- Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin left Saturday’s game against Philadelphia in the third period with what looks to be a knee injury, relays Cory Lavalette of the North State Journal. It’s expected that the team will know more on his status on Monday. Slavin has been a critical piece of Carolina’s back end for several years now and was off to a solid start before the injury. If he’s unable to play in their next game on Tuesday against San Jose, veteran Mike Reilly would likely make his Carolina debut.
Hurricanes Rumors
Pyotr Kochetkov To Miss At Least One Week
Carolina is one of the rare teams choosing to carry three goaltenders this season and that depth is going to come in handy early on. The team announced that Pyotr Kochetkov will be out for at least a week due to a lower-body injury, noting that while it’s not a serious injury, the recovery timeline is longer than head coach Rod Brind’Amour was hoping for.
The timeline of at least a week suggests that Carolina intends to place him on injured reserve. That designation means that a player must be out for at least a week. But with a full 23-player roster, putting Kochetkov on IR would allow the Hurricanes to bring someone up from the minors, though likely not a goalie with Brandon Bussi already with the team after a late-camp waiver claim.
Kochetkov has been the de facto starter the last two seasons, at times on merit and others with Frederik Andersen being on the shelf. Two years ago, it looked like the 26-year-old had taken a big step forward when he posted a 2.33 GAA and a .911 SV% in 42 outings.
However, things didn’t go quite as well last season. While he made a career-high 47 starts, his numbers weren’t as strong, checking in at 2.60 GAA and a .897 SV% while he struggled in the playoffs, playing to a 3.60 GAA and .855 SV% in just four outings, two of those coming in relief. In between, he dealt with a concussion and noted after the season that he had been playing through an injury.
With Kochetkov on the shelf, Andersen now becomes the clear-cut starter, a role that he hasn’t been able to hold onto for extended stretches in recent years due to his own injuries. Over the last three seasons, he hasn’t made more than 33 starts in a single one so if Kochetkov’s absence winds up being more longer-term, Andersen will be tested much more than he has been in recent years while Bussi could get a chance to make his NHL debut as well.
Goalie Notes: Vasilevskiy, Kochetkov, Vladar, Nedeljkovic
Lightning star Andrei Vasilevskiy will indeed get the start for Tampa’s home opener against the Senators tonight, head coach Jon Cooper told Benjamin Pierce of NHL.com. It’s the expected result following a bit of a saga during training camp that saw his workload early on limited. He practiced to start camp, but then disappeared from sessions for over a week due to what Cooper called “player management,” and there was enough concern about his status for the start of the season for the Bolts to claim Pheonix Copley off waivers from the Kings as insurance. Vasilevskiy ended up returning to practice in late September and made a preseason appearance against the Panthers, though, so it seemed for a while that opening night wouldn’t be a concern. With the reigning Vezina runner-up firmly back in the fold, there might be a deal in place to return Copley to Los Angeles, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet wrote earlier this week.
More updates from the world of goaltending:
- Hurricanes tandem partner Pyotr Kochetkov will not dress against the Devils tonight after being “nicked up” in preseason, head coach Rod Brind’Amour told Walt Ruff of NHL.com. He’s day-to-day, and his injury offers up the missing context as to why Carolina claimed Brandon Bussi off waivers from the Panthers earlier this week. Frederik Andersen will get the start and will presumably see a higher-than-normal workload until Kochetkov returns – a risky bet considering injuries have limited Andersen to an average of 24 starts over the last three years. Bussi would be in line for his NHL debut should he see action during this stretch.
- Free-agent signing Daniel Vladař is getting the start over Samuel Ersson as the Flyers open their season tonight, head coach Rick Tocchet told Charlie O’Connor of PHLY Sports. It was essentially a coin flip between the two, Tocchet said, signaling they’re likely set to receive similar workloads out of the gate. Both struggled in preseason samples, but Vladař was the better of the two with a .875 SV% and 2.32 GAA in a pair of appearances. Ersson played three exhibition games, logging a .841 SV% and 4.44 GAA.
