Canes Approach 2025-26 Season Following A Winning Summer

RALEIGH, N.C. - Wins and losses for the NHL's standings won't start filing in until the league's regular season gets underway on October 7. However, with the offseason rapidly coming to a close, each organization can reflect on their metaphorical result this offseason.

There's no universal standard that determines whether the summer was a success for a team or not, as each entered with its own agenda. In the case of the Carolina Hurricanes, though, there was a clear message - continue trying to improve their roster.

General Manager Eric Tulsky set that precedent when, at June's season wrap-up media availability, he said, “Until we have the 20 best players in the league, there’s still room to get better, and we’re going to keep working towards that."

While obtaining the 20 best players in the league may be a bit out of the realm of possibility due to factors such as the salary cap, the message behind Tulsky's remarks was understood. And as they prepare to chase down an eighth consecutive appearance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, it feels clear that the Canes are starting with a "W" of a summer behind them.

Highlighted by the splash acquisition of K'Andre Miller and long-hoped-for signing of Nikolaj Ehlers, it wasn't just the one-two punch of moves that solidified the victory. It's the fact that those two supplement a largely returning core of players that knocked on the door of their ultimate goal last season.

Carolina has 12 players signed for the next four seasons, including important pieces such as Sebastian Aho, Seth Jarvis, Jaccob Slavin, and more.

"Those [12] players represent 65% of our scoring from last year, plus Ehlers and Miller [are] adding onto that. We've got a core here that is really solid, and the other thing about it is that those players are an average age of 26 years old," Tulsky said in July. "Part of what we've done here is we've put ourselves in a position where we know we're not going to have our core eroded by the salary cap, because we have the players signed and in place. We know it's not going to be eroded by age, because they're not at a place where we worry about that yet."

Point being, not only are the Canes set up to compete now, but also in the future. Oh, and they still have over $10M in cap space if they want to go get more pieces, whether it's this summer, an early-season trade, or ahead of March's deadline.

"We put ourselves in a position to keep adding. We have room to keep finding ways to bring more players in and keep building on this," Tulsky continued. "That's a rare opportunity for a team that's as good as we are and as good as we've been for as long as we've had. To keep having room to take steps forward is an opportunity that I'm really excited about."

In addition to Ehlers and Miller, the Canes also put two of their budding stars on the aforementioned list of players who are signed for the next four years.

22-year-olds Jackson Blake and Logan Stankoven, both of whom had one more year left on their current contracts, signed up for eight more seasons with the organization at AAVs between $5-6M. The front office also remained aggressive in their approach of signing their existing talent to long-term contracts early in the process, betting that the price point they lock them in at now will be more team-friendly than it could have been when they were set to hit free agent status.

While Stankoven's new agreement came in during the morning hours of July 1, preceding the Miller and Ehlers moves, at least for Blake, those two additions played a role in Blake's decision to keep him in Raleigh until at least 2034.

"I think Eric and the staff do an unbelievable job of what they do. To bring in guys like Ehlers and K'Andre [Miller], I know they haven't played a game with the Canes yet, but they're two unbelievable players," Blake said during his media availability. "K'Andre's a Minnesota guy, so I got to watch him growing up a little bit when he played at Minnetonka and Ehlers is one of the best players in the league, I would say. Two unbelievable guys. Stankoven, that guy's one of my buddies, so to have him do a similar thing (signing an eight-year extension), it's awesome and I'm excited for the future with those guys."

What Others Are Saying...

"The Hurricanes managed to squeeze something out of a desolate market and improve the team across the entire lineup. Plus, it feels like these deals are going to age quite well," Sara Civian wrote for Bleacher Report.

"What Carolina has done is more than enough to put them back as odds-on favorites to make another Eastern Conference finals appearance -- or beyond," Ryan S. Clark and Kristen Shilton reviewed for ESPN.

"In terms of having a combination of (being) able to win now and the future set up perfectly, and all sorts of flexibility when it comes to cap and prospects, (the Canes and Utah Mammoth), are in an absolutely perfect position to contend for the next 10 years," longtime insider Frank Seravalli praised.

"Nikolaj Ehlers was widely regarded as the next best option on the market after the Marner trade. He also had plenty of leverage with a lack of standout free agents competing with him. While he could likely have driven his price up and gotten teams into a bidding war, Ehlers ended up signing a six-year, $51 million deal ($8.5M AAV) with the Hurricanes," Karl Rasmussen laid out for Sports Illustrated. "Additionally, Carolina traded for restricted free agent K'Andre Miller from the New York Rangers and signed him to a long-term extension. He's young and has plenty of upside, and will also help in their immediate pursuit of a Cup. Great business from the Canes."