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Hurricanes Activate Jaccob Slavin, Reassign Joel Nystrom

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A major piece will be back in the Carolina Hurricanes lineup when the puck drops in Sunday’s matchup with the Philadelphia Flyers. Defenseman Jaccob Slavin was activated from injured reserve just before the game, after being designated as a game-time decision before warmups. He will return from a lower-body injury sustained in the second game of the season. He’s missed the last 29 games. To make room for Slavin’s return, Carolina has reassigned defenseman Joel Nystrom to the AHL’s Chicago Wolves. Nystrom signed a four-year extension on Friday.

Slavin only played in 36 minutes of ice time before going down with injury. He managed no scoring, a minus-one, and three shot blocks in those minutes. But two games was hardly enough for Slavin to settle into his usual role on top of Carolina’s defense. He has averaged more than 22 minutes of ice time each game through 11 years with the Hurricanes. He brings a shutdown presence to hard matchups, giving Carolina the flexibility to deploy offensive defensemen like Shayne Gostisbehere.

The Hurricanes had to turn to a committee approach to round out their top-four in Slavin’s absence. Jalen Chatfield and Alexander Nikishin both rotated into the top-four, while Nystrom did well to carve out a role on an open bottom-pair. The 23-year-old rookie recorded five assists, a plus-three, and 14 shot blocks in the first 24 games of his NHL career. He played well enough to earn a multi-year, seven-figure extension just before this reassignment. That’s a tidy bit of confidence for Nystrom, who had only played in seven AHL games before his name was called to fill-in. He spent the last five seasons with the SHL’s Farjestads BK, where he won a league championship in 2022. Carolina drafted Nystrom in the seventh-round of the 2021 NHL Draft.

Slavin’s return will suddenly provide Carolina with a heap of defense depth, after going through a start to the season that saw most of the blue-line banged up. They will carry a confident three pairs, with Slavin watching over rookie Nikishin, into Sunday’s match against Philadelphia. That should only ramp up a Hurricanes squad that’s gone 6-2-0 in their last eight games, including back-to-back shootout wins in their last two.

Spiros Anastas Named Head Coach Of AHL Chicago

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  • The Hurricanes announced that they have relieved AHL Chicago head coach Cam Abbott of his duties, replacing him on an interim basis with assistant coach Spiros Anastas. Abbott was in his second season running the Wolves; they finished fourth in the Central in 2024-25 and sit third in the standings this season with a record of 11-7-4.  As for Anastas, he’s also in his second year with the club and will be running an AHL bench for the first time.  He has also been behind the bench for Greece at the Latam Cup in each of the last three years.

Hurricanes Sign Joel Nystrom To Four-Year Extension

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The Hurricanes announced they’ve signed rookie defenseman Joel Nystrom to a four-year, $4.9MM contract extension. The deal carries a cap hit of $1.225MM beginning next season and running through the 2029-30 campaign.

Nystrom was ticketed for restricted free agency next summer as he wraps up his entry-level contract. The right-shot Swede was a seventh-round pick in 2021 out of the SHL’s Färjestad BK and spent three seasons there before inking a two-year ELC with Carolina in 2024. The Canes loaned him back out to Färjestad for most of last season but brought him over to finish the year with AHL Chicago once his season ended.

Now, he’s an under-the-radar success story who lands multi-year security before most fans outside of Carolina – even hardcore ones – even know his name. The 5’11” puck-mover didn’t even make the Canes’ opening night roster but only lasted three games in the AHL, recording one assist, before getting called up to Carolina in late October in the wake of Jaccob Slavin’s injury.

The 23-year-old’s lengthy resume of professional play in his home country no doubt pushed him higher up on the depth chart for a recall despite his lack of North American professional experience. He won a league title with Färjestad as a sophomore in 2022 and ended his five-year tenure with the club last year after recording a 25-61–86 scoring line in 221 games with a +13 rating. In his final two seasons with the club, he led or co-led its blue line in scoring with 26 and 27 points, respectively, in 51 games each.

Nystrom’s game relies purely on his transition skills. He may have some long-term upside as a secondary power-play quarterback, but he has just four assists through 23 games, averaging a few ticks over 16 minutes per night. Physicality is almost entirely absent from his game, recording just 14 blocks and five hits. Nevertheless, he’s been active with the puck and has usurped veteran Mike Reilly for a regular job in the lineup while Slavin continues to rehab from his lower-body injury. His 59.0% share of expected goals at 5-on-5 ranks third among Carolina defenders behind Reilly and K’Andre Miller.

