- Hurricanes winger William Carrier is only expected to miss a couple of days with the lower-body injury that held him out of practice yesterday, relays team reporter Walt Ruff (Twitter link). Head coach Rod Brind’Amour noted that they’re merely being extra cautious with the newcomer. Carrier signed a six-year, $12MM contract with Carolina over the summer after spending the last seven years with Vegas where he averaged three hits per game while chipping in with 99 points in 372 appearances.
Hurricanes Rumors
Scott Morrow, William Carrier Out With Lower-Body Injuries
The Carolina Hurricanes are dealing with a few injuries as team reporter Walt Ruff shares that defenseman Scott Morrow and forward William Carrier are dealing with lower-body injuries. Morrow’s is not considered serious with him expected back at practice tomorrow but the team medical staff is still evaluating Carrier.
Morrow was originally selected with the 40th overall pick of the 2021 NHL Draft by the Hurricanes and is largely considered the team’s second-best defensive prospect behind Alexander Nikishin. He had a relatively small chance of cracking Carolina’s blue line out of training camp despite making his NHL debut with the Hurricanes last year. It will be his first full professional season since ending his tenure at the University of Massachusetts and he’s expected to take on a key role with the organization’s AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves.
Carrier was brought in as an unrestricted free agent this summer to a long-term six-year, $12MM contract to serve in the team’s bottom six. The former Stanley Cup champion winger is largely known for his physicality but is only two years removed from scoring 16 goals in a season with the Vegas Golden Knights. The Hurricanes could create one of the most physically punishing lines in the league if they pair Carrier with team captain Jordan Staal when fully healthy.
Snapshots: CHL/NTDP, Brind’Amour, Bruins
The Canadian Hockey League’s top draft-eligible players will take on the U.S. National Development Team’s U-18 tier for the first time this November, the junior league announced Tuesday (via TSN). The pair of contests, which will take place in London and Oshawa, Ontario, on Nov. 26 and Nov. 27, will be the first installment in an annual “CHL-USA Prospects Challenge.”
It’ll run for at least three years, with sites rotating between OHL, QMJHL, and WHL hosts. The CHL and NTDP will have the opportunity to re-up the initial deal securing the event in 2027.
It will serve the purpose of an early-season showcase for draft-eligible talent, so don’t expect to see CHL superstars coming back for their post-draft seasons or beyond. The NHL’s Central Scouting Bureau will select most of the CHL’s roster for the series, Darren Dreger of TSN reports.
Thus, this year’s event will be headlined by 2025 draft-eligible talent. The rosters will likely include forwards Porter Martone, Michael Misa, and Roger McQueen as the CHL’s most notable names, and center William Moore and defensemen Logan Hensler and Charlie Trethewey should highlight the U.S. squad.
Other notes from around the league:
- Forward Skyler Brind’Amour is reportedly planning to terminate his AHL contract with the Charlotte Checkers and sign a deal with the Carolina Hurricanes. The move – which is not yet official – was first reported by AHL.com’s Tony Androckitis and seconded by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Brind’Amour played in his rookie AHL season with the Checkers last year, netting eight points in 54 games. He took the step to the pros after four years with Quinnipiac University, where he supported the school’s 2023 National Championship win. He ended his collegiate career with 76 points in 145 games. He’ll look to rediscover that production in the Hurricanes organization, likely set on a role with the Chicago Wolves – who Carolina announced an affiliation agreement with in May.
- The Boston Bruins have scheduled a press conference for 12 P.M ET tomorrow, where both head coach Jim Montgomery and general manager Don Sweeney will speak with media. They’ll most likely be speaking on the team’s first day of training camp, though Ty Anderson of Boston radio outlet 98.5 The Sports Hub reports that contract talks are picking up with RFA goaltender Jeremy Swayman. Swayman was left off of Boston’s initial training camp roster as he continues a contract standoff. He’ll be in for a major role when he does sign, with Boston dealing Vezina Trophy winner Linus Ullmark to the Ottawa Senators earlier this summer.
Hurricanes Sign Sam Gagner, Rocco Grimaldi To PTOs
Sep. 17: The Hurricanes listed Gagner on their training camp roster today, confirming the PTO. They’re also adding veteran depth forward Rocco Grimaldi on a tryout. Grimaldi, 31, has 67 points in 203 career NHL games but hasn’t played at the top level since seeing brief action with Nashville in 2021-22. He spent last season with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves, once again the Hurricanes’ affiliate, after spending last year as an independent club, leading them with 36 goals and 73 points in 72 games.
