Hurricanes Sign Oliver Kylington, Givani Smith To Professional Tryouts
The Carolina Hurricanes have signed forward Givani Smith and defenseman Oliver Kylington to professional tryouts. Both players appeared in NHL games last season.
Kylington’s NHL action was split between the Colorado Avalanche and Anaheim Ducks. He only totaled 19 games, and five points, on the year after sustaining a string of injuries throughout the 2024-25 season. Kylington stepped away from the NHL from October 2022 through January 2024 to focus on his mental health. He returned for 33 games of the Calgary Flames’ 2023-24 season and won the 2024 Bill Masterton Trophy.
Kylington is now 28 and looking to reinstate his spot in the NHL. He bounced back and forth between the major and minor leagues from 2018 to 2021 – but broke out with 31 points in 73 games of the Flames’ 2021-22 season. At his best, he looked like a smooth-moving, two-way defenseman capable of holding both blue-lines. That talent could be enough to fill the in-between role vacated by Scott Morrow when he was traded to the Rangers in June. First, Kylington will need to prove he can still play at NHL pace.
Meanwhile, Smith will look to flex his might as a bottom-of-the-lineup bruiser. He has fluctuated between the NHL and AHL for the last few seasons, and averaged at least one penalty minute per game everywhere he goes. Last season, Smith recorded no scoring and 18 PIMs in 13 NHL games, and three points and 21 PIMs in 16 AHL games. Those performances brought his career totals up to 22 points and 268 PIMs in 168 NHL games, and 55 points and 287 PIMs in 167 AHL games. He could be a candidate for an AHL contract, if he doesn’t earn a deal with the Hurricanes out of camp.
Hurricanes Sign Ivan Ryabkin To Entry-Level Contract
The Carolina Hurricanes have signed 2025 second-round pick Ivan Ryabkin to a three-year, entry-level contract. The deal carries $235K in signing bonuses and a $85K salary at the AHL level. The NHL salary grows each year – from $775K, to $850K, to $895K. Ryabkin is expected to delay the start of the contract by moving to the QMJHL’s Charlottetown Islanders this season, though rumors suggest he could make a push for the AHL roster out of training camp, per Elite Prospects’ Cam Robinson.
Ryabkin was once lauded as the top Russian in the 2007 birth year, and even considered a potential top-20 prospect after his age-17 season. That standing took a tumble over the course of his draft season, as concerns over his workout regiment and discipline grew with Russian club Moscow Dynamo. The resulting split prompted Ryabkin to the move to the USHL’s Muskegon Lumberjacks in January, after he scored just one goal and 12 points in 15 MHL games.
The mid-season move proved instantly profitable for both Ryabkin and Muskegon. The high-volume winger totaled 26 goals, 46 points, and 100 penalty minutes over a combined 41 games in the USHL. His scoring presence was the final heave that pushed Muskegon to their first Clark Cup Championship in franchise history. Ryabkin filled the sniper role to a tee, perfectly complimenting high-energy playmaker Tynan Lawrence and nifty power-forward Vaclav Nestrasil Jr..
News of his first NHL contract will make Ryabkin a must-watch player as training camps roll around. He still measures at a hefty 5-foot-11, 205-pounds, and stood out as an unpoised hitter on what was a heavily penalized Lumberjacks lineup. His scoring prowess at the junior level is unquestioned, but the 2025-26 season will be about proving his competition, drive, and level-headedness both on and off of the ice. Breaking into the minor-leagues at 19 would go a long way towards showing that growth. Ryabkin made his debut in the KHL and VHL – Russia’s top pro leagues – early into the 2024-25 season.
Hurricanes Hire Jesper Fast As Development Coach
After confirming his retirement in June, former Hurricanes winger Jesper Fast is returning to the organization as a development coach, the team announced.
Fast’s career was truncated by a neck injury he sustained in Carolina’s final game of the 2023-24 regular season. He required surgery that sidelined him for the playoffs and kept him on injured reserve for the entirety of 2024-25 before his retirement announcement came a couple of months ago.
