stormTRacker Podcast
...stormTRacker Podcast is your home for in-depth analysis of the Carolina Hurricanes, Chicago Wolves & Hurricanes' prospects around the globe. Host, Tom Ray, gives his insightful perspective & is joined by Hurricanes' "Insiders" Erin Manning, Katie Bartlett, Nick Bass (Canes Prospects) & Andrew Rinaldi (Chicago Wolves), as well as special guests, to cover all the top stories for your Carolina Hurricanes. Tom is also active on "X" connecting with Hurricanes' fans on a regular basis. (@stormTRacker24)
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The Hurricane's Masterclass: Inside Eric Tulsky's Summer Moves
Eric Tulsky's first full offseason as Hurricanes GM has transformed a team that was expected to take a step back into a legitimate Stanley Cup contender. After reaching the Eastern Conference Finals last season despite significant roster turnover, the Canes have methodically addressed their needs while maintaining impressive cap flexibility.
The draft showcased Carolina's strategic approach, trading down for quantity in a weaker class while identifying hidden gems like Charlie Cerrato, Ivan Ryabkin, and Filip Ekberg. Their eye for talent that meshes with the "Canes way" of playing continues to be their competitive advantage.
Free agency saw Tulsky make calculated moves, allowing veterans Burns and Orlov to depart while retaining valuable role players like Eric Robinson and Tyson Jost. The extension of Logan Stankoven at $6 million annually already looks like a steal for a player whose feisty style and scoring touch perfectly epitomize the Hurricanes' identity.
The biggest splash came through two major acquisitions: K'Andre Miller brings elite skating ability to the blueline, ranking in the 94th percentile for skating speed - a massive upgrade over the departing defensemen. Even more impressive was landing Nikolai Ehlers, who reportedly chose Carolina despite more lucrative offers elsewhere, signaling a franchise transformation into a destination team.
What makes this offseason particularly impressive is not just who the Hurricanes added, but the flexibility they've maintained with $10.6 million in remaining cap space. While fans clamor for a second-line center, Tulsky's patient approach suggests he's waiting for the perfect fit rather than making a move simply to make one.
• Draft strategy focused on trading down for multiple picks in a weaker draft class
• Unexpected selections include potential steals Charlie Cerrato, Ivan Ryabkin, and Filip Ekberg
• Strategic approach to free agency with key role players Robinson and Jost re-signed to team-friendly deals
• Logan Stankoven extended at $6 million annually, likely to prove a bargain as his career progresses
• Goaltending depth addressed through Cayden Primeau trade and Amir Miftakhov signing
• K'Andre Miller acquisition brings elite skating ability (94th percentile in top speed) to the blueline
• Nikolai Ehlers choosing Carolina despite better financial offers elsewhere represents significant franchise validation
• Team maintains flexibility with substantial cap space for potential second-line center addition during the season
• Current roster strong enough to begin season with Kotkaniemi at 2C while waiting for the right opportunity
• Defensive configuration may feature left-shot defensemen playing their off-side rather than forcing a trade
The Hurricanes have positioned themselves as legitimate contenders to challenge the Florida Panthers. With their mix of established stars, exciting newcomers, and financial flexibility, Carolina looks poised for another deep playoff run. How will these new pieces fit into Rod Brind'Amour's system? Join us throughout the season as we track the Canes' pursuit of their second Stanley Cup.
Well, what a season for the Carolina Hurricanes. You know the Canes had a tough summer last year. A lot of free agents moved on and Eric Tulsky had some serious work to try to get the lineup set for the Canes heading into this year. A lot of folks didn't expect much from the Canes, but guess what? They hit the Eastern Conference Finals and they actually won a game against the champion, florida Panthers. But the Canes need to do some serious work this summer If they're going to compete against that Panther team again, because they're the standard in the NHL right now. And of course, the Panthers did great work as well this summer, resigning Sam Bennett, aaron Ekblad and Brad Marchand actually to six years. That's quite a story. So they're going to be tough and they are definitely going to be the favorite. So Eric Tulsky and crew had their work cut out for them this summer.