Sep. 10: The Carolina Hurricanes are expected to sign veteran forward Sam Gagner to a professional try-out, per PuckPedia. Gagner is a veteran of 17 NHL seasons, making his debut with the Edmonton Oilers in 2007 after going sixth overall in the 2007 NHL Draft. He’s gone on to play for seven different NHL clubs throughout his career and will have a chance to add an eighth on this PTO.
Gagner made his NHL debut at 18 – ultimately earning 13 goals and 49 points as a rookie while filling a consistent second-line role. He proceeded to fill that role and match that production through the next 11 seasons, persisting through tours around the Pacific and Metropolitan Divisions. He was a reliable glue piece for lineups in flux and continued to find NHL relevancy even after his production started to dip. However, injuries have proven fickle throughout his later years, with the 2021-22 campaign standing as Gagner’s only full season since 2016-17. He’s most recently coming off a double-hip surgery in March of 2023 – a deal that ended his 2022-23 season early, though he did manage to appear in 29 games and score 10 points last season.
Gagner is far from his days of a guaranteed lineup spot due to both health and performance. But he brings the experience of a 1,000-game pro who’s played through two decades of NHL hockey. He’s scored 27 points across his last 82 career games, though that stretches back to the 2021-22 season. Still, it’s not unreasonable to think Gagner could manage one more respectable season before facing retirement. He’ll look to begin proving that at Carolina’s training camp if he indeed signs a try-out deal.
Avalanche, Canadiens, Flyers, Hurricanes Had Interest In Yaroslav Askarov
The Avalanche, Canadiens, Flyers, and Hurricanes were the main contenders in trade talks with the Predators for top goaltending prospect Yaroslav Askarov before he was dealt to the Sharks, TSN’s Pierre LeBrun writes for The Athletic.
Sources didn’t divulge details about those teams’ losing offers for the netminder, LeBrun said, but he did mention the Predators are high on Golden Knights 2023 first-rounder David Edstrom, who San Jose picked up in last season’s Tomáš Hertl blockbuster. That was likely the primary factor that led Nashville general manager Barry Trotz to pick the Sharks’ offer over the four others, all of which presumably included a first-round pick to have any degree of seriousness in discussions.
“I think we did a fair deal with San Jose,” Trotz told LeBrun. “In negotiating with [Sharks GM Mike Grier], it was always, ‘Let’s do a good hockey trade.’ You get the best prospect, you’re going to win the trade most times, but I’m really happy to get David Edstrom because we want to continue to add to our center ice. Our scouts really liked him. He was something we really liked at the draft. And getting the pick (Vegas’ 2025 first-round pick), it gives us a lot [of] draft capital now with three first-round picks next year.”
The full trade came across the wire on Aug. 23, just four days after Kevin Weekes of ESPN reported Askarov had submitted a formal trade request. San Jose also acquired forward prospect Nolan Burke and the Avalanche’s 2025 third-round pick, while the Preds also picked up goalie prospect Magnus Chrona in the swap.
But Nashville managed to keep the request under wraps before it leaked to the rest of the hockey world, per LeBrun. Askarov and his agent, Gold Star Hockey’s Dan Milstein, told Trotz in a Zoom meeting on Aug. 2 that he wouldn’t report to training camp if he weren’t moved.
For the four runner-up clubs, it’s easy to see why they had interest. They each have quality goaltending prospects/youngsters in their own right, whether it be Justus Annunen in Colorado, Jacob Fowler in Montreal, Carson Bjarnason in Philadelphia, or Pyotr Kochetkov in Carolina. But aside from the latter, none of them profile as the potential true gamebreaker San Jose now has in Askarov.
The Avs didn’t have their 2025 first-rounder available after trading it to the Flyers for Sean Walker at this year’s deadline, making it hard for them to construct a competitive offer. The Flyers had plenty of first-rounders available – three of them – but they don’t have a low ’A’-tier prospect in their pool that they would have been willing to part with, like Edstrom. The Canes also had draft capital but were likely wary of moving on from their more polished prospects, many of whom they expect will make an NHL impact this season after losing a lot of names to free agency. The Habs have plenty of picks and prospects still stockpiled, but how many were they willing to make available without fully turning the corner in their rebuild?
Evening Notes: Hurricanes, Oligny, Mukhamadullin
Carolina Hurricanes reporter Walt Ruff tweeted that Carolina had to make a number of roster changes this evening prior to their first game of the Prospect Showcase. The Hurricanes announced that their fifth-round pick this year Justin Poirier, as well as invitees Braydon McCallum and Carter Kowalyk would not play due to injury. No word yet on the specifics of the ailments.
