- According to a team announcement, Andrei Svechnikov will return to the Carolina Hurricanes’ lineup tonight against the Montreal Canadiens. The former second overall pick of the 2018 NHL Draft had missed Carolina’s previous seven games with an upper-body injury. Despite being the fourth-highest scorer on the team, the Hurricanes have fared well without Svechnikov, managing a 5-2-0 record in his absence.
[SOURCE LINK]
Hurricanes Rumors
Andrei Svechnikov Set To Return To Hurricanes Lineup
- The Carolina Hurricanes have received a boost of good news, with winger Andrei Svechnikov set to return to the lineup after he missed the last seven games with an upper-body injury per NHL.com’s Walt Ruff. The missed games brought Svechnikov up to eight absences this season – his fewest since the 2021-22 campaign. The 24-year-old winger has 18 goals and 43 points in 63 games this season. With such a chunk of missing games behind him, and just 11 games left on Carolina’s schedule, the ’Canes will likely ease Svechnikov back into the lineup. He’ll likely rotate through a top-six role with wingers like Jackson Blake, Taylor Hall, and Jack Roslovic.
Hurricanes Reassign Juha Jaaska
March 24: Carolina returned Jaaska to Chicago yesterday, according to the AHL’s transactions log. He saw a season-high 12 minutes of ice time on Saturday against the Kings, although it didn’t go particularly well for him – he was a minus-three in a 7-2 loss. He was scratched in yesterday’s win over the Ducks, with captain Jordan Staal returning to the lineup after a one-game absence.
March 22: The Carolina Hurricanes have recalled forward Juha Jaaska from the AHL’s Chicago Wolves. Jaaska spent just over a month on the NHL roster from early January to early February. He played in the first 17 NHL games of his career on the call-up and recorded four assists, nine penalty minutes, and a plus-three.
This is Jaaska’s first season in North American pros. He’s made good work of it, netting 10 goals and 24 points in 41 games with the Wolves – good for sixth on the team in scoring. Jaaska previously spent the last nine seasons with HIFK Helsinki of the Liiga, Finland’s top pro league. He worked his way up through the HIFK system and slowly climbed his way up their pro roster. Jaaska made his Liiga debut in the 2015-16 season and played through his first full year in 2017-18. He had five points in 26 games as a rookie and grew those numbers to 21 points in 47 games as a sophomore.
Jaaska was typecast as a power-forward early in his pro career, the natural result of a 6’0″, 210-lb frame. But he found a scoring groove over the last two Liiga seasons. He’s scored double-digit goals in each of his last five seasons – now including 10 goals in the AHL – and managed a career-high 37 points in 56 games of the 2022-23 Liiga campaign. Jaaska followed that with 30 points in 57 games last year. Those numbers, and his ability to reach the 30-point mark in back-to-back years, was enough to inspire Carolina to sign him to a one-year, $850K contract this summer. Now, Jaaska will get yet another chance at hardy NHL minutes after posting five points in his last five AHL games.
Hurricanes Making Lucas Mercuri Available For Trade
Hurricanes center prospect Lucas Mercuri has informed the club he won’t sign an entry-level contract with them when his collegiate season at the University of Massachusetts is over, reports Steven Ellis of Daily Faceoff. He will become an unrestricted free agent on Aug. 15 if Carolina doesn’t trade his signing rights to another team before then. Ellis adds the Hurricanes are actively making Mercuri’s rights available in exchange for what’s likely a mid-to-late-round draft pick.
A sixth-round pick in 2020 (No. 159 overall), the 6’3″ pivot has steadily grown his game with the Minutemen. Now a 23-year-old senior, he has a career-high 10-21–31 scoring line in 38 games ahead of UMass’ trip to the national championship tournament, which begins next week. He captured a Hockey East championship with the school in his freshman campaign.
Mercuri’s motivation for looking for opportunities elsewhere is unclear. Usually, players will opt to test free agency or request a trade before signing if they don’t see a logical pathway to NHL minutes for themselves in the organization. For Mercuri, who doesn’t rank among the team’s top 15 prospects in any notable public ranking, that’s likely the case.
The Montreal native ranks third on UMass this season with a +15 rating, his first time finishing above a +10. He’s their fourth-leading point-getter behind Predators 2022 fourth-rounder Cole O’Hara, Flames 2023 third-rounder Aydar Suniev, and undrafted 21-year-old Jack Musa.
Orlov Likely To Return Versus Sharks, Svechnikov's Availability Less Certain
It appears that the Hurricanes will get some help on the injury front as they begin a three-game road trip on Thursday in San Jose. Team reporter Walt Ruff mentions (Twitter link) that defenseman Dmitry Orlov should be ready to return after missing the last two weeks with an upper-body injury. The 33-year-old has four goals and 20 assists in 62 games this season while logging a little under 20 minutes a night.