Speaker 1:We talked about the fact that Tulsky's got lots to work with this year. We mentioned in our last podcast that he has $28.4 million to spend and 20 of 23 roster spots set. He was in a situation with 29 draft picks over the next four years, including six firsts. He had some top prospects. We talked a little bit about Scott Morrow and Bradley Nadeau, who were on the top prospect team in the AHL. Quite a feat, because there hasn't been an NHL team that's had two players on that prospect team before. So the Canes in good shape. And finally, we mentioned that, hey, a lot of the Canes are signed for future. Key Canes are signed for future long terms, and we talked about Sveshnikov, aho, jarvis, slavin and even Kokaniemi all of those guys on long-term deals, so lots to work with. So, as we headed into the draft, a lot of anticipation for the cane. I'm wondering what was Eric going to do this year? So the draft, that was interesting too.
Speaker 3:And Erin what did you see in the draft?
Speaker 3:Well, I had a couple of thoughts about the draft.
Speaker 3:First of all, I was one of those people who thought it would be interesting to sit through the decentralized draft, and so I actually watched the first day, you know and by watched I mean I had it on in the background because, as everyone who did watch it knows, it became an agonizing bit of non-entertainment television.
Speaker 3:So, even though a lot of the GMs really liked it, they liked being able to sit around and discuss the players and prospects openly, they liked being able to have those conversations without worrying that the guys at the next table were listening in, and they liked not having to do the travel and then turn around and come back in time for free agency. I think for the viewers there's going to have to be some changes made to how they do that. As far as the Canes go, they did get all the way down to their first round draft pick and, as most of us anticipated, they traded it for more picks in the second round. To me, the most interesting and surprising pick, if you want to go with that, is Charlie Serrato. I hope I'm saying his name correctly.
Speaker 3:The young centerman from you know who is an overager. He's 20 years old. He's still in college. He's going to go back to college, probably this year old. He's still in college. He's going to go back to college, probably this year.
Speaker 3:I like the pick because I think that you have a player here that, if he pans out and this is always a big if with anybody, you know, second round or beyond you could have somebody who comes in like a Jack Drury, who was also a second round draft pick, or even Jake Evans in Montreal, who was a college pick, who took a long time, you know, to finish school and get into the league. But they've become very solid fourth line centermen and that would be something that I could see this pick maybe panning out to be. But that was my main impression is that they definitely need to fix the broadcast and make it more entertaining, but that the Canes did do a lot of good work by trading that draft pick down and getting more selections, because with a draft like this, the class was kind of weak overall. There weren't a lot of surefire NHLers below about the first, maybe two-thirds of the first round. So why not, you know, increase your chances with quantity, which has been McCain's strategy for several years.
Speaker 2:The one that sounds like he's really intriguing is and I don't know how to say his name because I've just been reading all the names, but it's Ryabkin- Ivan Ryabkin.
Speaker 1:Ivan Ryabkin.
Speaker 2:Ryabkin, yes, he just seems like a really interesting story because it seems like he has just skill for days. But there are a lot of question marks on the off-ice part of things and, being a part of the Canes organization, how can they kind of smooth out some of those rough spots for him off the ice and then take advantage and develop those strong skill sets on the ice? So that seemed to me to be the most interesting storyline as far as the picks were concerned, but lots of Russians of course, as is the Canes'.
Speaker 1:MO.
Speaker 2:And so now Ryabkin, he's been playing in North America, if I'm.
Speaker 1:Yes, he was in the USHL with Muskegon and of course the Canes love USHL guys, so yes, and he tore it up, by the way.
Speaker 2:But for the rest of them that means that they can stay with their clubs in the KHL until they're ready to come over, just like we've seen with Nikitin.
Speaker 2:or we might have some others, like Kazeev with the goalie, doing some NHL time, as Kochakov did as well, before they come up to the NHL. But either way, the Canes seem to have a lot of success and a lot of good plans with their Russian prospects and they're not afraid to sign them, while a lot of other teams shy away because of the uncertainty of will they come over or won't they come over. But lots of good options, it seems like all over from goalie and the forwards and the D, and I'd be interested to see how they develop.
Speaker 1:Well, a couple thoughts, first of all on Ryabkin. I had mentioned Ryabkin as a wild card even at 29, so I was all over Ryabkin before we got him. Actually, corey Promen, who writes for the Athletic, said this about Ryabkin he has a ton of skill and ability to improvise with the puck. He sees the ice at a high level and makes difficult passes consistently. At times he competes quite hard and looks to use his body to win pucks. He's a guy that's 5'11", he's 200 pounds, he's stocky as heck. He had a tough start last year. A lot of folks had him in the first round. He had a tough start last year. They had a lot of folks had him in the first round. In fact some had him in the first. You know, on the top 10 at different points because of his skill, as you mentioned, it's off the charts. But he's a guy that's got to work on consistency, he's got to work on his 200-foot game and that's fine and he'll get a chance to do that and I think that's all good stuff. So I think Abkin was a steal. You mentioned Serato An interesting thing about Charlie Serato.
