Hurricanes Sign Noel Fransen To Entry-Level Contract
According to a team announcement, the Carolina Hurricanes have signed defenseman Noel Fransen to a three-year entry-level contract.
The 20-year-old will make $850,000 in 2026-27, $900,000 in 2027-28, and $950,000 in 2028-29 at the NHL level. If in the AHL, he will receive $85,000 for all three seasons. The deal will include signing bonuses worth $270,000. He signed this deal after finishing his 2025-26 season between two teams in Sweden. In the SHL, he scored two points in 13 games with Farjestad BK and also posted six goals for 14 points in 38 games on loan with BIK Karlskoga in HockeyAllsvenskan.
General Manager Erik Tulsky said in the team’s release, “Noel has all of the attributes we look for in a Carolina Hurricanes defenseman. He has the mobility to close quickly on a play, as well as the speed to be active on offensive transitions. We’re looking forward to seeing him in North America next season.”
Leading into the 2024 NHL Draft, Fransen profiled as a prospect who prioritizes offense through his skating in both transition and in the offensive zone on the blue line. That mobility is emphasized in his transition ability to connect a play from defense through the neutral zone. Fransen was selected as a third-round pick at 69th overall by the Hurricanes in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft.
He dominated in the junior levels of his native country. In the J18 South and West regions he participated in, Fransen led his counterparts in scoring and overall points by a defenseman. Those same honors followed as he progressed into J20 Nationell play, where he led all defenders in the league in scoring in 2023-24. An honor previously held by other Swedish NHL defenders, including Erik Karlsson (2007-08) and Alexander Edler (2004-05), dating back to 2000.
Fransen graduates from a list of unsigned Hurricanes defensive prospects like Kurban Limatov, Timur Kol, and joins the likes of fellow 20-year-old defender Dominik Badinka in the system, and will compete as a potential NHL roster player on the Hurricanes’ back-end, like another former third-round pick in Alexander Nikishin, who Carolina will consider as a top-priority RFA signing this offseason.
Before this signing, the Hurricanes had around $11.9MM in cap space for the offseason that they’ll have to address towards their unrestricted free agents, which include Nicolas Deslauriers in the forward group, as well as defenseman Mike Reilly and goaltender Frederik Andersen.