As such, 2025-26 will mark Fast’s sixth season affiliated with the organization in some capacity. The 33-year-old initially joined the Canes on a three-year, $6MM contract in free agency in 2020. He then signed a two-year, $4.8MM extension in 2023 that covered the end of his playing career.
The 6’1″ winger was one of the league’s best skaters when active, and he’ll look to bring that mentality to Carolina’s prospect pool in his new role. A sixth-round pick by the Rangers in 2010, he totaled 91 goals and 248 points in 703 career games while routinely serving as an adept penalty killer thanks to his great pace and above-average hockey sense.
Fast joins Daniel Bochner and Kevin McCarthy to round out the Canes’ group of development coaches. The trio serves under former NHL defenseman Peter Harrold, their director of player development.
Hurricanes' Alexander Nikishin Talks Preparation For Rookie Season
- In a new interview with Daria Tuboltseva of RG Media, Carolina Hurricanes Alexander Nikishin spoke at length about his preparation for what’s expected to be the first full season in the NHL this upcoming year. Up to this point, Nikishin only has four postseason games under his belt from the 2024-25 Stanley Cup playoffs, but he did play the entire regular season with the KHL’s SKA St. Petersburg. In the interview, he spoke about how seriously he’s taking his preparation for the upcoming campaign, saying, “I want to train properly. My first NHL experience was a lesson – I realized what I need to work on. Now it will be easier because I already know the guys, the staff, the locker room, how practices go. I can’t wait for the season, but preparation is the key. I want to be as useful for the team as possible, without being the weak link.“
[SOURCE LINK]
Hurricanes Open To Reunion With Jack Roslovic
As noted by independent insider Frank Seravalli for Bleacher Report earlier this week, the Hurricanes have maintained interest in bringing UFA Jack Roslovic back to the club, but they “don’t really have a spot for him at the moment.”
Things have continued to be relatively quiet on the market for Roslovic, who’s held the title of top remaining UFA for well over a month now, aside from rumblings that he’s receiving overseas offers from KHL clubs. Roslovic, 28, landed a one-year, $2.8MM commitment from Carolina on the open market last summer and repaid them by tying his career high of 22 goals. That was quite the resurgence after he was limited to nine tallies in 59 games split between the Blue Jackets and Rangers in 2023-24.
While the Hurricanes could use another middle-six option – preferably one with a higher offensive ceiling than current projected second-line center Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Roslovic likely isn’t their first-choice option. Seravalli’s comment that there isn’t a clear spot for Roslovic in their lineup as things stand stems from how last season ended. Despite that regular-season production, he ended up sitting in the press box for a good portion of the postseason, including the final three games of their Eastern Conference Final loss to the Panthers. He scored a goal and three assists in nine playoff games but was a healthy scratch on six occasions, although his average ice time didn’t change significantly.
That said, there’s likely a place for another NHL forward in Carolina to push a name like Mark Jankowski or Tyson Jost onto the waiver wire and out of a top-14 spot. Roslovic isn’t and won’t be the needle-mover they have in mind, especially since they still have over $10MM in cap space to burn, but he’s a fine fallback option if his other NHL leads end up not panning out. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet said early this month that Roslovic still had multiple offers on the table but wasn’t rushing to sign any of them.
Latest On Mason McTavish
The Ducks haven’t been actively shopping the signing rights to restricted free agent Mason McTavish, but that hasn’t stopped teams from expressing trade interest, as the center remains without a contract. Fervent interest will presumably be helped along by his essentially dominating the market for young centers. Wild RFA Marco Rossi‘s talks have all but dried up with little to no interest league-wide in the long-term contract he desires. The Canadiens, Hurricanes, and Red Wings have all shown serious interest – the last club chief among them, James Murphy of RG writes.