Speaker 1:He's another guy that missed two drafts. He passed through as a freshman. He had a big year. He was the top scorer in the NCAA with Penn State. He's a guy that is one of those hardworking guys. He's got a bit of offense but he's really a hardworking center. He's like a Drury type guy. I think you mentioned the right kind of player. With Serato he was a bit of a wild card. He wasn't anywhere on the list Like he was so far down like it was almost laughable. So the Canes saw something in him that a lot of folks haven't talked about and I know that Nick Bass, when he saw him at the recent camp the prospect thing that was going on development camp he was quite impressed with Sorato for sure.
Speaker 1:One guy I wanted to mention was Semyon Frolov. He's the goalie that the Canes took and Frolov is a guy that was rated by many as the top goalie available in the draft and I know there was Medvedev and some other guys that were picked higher. But this guy is really something. Again, he's 6'3". He's another big goaltender. Here's what Corey Promen said about Frolov he's a clear NHL athlete with decent size and exceptional lower body quickness to make a lot of difficult saves. He's never out of a play with how quickly he recovers and is able to get across the crease. So he's a guy that getting some excellent words from Pradman and for sure he's got raw talent. So again, the Canes are stealing these players. In many cases they were rated lower down than we know.
Speaker 1:The story about the Canes and the Russians. One other Russian they took just to kind of wrap up the Russian side, was this guy, kurbin Limitov. You might have seen him Again 6'3", he's a 200-pounder. He skates like mad. He's another one of these huge defensemen and I know the folks at the development camp said how many big defensemen do we have? They're huge. So he's another one. And again he's another one. And again he's a guy that looks like he's got a potential future with the Kings.
Speaker 1:Now I want to mention one crazy, crazy one, because we picked at 221 a player called Philip Ekberg, a Swede. He was playing with the Ottawa 67s last year. Ekberg's a smaller player, 5'10", 165. I had been watching through the draft and people were coming up in the third round and said where the heck is Ekberg? Why isn't he drafted? Like what's going on? And here we are, we get him at 221. And here's what Kronman said about Ekberg. He was named the MVP of the under 18 world championships and was a big reason why Sweden won a silver medal. He's a superb skilled winger. He makes highly difficult and creative plays with the puck. Often he's a great playmaker with a good shot who projects to run a pro power play. This guy is a heck of a talent. Okay, and we get him at 221. Unbelievable.
Speaker 3:I saw some people on X.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I mean he seriously understand why he fell so low you know, when you look at where we started with a 29th pick and then not anything till late in the third round, and eric volleys that into three second rounders and a high third round pick, so you know, it's just, these guys are magic he and Darren York, I think they really do a clinic on this thing and so I was out of a kind of what I thought was going to be a boring and disinteresting draft. It turned out to be kind of fun and of course the cupboard is jammed as we've talked about many times with the Canes, and they added some more players with some outstanding skill. So great job done by the Canes. But you know, that's futures and we've got a little bit more interest on what's going to happen with this coming season.
Speaker 1:And here we go into free agency trades and it didn't take long before the free agency luster kind of went away. You know we had talked a lot about Mitch Marner. He was never really a factor for the Canes. As it turns out, he wasn't interested in Carolina at all, he was only interested in Las Vegas. So the top dog was gone. And then very quickly, one of the other guys who might have been of interest, brock Besser signed with Vancouver. So all of a sudden you're getting into a group of free agents that aren't too exciting. And on the blue, ekblad was gone, provorov was gone. I mean, quite frankly, it was a boring look at free agency. So there we go into free agency and the first thing of course the Canes had to deal with was their own. And what did we think about that, katie? What did you think about the decisions made by Eric on the existing Canes free agents?