Carolina has added forward Sahil Panwar to the roster for the showcase. The undrafted Panwar is signed by the Canes AHL affiliate the Chicago Wolves for this season and at 22 years old has already played a season of professional hockey in the ECHL. The Mississauga, Ontario native had a solid offensive season with the Cincinnati Cyclones registering 22 goals and 32 assists in 64 games.
In other evening notes:
- Former Manitoba Moose captain Jimmy Oligny is taking his career overseas as the 31-year-old has signed with HKM Zvolen in Slovakia (as per Tony Androckitis of Inside AHL Hockey). The left-shot defenseman has been with the Moose for the past six seasons and captained the team for the last three years. Oligny was undrafted and has never suited up in an NHL game despite playing 473 career AHL games. The move overseas will be a drastic change for Oligny as he has played his entire professional career in the AHL except for one ECHL game back in 2015-16.
- Max Miller of The Hockey News is reporting that San Jose Sharks defenseman Shakir Mukhamadullin will miss the remainder of the Rookie Faceoff tournament due to injury. The 22-year-old did not travel with the team for the tournament and has been ruled out with general soreness. The Sharks don’t seem concerned about the issue becoming a problem long-term and fully expect him to be ready for their main training camp. Mukhamadullin dressed in three NHL games last season and is expected to compete for a depth role this coming season.
Metropolitan Notes: Filmon, Hurricanes, Sotheran
Devils prospect Josh Filmon won’t participate in rookie camp and is doubtful for main training camp after being listed as week-to-week with an upper-body injury, per the team’s Amanda Stein. The 20-year-old left-winger will report to the AHL’s Utica Comets for his first professional campaign when he’s cleared to play, and Comets bench boss Kevin Dineen said they haven’t yet ruled him out for the start of the regular season.
Filmon, a Winnipeg native, went 166th overall to New Jersey in the sixth round of the 2022 draft. The 6’3″, 170-lb forward has been a premier offensive threat for the Swift Current Broncos of the Western Hockey League in his first two post-draft seasons, totaling 67 points (27 G, 40 A) in 64 games with a +16 rating last season.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the Metropolitan Division:
- The Hurricanes’ home will have a new name this season after the club has reached a 10-year arena naming rights agreement with the multinational technology company Lenovo, the team announced. The arena, known as PNC Arena since 2012, will now be named the Lenovo Center through at least the 2033-34 season. The arena opened for the 1999-00 season, the Hurricanes’ third in Carolina after relocating from Hartford, and was initially named the Raleigh Entertainment & Sports Arena before becoming the RBC Center in 2002.
- Flyers defense prospect Carter Sotheran is limited in rookie camp activities while dealing with a flare-up of Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, he told Charlie O’Connor of PHLY Sports. According to the Mayo Clinic, the condition results in “an extra pathway for signals to travel between the heart’s upper and lower chambers,” which can cause a fast or irregular heartbeat. Sotheran, 19, said he’s been dealing with the condition for the past four years and hopes to play in some of the Flyers’ rookie tournament contests over the weekend or next week. The 2023 fifth-round pick has not yet signed his entry-level contract and will return to the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks for his third season of junior hockey shortly.
Metropolitan Notes: Howe, Hurricanes, Kolosov
Pittsburgh Penguins forward prospect Tanner Howe will reportedly not take part in the prospect challenge event that is taking place in Buffalo this weekend due to an injury (as per Seth Rorabaugh of Tribune-Review Sports). Howe is dealing with a facial injury that will keep him out of action in the short term, although he is being called day to day. No specifics of the facial injury were released.
Howe was selected by the Penguins in the second round of this year’s NHL entry draft (46th overall) and was quickly signed to an ELC in early July. The 18-year-old will likely return to Regina to captain the Pats once again this season and shouldn’t face any issues with the injury as it isn’t expected to be a long-term concern.
In other Metropolitan Division notes:
- The Carolina Hurricanes unveiled development plans today that are expected to create a Raleigh Sports and Entertainment District that will surround Carolina’s home PNC Arena. Pacific Elm Properties and Gale Force Sports and Entertainment formally announced the plans that will see the redevelopment of the 80-acre site into a $1B mixed-use development. The new area will provide dining and entertainment options for fans of both the Hurricanes and nearby North Carolina State basketball as well as sports tailgating and programming, including a large 4300-seat music venue. Work on the project is expected to begin in December 2025.