Without much talk of an offer sheet, a notion sources told Murphy to dispel with Anaheim having ample space to match, McTavish has little control over his destiny. Speculation has indicated he’s concerned about his long-term role with the Ducks after their offseason shopping spree added needed depth to their forward group, but there’s little to no appetite from the Ducks’ end to facilitate a trade unless he outright refuses to sign a contract.
All the teams interested have a clear need for a second-line center. Unlike in SoCal, where there’s still a small chance for him to compete with Leo Carlsson for long-term 1C duties, there wouldn’t be that upward mobility there for him with Nick Suzuki in Montreal and Sebastian Aho in Carolina not vacating their posts anytime soon. The Wings have the weakest top pivot out of the group in Dylan Larkin, but he still wouldn’t be walking into Day 1 first-line duties there if that’s his goal.
While McTavish may have the standard profile of a high-motor but not hugely offensively untapped 2C, his performance last season shows there could be more to behold. The 22-year-old posted a team-leading 22 goals in 76 games, and his 52 points finished three back of Troy Terry for the team lead. That’s highly impressive production in an offensively stifled system under outgoing head coach Greg Cronin, and with his 12.2% shooting rate remaining projectable, there’s significant 65-to-75-point breakout potential for him this season as the team presumably adopts a more aggressive style under Joel Quenneville.
If Anaheim begins entertaining offers for the 6’1″ pivot’s signing rights, though, they’ll be looking for a blue-chip right-shot defense prospect as the principal point of the return, Murphy reports. That means names like 2023 first-rounders Axel Sandin-Pellikka would need to be in play in Detroit’s case, or that year’s No. 5 pick David Reinbacher in Montreal’s. Draft-capital-wise, it’s logical from the Ducks’ perspective after using the No. 3 overall pick on McTavish in 2021.
Kochetkov Played Through Injuries Last Year, Juntorp Finds New Team In Sweden
Hurricanes goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov is coming off a bit of a quieter year after his save percentage went down from .911 in 2023-24 to just .897 last season. It appears there might be a reason for that as the netminder recently told Sports.ru’s Dmitry Shevchenko that he started playing through some injuries in November with some lingering throughout the season; the only time he missed was due to a concussion. Kochetkov is set to partner up with Frederik Andersen as the tandem in Carolina once again next season and the Hurricanes will likely be counting on him to play at least 40 games for the third straight year. They’ll be hoping that a healthier Kochetkov will be a better one between the pipes.
- Still with the Hurricanes, prospect Nils Juntorp has signed with Boras HC in Sweden’s HockeyEttan, per a team announcement. The 21-year-old was a sixth-round pick by Chicago in 2022 and his rights were moved to Carolina in the Mikko Rantanen and Taylor Hall trade back in January. Juntorp had 20 points in 33 games with HC Dalen last season while also getting into three games at the second-tier Allsvenskan level.
Wolves Sign Two To AHL Deals
- The Hurricanes’ affiliate, the Chicago Wolves, announced (Twitter link) the re-signing of center Nikita Pavlychev and the signing of defenseman Jacob Friend to one-year contracts. Pavlychev had his best AHL performance last season, picking up 25 points in 63 games after primarily playing in the ECHL for the previous four years. As for Friend, he split last season between playing in Austria and Germany but has three years of playing in the minor pros in North America.
Salary Cap Deep Dive: Carolina Hurricanes
Navigating the salary cap is one of the most important tasks for a front office. Teams that can avoid 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 who don’t often see struggles and front office changes.
PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation for the 2025-26 season. This will focus more on players who are regulars on the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL. All cap figures are courtesy of PuckPedia. We’re currently covering the Metropolitan Division, first up are the Hurricanes.
