The Carolina Hurricanes open their season tonight, as they host the Tampa Bay Lightning. The game was set to be the first in a home-and-home set, but tomorrow’s game in Tampa Bay was postponed as a result of Hurricane Milton.
Coming off six straight postseason appearances, the expectation is that the Hurricanes will be a competitive team in the East once again. But after suffering significant offseason losses, the Hurricanes are visibly weaker than they have been in past years.
Up front, Jake Guentzel, Teuvo Teravainen and Stefan Noesen all departed, while Jesper Fast is set to miss the year as well. Then while Jack Roslovic, William Carrier and Eric Robinson were brought in, we can’t pretend the Hurricanes’ offense is anywhere near as threatening as last year.
Then on the blue line, the Hurricanes lost their entire second pairing, in Brady Skjei and Brett Pesce. While they brought in both Shayne Gostisbehere and Sean Walker to replace them, there’s no question it’s a weaker blue line. Still solid? Yes, but a noticeable step down from last season’s unit.
As a result, the Hurricanes’ decision not to re-sign a lot of their core pieces is likely going to result in a regression this season. But the team still likely made the right call in letting those pieces walk away.
Guentzel, Skjei and Pesce all received six or seven-year deals, which will pay them until their late 30s. However, not only would re-signing them have meant a massive commitment in terms of cap hit (and they wouldn't have had the cap space to re-sign all of them anyways), but there’s also the reality that each player is likely to see an age-based decline during the deal. While each could be effective through the first three or four years of the contract, what about Years 5, 6, and 7? Based on the age of the Hurricanes' core, they could still be able to compete that far down the road.
What the Hurricanes have done is essentially accept a temporary regression, to make sure they’re still set up for long-term success. Up front, all of Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov and now Seth Jarvis are locked up long-term. So as the salary cap continues to rise, the team will be able to spend on pieces around them, without having to worry about extending any of them to a larger contract.
While other contending teams often end up unloading draft picks for short-term help on a playoff run, the Hurricanes have generally been good at preserving their prospect pool. As a result, the team has several pieces who are all closing in on becoming contributing members of the NHL roster: Jackson Blake (who’s expected to be in the lineup tonight), Bradly Nadeau, and Felix Unger-Sorum are all names up front, while Alexander Nikishin and Scott Morrow seem to be the likely successors to Dmitry Orlov and Brent Burns for the 2025-26 season.
So heading into the current season, the Hurricanes look weaker. They don’t have the same talent at the top of their forward group, and they lost two significant pieces to their blue line. But as their prospects start to make the jump to the NHL over the next year or two, they’ll have preserved 1) roster spots and 2) cap space, to ensure they’re able to get back to being a contending team. What the Hurricanes are banking on is that in a few years, their prospects will be a lot more valuable in their early/mid 20s than the players they lost will be in their mid-30s.
Still, expectations should be tempered for this season. The Eastern Conference looks tough, and while the Hurricanes should still be a playoff team, they probably won’t be contending for a division title again. But as the season plays out, it’s important to keep in mind that while we may see a temporary regression this season, the Hurricanes are still set up for long-term success.
Carolina Hurricanes Blogger • 
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