Meanwhile, the news isn’t as good for winger Andrei Svechnikov. Ruff added that it wasn’t initially known if the 24-year-old would be accompanying the team on the trip. Last week, the hope was that Svechnikov would be back for the Hurricanes sometime this week but that appears to be more in question now. He has 18 goals and 25 assists in 63 outings this season.
Tulsky: Hurricanes More Than Willing To Acquire Another Key Rental Down The Road
The Hurricanes have taken some big swings on the trade front the last couple of years, landing Jake Guentzel at the 2023 trade deadline and Mikko Rantanen earlier this season. But they weren’t able to sign either one with Rantanen subsequently being flipped. Despite not being able to sign either one, GM Eric Tulsky indicated in an interview with Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic (subscription link) that he is more than willing to take another big swing on a prominent pending UFA should the opportunity present itself down the road, even without an extension in place. Tulsky believes that the team is usually able to keep the players that they want to and more often than not, the interest is mutual so in his mind, the odds should be good that they can get something done whenever they make a move to add another key rental in the future.
Hurricanes' Andrei Svechnikov Back At Practice After Absence
A new week rolling around has brought updates on injured and absent players to teams around the league. The most impactful news lands in Carolina, where the Hurricanes welcomed top-line winger Andrei Svechnikov back to the practice sheet after he missed the last three games with an upper-body injury. It was Svechnikov’s first multi-game absence of the season.
Mikko Rantanen Says He Didn’t Want To Leave Avalanche
Although it’s almost unheard of for a 100-point scorer to be traded twice in the same season, that’s precisely the situation Dallas Stars winger Mikko Rantanen experienced this year. However, ahead of playing the Colorado Avalanche for the first time tomorrow, Rantanen is stating he never desired to leave the team, via Sportsnet.
In 10 seasons with the club, Rantanen registered 287 goals, 394 assists and 681 points. He added 101 points in 81 games in the playoffs and played a vital role in the club’s 2021-22 Stanley Cup championship.
However, the Avs shipped the star winger to the Hurricanes on January 24 in a three-team deal after contract negotiations stalled. It was a deal that sent shockwaves through the hockey world. In addition to Rantanen, Carolina received Taylor Hall, and Nils Juntorp, Colorado received Martin Necas, Jack Drury, a 2025 second-round pick, a 2026 fourth-round pick, and Chicago received a third-round pick (via Carolina) and retained half of Rantanen’s salary.
While the Avs and Rantanen tried to finalize an extension in the final year of his contract, terms were not reached and the ultimate decision to ship off the two-time 100-point scorer was made. Ironically, the Hurricanes ran into a similar scenario with the Finnish star, and eventually made the decision to deal him to the Stars on March 7. The third team proved to be the charm for Rantanen, who immediately agreed to an eight-year contract extension worth $96MM, worth a cap hit of $12MM.
Ahead of tomorrow’s big matchup between his current and former clubs, Rantanen looked to clear the air with reporters about the bizarre circumstances surrounding his season. Meeting with Denver reporters, Rantanen led off his comments by thanking the Avalanche franchise (and its fans) for their years of support and then backed it up by stating he never wanted to leave Colorado. He noted the trade to the Hurricanes as “weird,” and said he believed he and the team were still in the negotiation process with six weeks remaining before the trade deadline. Rantanen said that’s when he was informed of the trade.
Rantanen also discussed how hard the last few months have been being traded twice before finally finding his home with Dallas. And while tomorrow marks his return to Colorado and first game against the team that drafted him 10th overall in the 2015 draft, the chances these two teams meet in the playoffs are high. If the season ended now, the two teams would square off in the first round of the playoffs.
Svechnikov Could Return Next Week
- Hurricanes winger Andrei Svechnikov has missed the last week with an upper-body injury and won’t suit up against Philadelphia tonight. Team reporter Walt Ruff relays that the team is hopeful that the 24-year-old will be able to return to the lineup at some point next week. It has been a bit of a down year for Svechnikov who has 18 goals and 25 assists through 63 games, his lowest point-per-game average since his rookie year back in 2018-19.
Andrei Svechnikov Likely Out Tomorrow
- According to head coach Rod Brind’Amour, and passed along by Ryan Henkel of The Hockey News, the Carolina Hurricanes aren’t expecting Andrei Svechnikov back tomorrow night against the Detroit Red Wings. Svechnikov missed Carolina’s recent game against the Tampa Bay Lightning due to an undisclosed injury, making tomorrow his second missed contest in a row. Brind’Amour shared he doesn’t expect the injury to keep Svechnikov out long-term.
[SOURCE LINK]