second line center. Even if he hovers around the 40-50 point range again in 2017-18 though, he’ll have a chance to potentially double his AAV with the demand for quality players down the middle. Stempniak was basically a placeholder for some of their younger players last year and will do so once again. At this stage, it’s more likely that he’s traded in-season over signing a new deal. If there’s ever such a thing as a bridge contract for a 30-year-old, Ryan has it. He was off the radar just two years ago but more than held his own last season. If he can repeat that this season, he’ll hit the market with a much stronger case to market to other teams. Nordstrom and Jooris are likely to hold down depth roles and their next deals (or those for their replacements) will come in around the same amount.
The Hurricanes quietly added van Riemsdyk from the Golden Knights after expansion and he’ll have a chance to fortify their third pairing which suits him quite well. While his potentially lower ice time will hurt his bargaining power, he’ll still be in line to at least double his salary with arbitration rights while sitting within a year of unrestricted free agency next summer.
Ward has been with Carolina since they drafted him back in 2002 but his time with the team may be coming to an end. His numbers the past several seasons have been rather pedestrian which played a big role in them trading for a new starter this offseason. Regardless of where he winds up for 2018-19, he’s likely in line for a notable pay cut, especially when the free agent market looks like it will have several players in his situation next offseason.
Two Years Remaining
F Marcus Kruger ($3.083MM, UFA)
F Brock McGinn ($888K, RFA)
F Jeff Skinner ($5.725MM, UFA)
F Teuvo Teravainen ($2.86MM, RFA)
F Justin Williams ($4.5MM, UFA)
It took a while but Skinner finally matched his rookie season output, tallying a strong 63 points last season. Assuming he stays healthy, he’s slotted in on their top line and if he maintains that pace over the next two years, he’ll be a very intriguing free agent who will also be one of the youngest on the market. Williams should give their secondary scoring a nice boost in the short-term but he turns 36 before the season starts so he’s not a long-term piece. Teravainen improved on his production from his time in Chicago but didn’t exactly thrive with the Hurricanes which resulted in a bridge deal for him. He’ll be pegged for a notable raise if he can continue to approach the 50 point plateau. Kruger is another former Blackhawk (there are a few on this team) and while he’ll shore up the fourth line, they’re paying a premium for him in cap space to do so. His salary is lower than the cap charge in both years though which is notable for a budget team. McGinn has been up and down in the past two years but since he needs waivers, he’ll likely stick for the full season but as a depth player, it’s hard to project any substantial increase on his next contract.
Three Years Remaining
D Justin Faulk ($4.083MM, UFA)
This won’t come up for a while but it will be interesting to see if the team has the money (in the budget; they’ll have the cap room) to keep Faulk in the fold. He’ll be set to hit the market at 28 and between that and the Slavin deal coming in at $5.3MM, Faulk is going to be looking to surpass that and then some. He has quietly become one of the top scoring threats from the back end in the entire league so the demand should certainly be there if he gets to free agency.
Four Or More Years Remaining
G Scott Darling ($4.125MM through 2020-21)
D Brett Pesce ($4.05MM through 2023-24)
F Victor Rask ($4MM through 2021-22)
D Jaccob Slavin ($5.3MM through 2024-25)
F Jordan Staal ($6MM through 2022-23)
Staal’s contract was the one he signed upon being acquired on draft night from Pittsburgh back in 2012. His offensive game hasn’t progressed like they had hoped for but he’s still a solid second line center that can go up against the top line of the opponents so it’s still not a particularly bad contract. Rask skipped over the bridge deal and he too is a strong second line center so far (Carolina may not have a true number one center but they have a few good second line ones). As a result, he looks like he’ll be a bargain for the next half-decade.
The two blueliners were already covered earlier so let’s turn the focus to Darling, their big offseason acquisition. It was only a few years ago that he was on a minor league deal with Montreal’s ECHL team but in his time with Chicago, he has become one of the more dependable backups in the league. If he can carry that level of play over as a starter, he’ll be a major bargain. If he falters with a full-season workload as a starter though, they’ll be back at square one when it comes to trying to find dependable goaltending.
Buyouts
F Alexander Semin ($2.33MM per year through 2020-21)
D James Wisniewski ($1MM in 2017-18)
Retained Salary Transactions
G Eddie Lack ($1.375MM in 2017-18)
Still To Sign
None
Best Value: Rask (among non-ELC players)
Worst Value: Kruger
Looking Ahead
For quite a while now, Carolina has been a team that spends closer to the floor than to the Upper Limit so from a cap perspective, they’re in really good shape (although they are just one contract under the maximum of 50 at the moment). If the proposed sale goes through, it will be interesting to see if they start to become a higher-spending team. If that happens, they’ll be well poised to add another key piece or two to a strong, young core which would put them in good shape for the long haul.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.