For this season, it’s hard to envision Nystrom sticking in the lineup when Slavin returns. His waiver-exempt status makes it likely he’ll be the one ferried to the minors to open up a roster spot rather than Carolina exposing a piece of valuable veteran depth in Reilly to the wire. Reilly is a pending unrestricted free agent, though, leaving the door wide open for Nystrom to open the season on the Canes’ roster in 2026-27. His new seven-figure salary makes him a safe bet to do so.

His cap hit will be beneath the buriable threshold by the time the deal wraps up if he doesn’t pan out as a long-term NHLer, so there’s little risk for the Canes in that sense. If he can stick around as an everyday second or third-pairing right-shot option with power-play upside, that’s a bargain play. Still, it’s jarring to see a player land nearly $5MM in guaranteed money – particularly as a late-round pick – before even scoring their first NHL goal. The only recent precedent for that is Sabres defender Mattias Samuelsson, who inked a much richer seven-year, $30MM extension in 2022 after going goalless with 12 assists through his first 52 NHL appearances.

Image courtesy of James Guillory-Imagn Images.

Hurricanes, Capitals Linked To Quinn Hughes

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It appears that more teams are smelling blood in the water when it comes to Vancouver Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes. After already being linked to the Detroit Red Wings and New Jersey Devils, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reported that the Carolina Hurricanes and Washington Capitals have now made their interest known.

In the article, Pagnotta said, “We know the usual suspects. We’ll continue to hear more teams, I’m sure, as this progresses, but the latest two that I have are the Carolina Hurricanes and Washington Capitals.”

Neither team’s interest comes as a surprise. The Hurricanes have been one of the most consistently good teams in the Eastern Conference over the past few years, making three Eastern Conference Final appearances since the 2019 postseason. Additionally, the Capitals were the top team in the Eastern Conference last season and have again vaulted themselves to the top of the table in recent weeks, winning 10 of their previous 12 games.

Objectively, for all 31 other teams, Hughes improves the roster wholesale. In the case of Carolina and Washington, he fits a long-term hole as well. The two years remaining on Hughes’ contract coincide with Shayne Gostisbehere’s with the Hurricanes, who is the offensive leader of their defensive core. Additionally, although they have Jakob Chychrun signed through the 2023-33 season, acquiring Hughes would make for a far easier transition out of the John Carlson era in Washington.

Regardless, if the Canucks were not only to entertain the idea of trading a player of Hughes’ caliber but actively seek one, the acquiring team would have to provide the goods. It’s well known that Vancouver is looking for a longer-term solution down the middle, and they would likely want several additional futures as well.

In Carolina, although the Canucks would expectably target Logan Stankoven, the Hurricanes would likely be unwilling to move him since they signed him to an eight-year, $48MM extension this past offseason. Still, Carolina could counter with quantity over quality, much like they did when they acquired Jake Guentzel from the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2023-24.

None of the prospects are bona fide top-six forwards (yet), but the Hurricanes could offer a package of Bradly Nadeau, Ivan Ryabkin, and Felix Unger Sörum, along with one or multiple of their four first-round selections over the next three years.

Meanwhile, the Capitals have all three of their first-round picks through the 2028 NHL Draft and have a movable center that could easily shift into the Canucks’ top-six, unlike the trio of hypothetical options from Carolina. Forward Connor McMichael, who is headed for restricted free agency next summer (UFA after 2028-29), could be a headliner in a potential Hughes trade.

After scoring 26 goals for Washington last season, McMichael has only four in 30 games this season. Still, after averaging a 14.1% shooting percentage from 2023 to 2025, there’s reason to believe his current 6.3% rate won’t last. Additionally, since he’s under team control for the next three seasons after this one, the Canucks would have plenty of time to sign him to a long-term extension.

Hurricanes Activate Jesperi Kotkaniemi From Injured Reserve

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The Carolina Hurricanes have activated forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi from injured reserve. He missed the last nine games with a lower-body injury sustained while blocking a shot from Vancouver Canucks defenseman Filip Hronek on November 14th. He was placed on injured reserve on November 25th.

Kotkaniemi is expected to return to the lineup in Saturday night’s match against the Nashville Predators. He has two goals, five points, 11 blocked shots, and 26 hits through 15 games this season. He’s alternated between the center and left-wing roles on Carolina’s fourth-line for much of the year. That rotation has limited him to only 115 faceoffs so far this season – of which he has only won 47 percent. That’s a far fall from the 51 percent he posted through his first four seasons in Carolina.

Carolina made room for Kotkaniemi’s return when they reassigned Justin Robidas on November 29th. Robidas stepped into two games on his last recall and posted one assist, one shot block, and three hits. Jordan Martinook stepped into the lineup in Robidas’ spot while Carolina waited for Kotkaniemi to return to full health. Martinook will now step back out of the lineup, having posted nine ponits in 26 games this season.