Carolina Hurricanes
Current Cap Hit: $84,855,709 (below the $95.5MM Upper Limit)
Entry-Level Contracts
F Jackson Blake (one year, $905.8K)
D Alexander Nikishin (one year, $925K)
F Logan Stankoven (one year, $814.1K)
Potential Bonuses
Nikishin: $3MM
Stankoven: $32.5K
Total: $3.0325MM
Blake and Stankoven will be on very team-friendly contracts for one more season before their long-term agreements kick in. We’ll cover them in more detail at that time while noting that Stankoven’s bonus is tied to games played; as long as he stays healthy, that should easily be met.
Nikishin’s long-awaited NHL debut wound up taking longer than expected as he didn’t suit up for Carolina right away after joining the team, leading to some brief concern that a formal agreement wouldn’t be finalized. But he ultimately signed and projects to be a regular for the Hurricanes this season. Some of the $1MM of ‘A’ bonuses might be reachable but the $2MM of ‘B’ bonuses are highly unlikely.
Signed Through 2025-26, Non-Entry-Level
G Frederik Andersen ($2MM, UFA)
F Mark Jankowski ($800K, UFA)
F Tyson Jost ($775K, UFA)
D Mike Reilly ($1.1MM, UFA)
Potential Bonuses
Andersen: $750K
Jankowski was a late-season pickup from Nashville and fared well with eight goals down the stretch. However, he has largely been a depth piece in his career so while a small raise is coming his way no matter what thanks to the pending increase in minimum salary, his next deal might not land too much higher than that. Jost was up and down last season and had a very limited role when he was in the lineup for the Hurricanes. As things stand, he’s someone who’s likely to remain around the minimum salary.
Reilly missed most of the season while recovering from a procedure on his heart to correct an issue discovered while he was out with a concussion. He has been more of a sixth or seventh defender in recent years and projects to land in that same range with the Hurricanes. That should keep him around this range moving forward.
When healthy, Andersen has been a decent starter but staying healthy has been a big challenge. He has failed to reach 35 games in three straight years and four of the last five. That particular games played mark is notable as that’s the first threshold of his bonuses for $250K with another $250K coming at 40 games (plus $250K if Carolina makes it back to the East Final and he plays in half the games or more). There isn’t much risk with this contract as if the injury issues return, he’s still a lower-cost second option while if he’s healthy and meets those bonuses, he’s probably going to provide a lot of value at that price. Because of the injuries, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him going year-to-year from here on out with structures similar to this.
Signed Through 2026-27
D Jalen Chatfield ($3MM, UFA)
D Shayne Gostisbehere ($3.2MM, UFA)
G Pyotr Kochetkov ($2MM, UFA)
F Jordan Martinook ($3.05MM, UFA)
F Jordan Staal ($2.9MM, UFA)
Martinook was more of a depth player over his first few seasons with the Hurricanes but has become one of their more versatile forwards and is often deployed in the middle six. The end result has been three straight seasons over 30 points. But even with the cap set to jump, it’s hard to forecast a sizable raise on his next contract. A few more years with a small raise might be doable though. Staal, on the other hand, took a big pay cut on this deal to stick around. He’ll be heading for his age-39 year in 2027-28 so a one-year deal with incentives is likely if he decides to keep playing with the combined value coming in around his current price tag.
Gostisbehere was brought back last summer for a second stint with the team to be a depth player at even strength but a power play specialist. He was exactly that, notching 27 of his 45 points with the man advantage. The even strength limitations and his smaller stature limit his earnings upside but this is a niche role he can fill for a few more years. If he has a couple more years of 40-plus points, an AAV starting with a four next time is doable on a short-term deal. Chatfield had largely been a third-pairing player until last season when he was trusted with a bigger role. He isn’t a big point producer but if he gets through these next two seasons around the 18-19-minute mark at the level he played last season, he could push past $4MM as well in 2027 on a longer-term agreement than the three-year pact he inked last summer.
Kochetkov’s contract was a curious one. Signed back in late 2022 with hardly any NHL time under his belt, it has aged pretty well so far as he has carried the bulk of the work for the first two seasons of the agreement. While his overall consistency is a bit spotty compared to some netminders, the good outweighs the bad and if you have a strong-side platoon goalie at this price, you’re doing well. If Kochetkov continues on this trajectory, his next deal could land around the $5MM mark.