- Philadelphia Flyers goaltending prospect Alexei Kolosov will reportedly not be taking part in the team’s 2024 rookie training camp that starts tomorrow (as per Jordan Hall of NBC Sports). The news likely means that the 22-year-old will not be part of the team’s main camp and leaves his status up in the air heading into the 2024-25 season. Reports had leaked earlier in the summer that Kolosov may return to the KHL because of issues adapting to life in North America after he spent a month in the AHL with the Flyers affiliate. Kolosov has signed his entry-level deal with the Flyers and the team expects him to play in North America this season, but his absence from rookie camp further complicates the situation between the player and team.
Looking Ahead At Early Training Camp Battles
The 2024 offseason is nearly at its end and many teams are looking ahead toward training camp. A few teams have unfinished business to attend to but most heavy lifting is completed across the league. Training camp and preseason contests give the team a first glance at new talent and also bring along the strenuous process of trimming the team down to a 23-man roster before opening night in October. This will not be an exhaustive list by any stretch of the imagination but a few notable training camp battles have already developed after a lengthy summer.
Carolina Hurricanes
The Hurricanes have sustained one of the most successful stretches outside a Stanley Cup title in organizational history. The team has made the playoffs for six straight seasons and has regularly boasted one of the deeper lineups in the league over that stretch. Unfortunately, the team lost valuable talent in Jake Guentzel, Teuvo Teravainen, Brett Pesce, and Brady Skjei this summer, leading many to believe this team has taken a noticeable step backward this offseason. The team filled in their blue line adequately with Sean Walker and Shayne Gostisbehere on low-cost deals but there is still a glaring hole on the team’s second line.
Martin Necas could slot into a center or right-wing role on the second line. The possession-heavy Hurricane offense makes him a better option on the wing due to poor faceoff percentage throughout his career. That leaves Carolina to choose from Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Jack Drury, Jack Roslovic, or Jordan Staal to middle the team’s second-line with another question mark at left wing. This battle will mainly come down to prospects Bradly Nadeau and Jackson Blake as many of the other wingers on the team are better-positioned in bottom-six roles. Neither have the upper hand at the outset as both showed off promising talent in the NCAA last season at the University of Maine and the University of North Dakota, respectively, and it will be an interesting battle to see play out in a few weeks.
Detroit Red Wings
The Red Wings are headed into year six of the ’Yzerplan’ and have yet to return to the Stanley Cup playoffs. The organization came close last year as they tied with the Washington Capitals in points for the last wild card spot in the Eastern Conference only to miss out due to the first tiebreaker. Poised to make headlines this summer in the hopes of icing a playoff-caliber roster in a tough Atlantic Division — the Red Wings fell flat. Their biggest moves of the summer were retaining forward Patrick Kane on a one-year deal, signing Vladimir Tarasenko to a two-year pact, and signing goaltender Cam Talbot to complete their goaltending trio.
Detroit seemingly already has a full roster heading into training camp in a few weeks. Simon Edvinsson, Albert Johansson, Carter Mazur, and Nate Danielson are poised to challenge for a full-time spot in the lineup which could lead the Red Wings to some difficult choices in October. The team will eventually have to begin graduating their glut of prospects to the NHL level but most of them are blocked by the numerous acquisitions general manager Steve Yzerman has made over the last few years. Don’t be surprised if Detroit becomes an active trade candidate before the season opens to make room for some of their prospects.
Minnesota Wild
The Minnesota Wild are set to open the 2024-25 NHL season with two-and-a-half goalies on the roster to the surprise of many. After the team extended uber-popular goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury to a one-year deal in mid-April the going notion was that the Wild would pursue a trade of Filip Gustavsson over the summer to open up a spot for top prospect Jesper Wallstedt. It shouldn’t be a make-or-break season for Wallstedt if the Wild keep him down in the minors for another year but he has little left to prove at the AHL level.
Gustavsson could still be a viable trade candidate throughout the season with a manageable $3.75MM cap hit for the next two years. It’s still difficult to view Minnesota not capitalizing on an active goaltending trade market this summer as anything other than a misstep. Wallstedt is a naturally good goaltending prospect already and the Wild have a unique opportunity to have him learn under one of the game’s all-time best in Fleury. It would be a surprise to see Minnesota move on from Gustavsson at this point in the offseason. Wallstedt could certainly play himself into a third-string position for Minnesota this season which could create quite the rotation between the pipes.
Montreal Canadiens
As the Canadiens look to rebound from a multi-year retooling effort the team has created quite a glut of potential on the blue line. Defensemen Mike Matheson and Kaiden Guhle already strike as long-term options on the back end but the team will need to piece together a defensive core with seven different options. It would be wise for Montreal to enter training camp with a very open mind for the defensive core outside of Matheson and Guhle.