Hurricanes Reassign Domenick Fensore

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Dec. 5: Fensore was returned to AHL Chicago today, the team announced. He wasn’t needed for last night’s 5-1 loss at the hands of the Leafs.

Dec. 4: The Carolina Hurricanes announced today that defenseman Domenick Fensore has been recalled from the team’s AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves. The move comes as veteran defenseman K’Andre Miller manages an illness, according to team reporter Walt Ruff.

This isn’t Fensore’s first NHL recall of 2025-26. He was recalled by Carolina in late October while the team was dealing with a slate of defensive injuries. He made his season debut in the team’s Oct. 28 contest against the Vegas Golden Knights, a game where he received nearly 20 minutes of ice time. Outside of that one NHL game played, Fensore has largely served as a healthy scratch during his time spent on the NHL roster so far in 2025-26.

While it’s unclear at this point whether Fensore will dress for the team’s game tonight against the Toronto Maple Leafs, it’s entirely possible he’s been recalled to once more serve as a spare defenseman and healthy scratch.

The 24-year-old former Boston University captain has proven himself to be a quality creator of offense from the back end at the AHL level. He scored 32 points in 67 games last season and has upped his production considerably so far this year. Fensore ranks second on the Wolves in scoring for 2025-26 with 15 points in 17 games, just behind forward Felix Unger-Sorum, who has 19 points in 20 games.

A pending RFA with arbitration rights, these repeated recalls are a positive sign for Fensore’s upcoming free agency. They signal the Hurricanes’ increased level of trust in Fensore as an NHL option, even if he hasn’t been able to crack Carolina’s lineup on a full-time basis.

The one-year contract extension Fensore signed in July of last year contained a two-way structure and an AHL salary of just $70K, with a $100K guarantee. Fensore’s on-ice value so far this season merits a significant pay raise, and the more call-ups he can receive, the more likely it is that Fensore will be able to earn a more significant AHL salary on his next contract, assuming his next deal also carries a two-way structure.

Cal Foote Signs With AHL’s Chicago Wolves

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The AHL’s Chicago Wolves announced Monday they’ve signed free agent defenseman Callan Foote for the balance of the 2025-26 campaign.

There wasn’t any reported NHL interest in Foote, who’s technically eligible to return to top-level game action. He, along with his four Hockey Canada teammates who were acquitted on sexual assault charges over the offseason, were still suspended by the league as a result of the allegations made against them, but were fully reinstated as of today.

While Foote was a first-round pick in 2017, his recent resume has been uninspiring. He played in the Slovak Extraliga last season while awaiting trial. He recorded three goals and 30 points in 38 games for HK 32 Liptovsky Mikulas with a -8 rating. That led the team in scoring among defensemen, but he hasn’t played an NHL game since January 2024 and was limited to nine points and a -14 rating in 24 games with AHL Utica that season while in the Devils’ system.

The 6’4″ shutdown righty now lands in the Hurricanes’ system, although they don’t acquire his exclusive signing rights. He’s still an unrestricted free agent and is eligible to accept and sign any NHL offer. Carolina had expressed interest in signing Carter Hart and Michael McLeod, both of whom were charged alongside Foote, but ultimately decided not to offer deals.

Foote has made 145 NHL appearances in parts of four seasons. Drafted by the Lightning, he’s also suited up for Nashville and New Jersey. He has a 5-15–20 scoring line to his name with a +24 rating while averaging 13:48 per game.

Hurricanes Reassign Justin Robidas Amid Injury Updates

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The Carolina Hurricanes saw a wave of roster updates come through during Saturday morning’s practice. Notably, winger Justin Robidas was not at practice, as he’s been reassigned to the AHL’s Chicago Wolves. Robidas won’t skate in Saturday’s match against the Manitoba Moose but should be back in time for Sunday’s rematch.

Forward William Carrier also missed practice. It is unclear if he has sustained a new injury after appearing in Friday’s win over the Winnipeg Jets. Goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov did sustain a lower-body injury that forced him out of Friday’s game, and Saturday’s practice. Defenseman Jaccob Slavin also remained out, per NHL.com’s Walt Ruff.

In better news, Ruff adds that forward Jordan Staal participated in practice despite being questionable with an illness, and center Jesperi Kotkaniemi continued to work in a non-contact jersey.