Speaker 2:Well, I think most Canes fans will agree that it was time to move on from Burns and Orlov. Canes fans will agree that it was time to move on from Burns and Orlov and they went off and signed their deals with the Avalanche and the Sharks respectively. So it'll be interesting on a personal level to watch Burns next season and see what he looks like, because it it'll probably seem like almost a totally different player. His role will be different. There's no way he is going to be a top line player with the abs having McCarran tape. So it will be very interesting to see how that goes. And you know, congratulations to Orlov on getting his nice bag with the Sharks and being a mentor to some of those young guns over there.
Speaker 2:But with those two gone, the one that I was really excited to see come back as far as the UFAs was Eric Robinson.
Speaker 2:He just worked his tail off for the Canes and he was very solid for them, no matter what role they put him in. I mean, he started the season for a while up there on that line with KK and Natchez and they were the top line for the Canes for a long time and he really brought a lot of that balance and grit to that trio. And then, when it came time for him to play a lesser role whether it was fourth line or wherever he was put he did that well too, and he just put his head down and brought his lunch pail to the rink every night and did what he needed to do, and I think the Canes really appreciated that and saw the value in that, and so I'm happy they have extended him and brought him back, because you need those types of players to make a deep run in the playoffs and they needed him this past season for that and they'll need him again for future playoff runs.
Speaker 3:Erin, oh, I agree absolutely. And you know, one thing that people will want to pay attention to or bear in mind with Robinson is he's signed for four years at $1.7 million and with the new collective bargaining agreement, if I'm not mistaken I don't have this in front of me, but the league numbers are going to kick in and you're going to see players making more than that to play fourth line roles. So that was a good bit of work. The other free agent that I really am happy to see come back, even though he will probably be mostly with the Wolves, is Juha Jaska. I think that, even though he only came into a couple of games with the Canes, that player has just an incredible work ethic. Another one of those that you just watched him from the get-go and said, well, this guy's a Canes player, he belongs in this system. So somebody again that they can have as a potential call-up, somebody that they can bring in. And then I think they did a good job with another player as well, and that would be Tyson Jost.
Speaker 2:I love him, I love him.
Speaker 1:Well, katie, you had and I had mentioned this on X you were very strong in our last podcast about Tyson Jost being somebody you really wanted brought back, and I think it was great that they brought him back too, because I honestly believe he should have played in the playoffs. He should have been brought in at different times and I think he definitely had earned the right, and at the end of the season that fourth line was really clicking with him on there and I thought he did a great job. So it's good news. Right on with Robinson Come on, that's a steal.
Speaker 4:This guy.
Speaker 1:I think he's going to get better, don't forget. I mean, he's had kind of a disjointed career up until now and he's, you know, this was his real chance to kind of find a home and I think there's more offense that he has to give. I don't know of anyone that gets more chances than Eric does get those breakaways and all those great chances he gets. So I think if he can maybe spend the summer and, you know, sharpen up his shooting skills, that might be great.
Speaker 1:Yoska an interesting thing on Yoska. You might have noticed the second year is a one-way deal, so I thought that was kind of interesting that they decided to do it that way. And again, he's league minimum 750K. But I was ecstatic when they signed Juha Jaska because, just like you said, aaron man, he just came out and he was a heart and soul guy and he's not going to hurt you on the ice and he can play any position, center or the wing. He's just the kind of depth you want, ice, and he can play any position, center or the wing. Uh, he's just the kind of you know depth you want. And with he and uh jost, I think they've got a couple of guys that they could just call up anytime and and they're good to go. So I think, uh and again uh, if they're playing in chicago, those guys are great mentors as well for, uh, for some of these young kids that are coming in.
Speaker 1:So it's good stuff, um, and of course, the big news, the big signing of Logan Stankoven. How do we feel about that, katie?
Speaker 2:Oh, I'm thrilled I didn't mention him before, because he's technically an RFA extension, not one of our UFAs.
Speaker 4:Sure.
Speaker 2:But I don't think that anybody on Twitter was unhappy with the Stankhoven extension. We are thrilled to have him. He's a perfect Kane. He's made to be a Kane.
Speaker 2:I'm sure last year was tough for him because he had envisioned himself to be a star for a very, very long time and kind of had the rug yanked out from underneath him with the trade.
Speaker 2:But perhaps looking back on it and it seems like with the extension he would agree that it was a rather fortuitous fall into the Canes' lap, because as well as he fit the Stars, he fits the Canes even better and he is another one of those versatile wingers that can play up and down the lineup, no matter where.
