There were plenty of updates from the Carolina Hurricanes today, including from a few of their pending unrestricted free agents. In particular, according to Cory Lavalette of the North State Journal, the team hasn’t started contract negotiations with Dmitry Orlov, but the defenseman still considers the Hurricanes an option.
Carolina likely hasn’t had talks with Orlov because he won’t be their highest priority entering the offseason. The Hurricanes have a remarkably impressive left side of their defensive core, featuring Jaccob Slavin, Shayne Gostisbehere, and Alexander Nikishin.
Still, Orlov is coming off an impressive season in his own right. The 13-year veteran scored six goals and 22 points in 76 games for Carolina this season and was one of their top options on the penalty kill. He sustained his physicality and again reached the 20-minute on-ice average after dipping below the threshold last season. He’ll find plenty of interest in his services on the free-agent market, particularly from the Anaheim Ducks, Detroit Red Wings, New York Islanders, and San Jose Sharks, who each played below average with a man disadvantage.
Other notes from the Hurricanes:
- On the other hand, there is one defenseman eager to stay in Raleigh. Earlier today, team reporter Walt Ruff shared a quote from veteran defenseman Brent Burns saying, “We’ll see what happens, but we love it here and would love for it to work out.” Whether or not it works out with the Hurricanes, it seems that Burns will return for a 22nd season. Still, he did show signs of slowing down this season, scoring six goals and 29 points in 82 games after tallying 43 points a year prior.
- Moving over the injury-related news, Ruff reported that forward Seth Jarvis was dealing with the same shoulder injury from last year throughout the regular season and playoffs. According to the report, Ruff indicated that Jarvis has already ruled out surgery as an option to avoid missing the start of the 2025-26 campaign and to keep his name in contention for Team Canada’s 2026 Olympic roster.
- Lastly, Lavalette reported that defenseman Jalen Chatfield was dealing with a hip injury and was close to returning before the Hurricanes were eliminated in the Eastern Conference Final. Chatfield, like many of his peers on Carolina’s roster, had a largely successful trip through Round One and Two of the 2024-25 Stanley Cup playoffs. He scored one goal in nine games with a +6 rating before suffering the injury in Game 4 against the Washington Capitals, and had a 92.2% on-ice save percentage at even strength.
Can’t imagine the Canes bringing Orlov back after how that Panthers series went for him.
No chance. His spot is going to be taken by Nikishin.
Orlov didn’t average 20 minutes per game.He clearly averaged 19:60 according to hockey reference………
I’ve noticed that weird rounding error on a few players. Good catch.
Ummm, fairly steep decline, for Burns. He doesn’t hit any more (11 on the whole *season*), his giveaway-takeaway has cratered, his possession numbers went negative, and they don’t trust him much on the power play any more. He was a great player and will go to the HHOF, but he’s not worth much more than a million a year any more, on the bottom pairing.
They need to use some the burns or orlov cash to address the forwards; stuck with Kotkaniemi but might need to swap salaries to get rid of him…
They desperately need a legit 2nd line center. The Kotkaniemi signing was a dud. Roslovic is a 3rd liner at best. Not sure why they’re so concerned about wingers when they have such a glaring hole at center.
They should let both of Burns and Orlov go. Use their money towards a top player.
If they can’t trade Kotkaniemi for a bag of pucks, then buy him out. Orlov should not be renewed for sure. Burns is iffy, he still may be useful as a 3d liner, but it probably would be better if he retired (and I’m a huge Burns fan).
The Canes first need a 1C, not a 2C—Aho (6-0, 180) simply is not big enough to play 1C (compare Barkov, Robertson, MacKinnon, and even McDavid, who is 15 lbs heavier). Second, they need a high-scoring winger that can fit within RBA’s system (Marner?). Third, they need a RH offensive defenseman to play with Slavin. They’re fine down the left side with Slavin, Nikishin, and Ghost.
Finally, they need to add a couple of MEAN players.
The Canes have the cap space to make this happen if they act wisely.
I’ll add three additional observations. RBA needs to tweak his system to not depend so much on the forecheck (some good rushes would be nice), they not only need to get meaner, but also faster, and they need to stop playing so much man-to-man D.
Compare him to 3 of the best centers in the league (not sure who you’re referring to with Robertson)? Seems fair.
The whole Aho isnt a 1C is a lazy narrative. He has a ppg and 40g per 82games since 2018 while killing penalties and scoring many SHGs. He is arguably between 10-15th out of NHL centers, which makes him a 1C.
If they found a way to acquire a center better than Aho then he would be the 2nd best 2C in the league behind Draisaitl lol