- In another toss-up, the Sharks are going with veteran addition Alex Nedeljkovic between the pipes to kick off their season over top prospect Yaroslav Askarov, relays Curtis Pashelka of the Bay Area News Group. It’s an earned reward for the 29-year-old, who stopped all but one of the 53 shots he faced in two preseason showings for San Jose for a staggering .981 SV% and 0.50 GAA. Askarov, while still locked into a full-time NHL role for the first time this year, struggled in exhibition play with a .855 SV% and 3.79 GAA in a team-high three appearances.
Hurricanes Waive, Assign Juha Jaaska
The Carolina Hurricanes placed centerman Juha Jaaska on waivers on Tuesday. He cleared waivers on Wednesday, and will be assigned to the AHL’s Chicago Wolves, per NHL.com’s Walt Ruff.
Jaaska spent the majority of the 2024-25 season in the Chicago lineup. It was his first year in North American pros after playing in Finland’s Liiga from 2017 to 2024. Jaaska made quick work of the rookie year, earning an alternate captain role on the Wolves and posting 12 goals and 33 points in 53 games. His scoring ranked fifth on the Wolves and would have rivaled the top-30 in league-wide rookie scoring, though at 26, Jaaska was excluded from rookie counts.
Still, his debut year in Chicago was a promising one. It came as no surprise for those who followed the bulky winger’s career in Finland. He has long been lauded as a leader for his clubs, and wore a letter in all five years he spent with HIFK’s junior program. That includes captaining the U20 team in 2016-17 – his first year of draft eligibility – when he scored 24 points in 25 games in Finland’s top U20 league.
Despite the hot scoring, Jaaska’s struggles to match pace at the top level held back a lot of NHL attention. Those concerns continued through his final two years of draft eligibility, leaving Jaaska to pursue HIFK’s men’s team rather than a move to North America. That proved a fruitful decision, as the Helsinki-native began to claw his way up the lineup between 2018 and 2023. He showed his might at the pro level with 12 goals, 37 points, and a plus-14 in 56 games of the 2022-23 season; then matched that performance with 30 points and a plus-four in 57 games of the 2023-24 season. He wore an ’A’ in both seasons.
Those performances were enough to earn Jaaska a spot on Finland’s World Championship roster, and a contract with the Carolina Hurricanes. In addition to a prominent role on the Chicago Wolves, Jaaska also made his NHL debut last season, and totaled four assists in 18 games with the Hurricanes. Now, he’ll return to his role of alternate captain for the Wolves, with the goal of improving on a strong push into North America. With the right start to the season, or a few injuries ahead of him on the depth chart, Jaaska could quickly find his way into routine minutes on Carolina’s fourth-line.
Evan Bouchard Was Reportedly Targeted As Offer-Sheet Candidate During Summer
The Edmonton Oilers signed Evan Bouchard just before the start of the new league year this past summer, locking their star defenseman up for the next four years on a $10.5MM AAV contract. It was a relatively expected outcome for the then-pending RFA, but Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that things were very close to getting a lot more interesting with Bouchard. Friedman wrote in his 32 Thoughts column today that “it’s believed the Hurricanes put together a one-year” offer sheet for Bouchard that would have come in “at a number higher than McDavid just signed for,” with the intent of the Hurricanes was to use that inflated one-year AAV to secure the player, and then “figure out an extension” afterwards.
Had the Oilers failed to re-sign Bouchard and that offer sheet proceeded, it would have been a repeat of sorts for both the Oilers and the Hurricanes. Carolina famously acquired center Jesperi Kotkaniemi using a similar tactic, signing the Finnish center from the Montreal Canadiens via an inflated-value one-year offer sheet. On the Oilers’ side, they have already lost players due to offer sheets in recent years, with Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway poached by the St. Louis Blues in the summer of 2024. But Bouchard, who is one of the league’s top offensive defensemen, would have been without a doubt the most notable offer sheet attempt since the Canadiens’ signing of Sebastian Aho in the summer of 2019, an offer Aho signed but was promptly matched by Carolina.
Hurricanes President Doug Warf Resigns
- The Carolina Hurricanes announced today that team president Doug Warf has resigned after a little over one year in his position. Warf, who oversaw all business operations for the Hurricanes and their arena, Lenovo Center, was officially announced as the team’s president in July of last year. Warf re-joined the Hurricanes in that post after previously working for the team from 2000-2017, according to the team’s press release. Regarding the news, The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta reported that Warf’s resignation can be traced to “a difference in alignment” between himself and team owner Tom Dundon.