Signed Through 2027-28
F Taylor Hall ($3.167MM, UFA)
Hall was the other part of the original Mikko Rantanen deal but unlike Rantanen, he decided he wanted to stick around. The former Hart Trophy winner certainly isn’t that caliber of player anymore although he’s still a decent secondary scorer. Even if he’s on the third line, if he stays around the 42 points he had last season, Carolina should do fine with this deal. He’ll be almost 38 heading into 2028-29, however, so one-year contracts are likely beyond this one.
Signed Through 2028-29
F Eric Robinson ($1.7MM, UFA)
F Andrei Svechnikov ($7.75MM, UFA)
D Sean Walker ($3.6MM, UFA)
Svechnikov bypassed the bridge contract to sign a max-term agreement four years ago with the hope that he’d be providing surplus value in the back half. He’s not quite there yet especially coming off a down year but his performance the previous two seasons suggests he can get to that level still. At a minimum, he’s a second liner with good size and physicality and with the forecasted jumps coming to the cap, he could beat this deal four years from now, even if he stays at his 2024-25 form. Robinson had a career year last season, fitting in extremely well in Carolina’s system for the first time, earning a four-year agreement in the process. For someone who has reached double digits in goals in three of the last four years, there’s a good chance this deal works out well in the long run.
Walker’s career year in 2023-24 landed him a five-year deal last summer and it looked like he had established himself as a second-pairing blueliner. His usage last season was a step back, however, ranking last out of their six regular defenders. This price tag is on the high side for a sixth option but right now, it’s a luxury they can easily afford.
East Notes: Robertson, Biondi, Gardner
Even if the Maple Leafs don’t plan on keeping winger Nicholas Robertson around long-term, they should do their best to settle with the restricted free agent before his arbitration hearing on Sunday, David Alter of The Hockey News opines.
He cites a recent example in Toronto, goaltender Ilya Samsonov, who had a one-year, $3.55MM deal handed down through arbitration for the 2023-24 season. Any trade value he had was tanked by his poor performance that year – something Samsonov admitted was influenced in part by the stress of the hearing – and he ended up on waivers and later left in free agency.
Players seeing their performance and confidence dip after an arbitration hearing isn’t a new phenomenon, and it’s something players are being more public about in the last few years. Hearing reasons laid out by your team for why you should be paid less than market value is an understandably unsettling experience. For the high-ceiling Robertson, who’s already had his development and confidence stunted by long strings of healthy scratches and limited deployment that led to a trade request last year, that’s not something Toronto can afford to saddle him with to continue getting positive value out of him, whether that’s via trade or with his on-ice play.
More news and notes out of the Eastern Conference:
- After going unsigned by the Canadiens, who drafted him in the fourth round in 2020, forward Blake Biondi will begin his pro career in the Hurricanes organization this season on a contract with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves. The 23-year-old recently spoke to NHL.com’s Kurt Dusterberg about the significant injury-related and personal adversity he faced during his five-year run in college with the University of Minnesota-Duluth and Notre Dame, but called the opportunity with the Wolves “a great path for me” to continue his development toward landing an NHL contract. The former Minnesota high school star scored 12 goals and 27 points in 38 games last season for Notre Dame.
- While Canada’s NHL goaltending stable has been relatively weak in the past few years, Blue Jackets prospect Evan Gardner is a name to watch in the next wave of prospects hoping to change that, writes Scott Wheeler of The Athletic. The 2024 second-rounder has put up a pair of spectacular seasons in junior hockey for the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades, leading the league in GAA and SV% in his draft year and posting totals of 2.46 and .917, respectively, in 74 career games for the Blades with seven shutouts. While he hasn’t logged any international experience for Canada, he’s on their roster for this week’s World Junior Summer Showcase and is looking to work his way onto their roster for the main WJC in the winter.