Speaker 2:He ended the season with Stahl and Martinuk. I would not be surprised to see him back there again next season because he has the engine to keep up with those two and their work ethic and their style of play. But if they needed him up on a second line, he can do that. If they need a break or need to have more of a tough checking line and put Carrier up there, he still has the kind of good attitude that he'll put in a couple of games on the fourth line he's just a tell me what to do, coach, and I'm going to go do it to the best of my ability, and we, as Canes fans, absolutely love that. So I am very happy to have him back and can't wait to see all the different ways that he is going to contribute to this team.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean an interesting thing. Hockey Forecaster wrote this about Stankoven. I thought it was interesting. They said the feisty, undersized forward has the on-ice energy coaches love and a shot that goaltenders dread, I think with Logan. To me this was a steal. Again, three, four, five years from now, logan Stankoven at $6 million we're going to sit there and go. You got to be kidding me. It's like the deals they've done with Slavin and again with Seth Jarvis. These deals are going to age extremely well. You know, when you look at Stanko, I was reading some interesting things in the Kings lately. When they were looking at him last year heading into the league they saw him as a real contender for Rookie of the Year. They thought this guy is just his talent is off the charts and we haven't seen really what he can do yet. And you know he starts to show it on the power play. That's where he's going to get a lot of his points. Obviously, if he's working with the dads, that's a little bit of heavy lifting for him.
Speaker 1:But he does see action on that two power play and he's very effective and, as we know, he can score. He's got a shot, he can put the puck in the net. And the other thing is, you know, for a guy of his slight size and I know Eric Tulsky was talking a lot about this it's just amazing that he'll go to those tough areas and hang out there and comes out with the bruises and the hits and everything else so great stuff. So you look at where the Canes started and again, I agree with you. You know, brent Burns, dimitri Orlov it was time needed some fresh blood. The other guy that was not re-signed was Jack Roslevic. Of course, roslevic right now is rumored to go to the Maple Leafs and apparently they're trying to figure out a way to get their dollars down on the cap so that they can make that happen. But I'm okay with Russell Dick, 39.
Speaker 1:Okay, so while that was going on obviously you know getting the house in order on the Kane side there were some things happening on the goaltending side. We had talked a little bit about this in our last podcast as well, kind of previewing this and saying they've got to get a third goaltender, spencer Martin, and Tulsky had said some good things about Martin. He was heading off to Russia to play with CSKA I'll get it right in Russia. So he was off on a two-year deal a good deal for him. So he definitely wasn't going to be a factor and I don't think he was the right guy anyway. And certainly Dustin Tokarski. I appreciate his good effort last year. He wasn't going to be a factor and I don't think he was the right guy anyway.
Speaker 1:And certainly Dustin Tokarski. I appreciate his good effort last year. He wasn't the guy either and I think the Canes realized that. You know, with the injury challenges of Freddie and at times, piotr, they got to have somebody that can play some games. So first up on the agenda, aaron. They acquired a former Montreal Canadian in Caden Premo. What can you tell us about Caden?
Speaker 3:Well, I haven't seen as much of Premo as some people have, because I typically just watch the NHL games and I mean I did used to watch the Rocket. They're a fun team to watch. It's gotten a little bit trickier, more expensive to watch AL games and if you're watching two NHL teams, chances are you don't have time to watch a lot of games. So unless you're getting paid but just put that out there no, but during his, his fill-ins, when he's been called up from the rocket to take those times in the NHL when when one of their other goaltenders has not been available, primo has done pretty well. Last season he only played 11 NHL games and the save percentage was not that great. It was an 836 save percentage. But again, these are typical call-up situations. You've got people down, you've got other people out or something. So it's not like you can look at that and just read everything into that. As we know, it's harder to judge goaltenders strictly from a stat basis. But he plays well. His movements are. You know, he seems to be moving well to get the puck and he's not. You know he doesn't play with a lot of panic, he's a very calm goaltender, I would say. Last, the previous season he actually had 23 games in the NHL and that season he had a 9-10 save percentage as an NHL goaltender. So his career NHL is an 8-84, which for a backup goaltender who's going to come up and play some games for you when your guys are injured, you can't ask for better than that. And as far as how he'll do with the Canes, I can't help but think that because of the canes way of playing team defense, that those numbers are going to come up a little bit, that he's not going to be fighting quite as much to. You know, there's not going to be as many, um, high danger chances and so on, you know, and and that we all we've had that discussion as far as maybe that's not always a good thing, but, um, I think for a goaltender like Primo that's not going to be an issue and he's going to be just fine. So I'm excited to have him join the Canes from the Habs.