Maple Leafs Claim Cayden Primeau, Sammy Blais Off Waivers
The Toronto Maple Leafs have added a pair of depth options off the waiver wire. According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Maple Leafs have claimed netminder Cayden Primeau from the Carolina Hurricanes and forward Sammy Blais from the Montreal Canadiens.
Primeau’s tenure with the Hurricanes will end after having never appeared in a regular-season contest. Carolina acquired Primeau from the Canadiens this summer for a 2026 seventh-round pick. Despite signing him to a one-year, $775K contract a few days later, he’ll now play out that contract with Toronto.
After a promising 2023-24 campaign in which Primeau managed an 8-9-4 record in 24 games with a .910 SV%, he took a nosedive last year. Despite holding a 2-3-1 record in 11 games, he produced a disastrous .836 SV% and lost his job as the Canadiens’ backup to Jakub Dobes. Fortunately, Primeau revived some of his value with the AHL’s Laval Rocket, earning a 21-2-3 record in 26 games with a .927 SV%.
The Maple Leafs’ desire to add Primeau is fairly straightforward. The team will use Anthony Stolarz as the primary starter to begin the year, but has a question mark behind him with Joseph Woll taking an indefinite leave of absence. Dennis Hildeby has likely earned the role given his impressive preseason performance, and Primeau may start the year as their third-string option behind him, unless the team converts James Reimer’s PTO to a contract.
Meanwhile, Blais rejoins head coach Craig Berube in Toronto after winning a Stanley Cup ring with him in the 2019 playoffs. He’s a high-intensity forward and is coming off an impressive year with the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks, scoring 14 goals and 40 points in 51 games, with another six goals and 19 points in 23 games in the Calder Cup playoffs en route to another championship run.
Carolina Hurricanes Claim Brandon Bussi
The Carolina Hurricanes have claimed netminder Brandon Bussi off of waivers from the Florida Panthers, according to a team announcement. The Hurricanes also announced a corresponding move, placing goalie Cayden Primeau on waivers for the purposes of reassignment to the AHL’s Chicago Wolves.
At face value, this is something of a curious move, as the Hurricanes’ NHL tandem of Frederik Andersen and Pyotr Kochetkov appears set in stone. It’s possible the Hurricanes made this claim with an eye to goaltending depth in the AHL, but with Primeau already in place as the organizational number-three (assuming he clears waivers) there doesn’t appear to be a significant need to add Bussi.
Accordingly, at this point, the clearest explanation for this waiver claim is that it is some form of injury insurance, similar to how the Sabres signed Alexandar Georgiev before an injury to Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was reported.
With that said, in the case that there is not an un-reported injury that prompted this waiver claim, there is another potential explanation that relates to the current state of the Hurricanes’ goalie depth:
Taking a wider-view look at the Hurricanes’ situation in net overall, the situation behind Primeau in Chicago (assuming he clears waivers) is somewhat more wide open. The Wolves currently roster three goalies below Primeau on the depth chart: Ruslan Khazheyev, Amir Miftakhov, and Nikita Quapp. The trio, combined, have just 42 games worth of AHL experience, and just one Khazheyev, played in the AHL last season. (.876 save percentage in 20 games played)
Quapp, 22, spent 2024-25 with Düsseldorf in the German DEL, and is entering his first pro season in North America. Miftakhov, 25, was stellar in 2024-25 with the KHL’s Ak Bars Kazan (.927 save percentage in 30 games) but has not played in North America since his 2021-22 split between the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch and ECHL’s Orlando Solar Bears.
So, with that in mind, the reasoning behind this waiver claim becomes a bit clearer. Assuming there is no at-this-point unreported injury to either of the two Hurricanes’ starters, and assuming the Hurricanes do not have an appetite to carry three goalies on their roster for an extended period (they’ll need to because of this claim, at least for Monday), it seems as though Bussi could end up on waivers at some point in the short-term future.