This reasonably leaves five other spots available which will be filled out by prospects Lane Hutson, Logan Mailloux, and David Reinbacher with David Savard, Arber Xhekaj, Jayden Struble, and Justin Barron left to pick from. All the options individually offer their unique skill set to the Canadiens’ blue line but they are another potentially active trade candidate heading into the season.
Pittsburgh Penguins
On the opposite side of the coin compared to the Canadiens; the Penguins will need to thin out their group of forwards heading into the regular season. Pittsburgh’s roster breakdown shows 14 forwards on the active roster with Emil Bemstrom and Jesse Puljujarvi in the minors according to PuckPedia. Rutger McGroarty and Drew O’Connor should be the main camp battle to who plays on the wing next to Sidney Crosby but the team’s bottom-six appears too saturated.
It should be a multi-tiered training camp battle as each player to pick from plays a different style of hockey. Depending on whether the Penguins want more scoring in the bottom-six or a more defensive-minded approach it will ultimately chart the trajectory of several players. Bemstrom, Puljujarvi, Lars Eller, Noel Acciari, Anthony Beauvillier, and Valtteri Puustinen all represent the notable talent who will compete for these spots once training camp begins in a few weeks.
St. Louis Blues
The Blues were originally thought to be a team looking to thin out their defensive core this offseason. The team instead brought in Ryan Suter, Philip Broberg, and Pierre-Olivier Joseph while only moving on from Marco Scandella. The team may be without defenseman Torey Krug for the entire regular season which opens up a spot on the left side of the defense but the team will ultimately have to cut the roster.
The choice will become less complicated if the team is without Krug for the regular season as the only battle of training camp will come down to Suter and Joseph as the team’s seventh defenseman. A roster spot hangs on the availability of Krug for the 2024-25 NHL season which makes for an interesting camp battle between several members of the Blues’ defensive core.
Hurricanes Re-Sign Seth Jarvis To Eight-Year Contract
Earlier this week, a report from The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta indicated that the Hurricanes and RFA winger Seth Jarvis were nearing an agreement on a long-term contract. That is indeed the case as the team announced that the two sides have reached an eight-year, $63.2MM contract. GM Eric Tulsky released the following statement:
Seth is a cornerstone player for our franchise. He took another huge step last season, playing in all situations and displaying the skill and competitive drive that will make him a star in this league in the years to come.
Typically, the AAV of a contract is the total value divided by the number of years which in this case would be $7.9MM. However, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli (who first reported the deal) reports that there is a deferred signing bonus payment due July 1st, 2032, a day after the expiration of the agreement. By doing so, the contract’s AAV will actually check in at $7.5MM. Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic adds (Twitter link) that the deal contains $30MM of signing bonus money, the breakdown of which is not yet known.
The contract will cover the four remaining RFA-eligible seasons plus his first four seasons of UFA eligibility. It’s only those last four years that will be eligible for trade protection.
The 22-year-old was selected 13th overall by the Hurricanes in 2020. Jarvis spent his post-draft campaign in the WHL and then made the jump to the NHL at 19. He put up 17 goals and 23 assists in 68 games in his rookie season and followed that up with 14 goals and 25 helpers in 82 games in his sophomore campaign.
Last season was a breakout performance for Jarvis. He set career-highs with 33 goals and 34 assists in 81 games while averaging 18:45 per night. His 67 points were good for second on the team in scoring behind only Sebastian Aho. Jarvis was also one of Carolina’s top scorers during the postseason as he had five goals and four helpers in 11 contests, putting him third in team scoring. That certainly gave him some extra bargaining power heading into contract negotiations.
Carolina went into these discussions with roughly $6.44MM in cap space, per PuckPedia so this agreement will put them around $1MM over the Upper Limit. However, with Jesper Fast expected to miss the entire season after having neck surgery, the Hurricanes will be able to put him on LTIR, getting them back into cap compliance. They can also opt to carry a roster with fewer than the maximum of 23 players which would allow them to get under the Upper Limit that way and still bank in-season cap room.
Contracts with deferred money are quite rare in the NHL but it’s actually the second time Carolina has used it this offseason. Seravalli notes in his report about Jarvis’ contract that there is some deferred signing bonus money in Jaccob Slavin’s contract as well, one that moves the AAV from the reported $6.461MM to $6.396MM. These structures have been approved by the NHL so there won’t be any concerns about this contract getting vetoed.
Johnston noted (Twitter link) that multiple teams attempted to use this structure in talks this summer, including Vegas in their attempts to re-sign Jonathan Marchessault. With Carolina now successfully doing this twice, it will be interesting to see if it results in an uptick in these types of agreements moving forward.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.