Carolina continues to face a heap of injuries despite getting Shayne Gostisbehere and K’Andre Miller back into the lineup recently. They have been forced to play hot potato with much of their lineup, routinely cycling through their lines. The Hurricanes have had six different forward lines, and 10 different defense pairings, play in at least 50 minutes of even-strength ice time this season. Their most-used forward line has been Jordan Martinook, Staal, and Carrier – a trio that could be broken up if Carrier sustained another injury. The most-used defense pairing has been Miller and Sean Walker, who reunited recently after Miller missed six games.

The Hurricanes have felt the brunt of that shuffle over November. They started the month with a 4-1-0 record, but have fallen into a back-and-forth over the last two weeks. Carolina is 4-3-2 in their last nine games, and haven’t won back-to-back games since Novmber 8th and 9th.

Injuries have forced Carolina’s healthy skaters to step up. Sophomore winger Jackson Blake ranks fourth on the team in scoring with 15 points in 24 games. Robidas was also contributing to the offense, netting one assist and a 50 percent faceoff percentage through two games in a bottom-six role.

Robidas now have three points in the first four games of his NHL career, including a pair of games he played in last season. He has been an electric scorer in the minor leagues and currently ranks third on the Wolves with 12 points in 16 games. Chicago is trying to break out of their own November slump, posting a 2-4-0 record over their last six games but winning last Wednesday’s game against the rival Rockford IceHogs by a lofty 8-4. Robidas should help the Wolves keep that offense rolling as they look for better outcomes in December.

Andrei Svechnikov Denies Rumors He Was Open To Trade

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  • On Sunday, reports emerged that Carolina Hurricanes star Andrei Svechnikov was reportedly open to a trade earlier in the season as he struggled with lower-than-expected usage and a season-opening scoring drought. Today, Svechnikov denied those reports, according to Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News & Observer. While it’s not without precedent for a player to publicly deny a private period of frustration that in reality very much existed, in Svechnikov’s case, his reported unhappiness was always unlikely to actually lead to a trade. The Hurricanes reportedly view Svechnikov as a cornerstone player, one that is central to their hopes of building a Stanley Cup championship team, and therefore it remains highly unlikely that they will reach an agreement with another team on a deal that sends Svechnikov out of Raleigh.

Carolina Hurricanes Recall Justin Robidas, Move Jesperi Kotkaniemi To IR

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The Carolina Hurricanes announced today that forward Justin Robidas has been recalled from their AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves. In a corresponding move, they placed center Jesperi Kotkaniemi on injured reserve, retroactive to Nov. 14.

Since Kotkaniemi’s IR placement is retroactive to more than a week ago, he is eligible to be activated whenever he is ready to return to the ice. He was originally injured blocking a shot during the team’s game Nov. 14, and head coach Rod Brind’Amour revealed he is dealing with an injury to his ankle.

The 2018 No. 3 overall pick, Kotkaniemi has five points in 15 games played this season, skating in just over 10 minutes of ice time per night. In terms of usage, Kotkaniemi has been Brind’Amour’s most sparingly-utilized forward in 2025-26, a notable decline from last season where he averaged over 14 minutes of ice time per game en route to a 33-point season.

In recalling Robidas, the organization has added one of its developmental success stories back to its NHL roster. The 22-year-old is the son of former NHLer and current Montreal Canadiens assistant coach Stephane Robidas, and was a fifth-round pick at the 2021 NHL Draft. While he was a QMJHL star and captain of his junior team, who drew rave reviews from scouts due to his skating ability and work ethic, his 5’8″ frame led to most assuming he was more of a long-shot to become an NHL player.

While he hasn’t established himself as a full-time NHLer just yet, his progress since joining the pro ranks has been nothing but positive. Complications relating to the Hurricanes’ minor-league affiliate agreements caused Robidas to play his first professional season in the third-tier ECHL, where he scored 27 points in 32 games before suffering a season-ending injury. The following year, Robidas showed no signs of slowing down, quickly adapting to the step-up in competition from the ECHL to AHL. In 72 games for the Wolves, Robidas scored 20 goals and 55 points.

That strong performance as an AHL rookie gave Robidas the chance to make his NHL debut, and in two NHL games last season, Robidas managed two points. So far this year, Robidas has kept up his scoring pace, as he has 12 points through 16 games. While his slight frame is likely to always work against him in terms of carving out a long-term place in the NHL, he’s done everything in his power thus far in his pro career to be an impactful all-around player. His swiftness on the ice and high work rate lends itself well to the specific style of play the Hurricanes like to employ, and with this call-up, Robidas will get a new chance to showcase his talents to the Hurricanes’ decision-makers.

While he’s not a full-time NHL player just yet, if he can get into some games during this call-up and play well, today’s transaction could go a long way in helping him achieve that status at some point down the line.

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