Speaker 3:The Habs really had reached a point because of their other young prodigy, jakob Dovish, where they kind of needed to make a decision one way or the other with Primo, and this is a great opportunity for him certainly to come in, and I know he's going to be great for the Wolves, that's not even a question, because he was a terrific part of the Habs season this season and the Rocket I'm sorry, not the Habs, the Rocket the Rocket made it quite deep into the playoffs and it was, you know, a lot of that was due to the goaltending they had. Um, not just promo, but in general, um, they've had a really good uh round of goaltenders in the rocket. So I, I like the pit, I mean I like the acquisition.
Speaker 3:You can't, you cannot, complain about a seventh round draft pick being the cost, because seventh round draft picks almost never make it to the nhl in the first place. And age-wise, he is, he's 20, he'll be 26 in August, so he's going to fit right in with the age of the current younger goal set tender side, you know, because we have several both in Chicago and then, of course, kachetkov. So it's going to be a good ad, I think, and I think it's going to be fun to have him come in and play some games at some point, which we know that during the course of the season there's almost 100% chance he'll come in for at least a game. So we'll see.
Speaker 1:I would expect. I mean he could be around a fair bit of the season, I think for sure. Here's what Hockey Forecaster said about Primo, and this is interesting. Here's what Hockey Forecaster said about Primo, and this is interesting. He says he has the ability to shut the door with a plon, since he's both technically sound and an athletic netminder who can make spectacular saves when required. And here's the good story His pedigree is off the charts, so we know that his dad is Keith Primo and Keith, if you might recall, was traded for Rod Grindemore. So kind of an interesting history here, kind of what goes around comes around.
Speaker 1:I'm excited about Premo. I think he's got great upside and I think he's a guy that again brings size. He's got athleticism. I'm really excited to see what he's going to do. And he, you know he could really kind of move himself into that number two spot. He's been given an opportunity here, because we know that Freddie's not going to be around for that much longer and, you know, maybe this is a chance for him to come in and show what he can do. And he's definitely got the you know, the talent. He's got the experience in the minors where he's played extremely well.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, good move. The other guy that they decided to make a move on was Andrei Sveshnikov's buddy over in Russia, and of course that's Amir Miftakov. Miftakov was drafted by Tampa. He played a year in North America, was not particularly successful. He had been playing with Ackbars in Russia, came over then decided to go back, has been tearing it up in the KHL and again is a guy that comes in with what the Canes think is a pretty good upside. Now he's on a two-way deal this year. My suspicion is, if it doesn't go particularly well, he'll head back to Russia. So he's a veteran. He's 26, 27 years old Again, same kind of thing. And so two guys, some more guys to bring into the mix. They think they've got upside. They think they can compete Certainly to be a third goaltender for the Canes and maybe do something in the future. So kind of exciting. And again, a little bit off the charts, right, miftikoff is 25, and he's a six-footer, so he's not a really big goaltender. So that's a little bit different for the Canes, okay Now.
Speaker 1:So here we go. We've got our goaltending sorted out, we've sorted out the players that they wanted to sign with the Canes, but we still had some positions that we needed to get busy on with the Canes. 2c, of course, has been the Achilles heel for the Canes and that was a big thing they were going to try to solve. They wanted a scoring winger and we talked a little bit about this and we had talked about some of the candidates not much available. And then they wanted another D-man. They needed another D-man that could play in the top four.
Speaker 1:So again, we knew we had lost Burns, we had lost Ortoloff, but we had Alexander Nikitin coming in. So that's good news, but we still needed another D-man to kind of round out the course. So what were we going to do? So free agency didn't leave us a lot and so with, with Aaron Ekblad moving on and Probrov signed, you know, pretty quickly, and he wasn't the guy we're going to look at. Anyway, there wasn't really much there. I mean, who do you want to put in your top four? So they had to get busy. And Erin, what did they do?