If this waiver claim was indeed made with an eye to reinforcing the Wolves due to the trio of young goalies’ relative inexperience at the AHL level, it is understandable that the club would elect to claim Bussi. As things currently stand, the Hurricanes are one claim of Primeau, or one Primeau injury, from having to rely on that aforementioned trio to provide all of the goaltending for AHL Chicago. While it’s possible one (or more) of that trio is more than up to the task of playing a heavy workload without much prior AHL experience, the Hurricanes can’t be blamed if they have some uneasiness considering that prospect.
So, with this claim of Bussi, they have given themselves an opportunity to protect Chicago from that potential scenario. The 27-year-old Bussi is an ideal candidate for this kind of waiver claim for multiple reasons. First and foremost, he has no NHL experience, so he would not be the kind of goalie a team in need of NHL reinforcement in net would be expected to claim. That increases the odds Bussi will pass through waivers should the Hurricanes attempt to send him down.
Additionally, the Florida Panthers’ AHL affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers, are still left with four netminders under contract after Bussi’s claim. Although none of Cooper Black, Kirill Gerasimyuk, Evan Cormier, or Michael Simpson are particularly experienced at the AHL level, the sheer volume of netminders set to compete for a role in the crease in Charlotte would, theoretically, decrease the odds that Florida will try to re-claim Bussi should Carolina try to sneak him through waivers.
If one of those goalies has been particularly impressive in the training camp/preseason process and looks poised to steal a greater role in the AHL than the Panthers previously expected, those odds of a re-claim from the Panthers would decrease further still.
Bussi’s stellar performance in the AHL thus far in his career (.915 save percentage across 111 games) does complicate those odds, but if the Hurricanes have room to keep him on their NHL roster through Monday, it may be worth the chance of trying to place him back on waivers in order to reinforce Chicago. Based on their claim today, it appears the Hurricanes might agree.
This entire AHL explanation could be rendered meaningless if one of the Hurricanes’ NHL goalies is injured, of course, or if the Hurricanes surprisingly decide they want to carry three goalies. But at this point, it does appear that placing Bussi on waivers once again is the most easy-to-imagine scenario for how things will play out in Carolina’s crease moving forward.
Waivers: 10/3/25
Twelve new names are on Friday’s waiver list, Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports relays. Out of the 22 names waived yesterday, three were claimed: Daemon Hunt heads from Columbus to Minnesota, Cole Schwindt from Vegas to Florida, and Ilya Solovyov from Calgary to Colorado.
Today’s placements are as follows:
Boston Bruins
F Patrick Brown
D Michael Callahan
F Georgii Merkulov
D Victor Söderström
F Riley Tufte
Carolina Hurricanes
Tampa Bay Lightning
Toronto Maple Leafs
F David Kämpf
D William Villeneuve
Utah Mammoth
Vancouver Canucks
Washington Capitals
Hurricanes Sign Givani Smith To Two-Way Deal
The Hurricanes announced Friday they’ve signed winger Givani Smith to a two-way deal. He had been in camp on a professional tryout. The deal carries a $775K NHL salary and a $140K AHL salary with a guarantee of $250K.
A second-round pick by the Red Wings in 2016, Smith has become a journeyman over the past few seasons. Carolina will be the 27-year-old’s sixth NHL organization in the last four years. He split the 2022-23 campaign between the Red Wings and Panthers, spent all of 2023-24 in San Jose, and then split last year between the Sharks, Avalanche, and Flyers organizations. However, he never made an NHL appearance for Philadelphia.
The 6’2″ enforcer has gone 575 days since recording his last NHL point. He went without one in 13 showings last year and spent the back half of the campaign in the minors after clearing waivers. Since his debut six years ago, Smith has a 9-13–22 scoring line in 168 appearances with a -31 rating, 268 PIMs, and 330 hits. He’s averaged just 8:12 of ice time per game.
It remains to be seen whether the Canes keep Smith around for opening night or opt to waive him and stash him with AHL Charlotte. Considering fellow fringe forwards Juha Jaaska and Mark Jankowski are carrying day-to-day injury designations, it’ll likely be the former. He got a relatively long look in preseason, averaging nearly 13 minutes per game across four contests while scoring twice, adding an assist and 28 PIMs.
Smith beat out fellow PTO invite Kevin Labanc for a job, as well as first-round picks like Bradly Nadeau and Ryan Suzuki – the latter of whom managed to clear waivers this week. He’ll be an unrestricted free agent next summer.