Speaker 3:Well, they did something. I think that surprised a lot of us. They went and looked. They targeted some young defensemen. We've heard the rumblings about them targeting, you know, Bouchard, possibly with an offer sheet. We heard that they were among the groups in on Noah Dobson, who went to my other team, the Habs, and they ended up signing the young defenseman from the New York Rangers, Keandre Miller, and he is a fantastic young defenseman. This was a great decision.
Speaker 3:I think it's exciting when your general manager doesn't just look at the veteran options and says you know, what have we got out here? That maybe a player that has a lot more potential than he's been able to show so far but is already really, really good, and so I was really surprised and very excited to see Miller added to the team. I think he's going to be great. It's going to be interesting to figure out just exactly how that deployment's going to work. I know we'll probably be talking about that closer to the season when things get a little bit more, you know, solidified, but I think it's really really exciting. And based on just when you came into the offseason, a lot of us still thought that, gee, maybe they're going to resign Burns for a year or gee, maybe they're going to do this other thing. So this is much more interesting, and I think it's going to be incredible to watch how this all works.
Speaker 1:Katie, what were your thoughts on the deal for Keandre Miller?
Speaker 2:Well, the thing that of course stands out when it comes to Keandre Miller. Well, the thing that of course stands out when it comes to Keandre Miller is the fact that he is a left shot defenseman because, with the arrival of Nikitian, it seemed like the Canes were set on the left side.
Speaker 2:Slavin Nikitian Ghost, good to go. So it shows that the Canes are prioritizing talent over just some sort of stat like right hand, left hand, making sure that that balance quote unquote is there. And so the question then becomes who plays on their left side? If this is the final composition of the defense, it might not be, there might be something still going on, who knows. But, uh, that you don't go out and sign a player like miller to put him on your third pair defensively you don't pay that kind of money for them.
Speaker 2:So I would not be surprised if he actually ends up on the top pair with slaven and we've been talking about a long time about how slaven needs a better D partner. He needs to be with somebody where he's not all just having to babysit out there while play is going on, and I think that Miller offers a really interesting opportunity for him to be kind of like Slavin's apprentice I guess is how I would put it In that he has good stick work, just like Slavin. He does positioning pretty well not at Slavin's level, but if he can learn from Slavin, then he can take what he does well and make it better. So I'm excited to see what he can do and, plus with Slavin behind him, it will allow him to open up his offensive game a little bit more. When you look at who he was paired with last season, he started off the season with Adam Fox, who is known for his offensive skill, and so Miller did not have a whole lot of production when he was paired with Fox, and then there were a period of games that he missed and he came back, and the majority of those games he was paired with Borgen and his offensive game rose quite a bit. He scored quite a few more points in those games that he played with Borgen than he played with Fox, and I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that he got to be the one who drove play from the blue line, more so than his partner did, and so he will get a similar opportunity with Slavin.
Speaker 2:Slavin will get his chances.
Speaker 2:He's a smart cookie and we know we know how he works when he's in the ozone, but his, his presence will allow Miller to really pinch in when, when he sees an opportunity, or join in on the rush.
Speaker 2:There are a lot of good clips of how Miller is smart about joining, jumping in and joining on the rush and creating those odd man opportunities for his team. So it's definitely going to be something to keep an eye on. The Canes really believe in him. They would not have negotiated that eighth year, that trade, if they didn't believe that he was not only going to be a long-term solution, but a good, solid, long-term solution. But a good, solid, uh, long-term solution, whether top pair or third defenseman that the play driver on that second pair, regardless. So I'm I'm really going to keep my eye on him because I find him very fascinating and I'm looking forward to seeing how the the canes go about uh, I guess rehabilitating a little bit of the regression that has happened for him the past couple of seasons, because there is a star player in there and just let Brenda Moore and company get their hands on him and it's going to be fun to see how he develops.
Speaker 1:Well, I know you had taken a look at some hockey viz charts and some other charts as well, katie. Did you see anything that kind of jumped out at you in terms of you know, miller, was there anything that, hey, that's interesting or that's kind of cool or whatever? Did you see anything on the charts that you thought was interesting?
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, like I mentioned, when he's paired with somebody who's a little bit more defensive-minded, he really does have a good opportunity and eye for creating offense.
Speaker 2:There's the season summary chart for him that shows who he was paired with more frequently and where his goals and stuff were, and so that was really cool.
Speaker 2:And then when you look at his offense, where his shots come from, the shot chart looks a lot like Brent Burns shot chart, but from the left-hand side. It's just so concentrated back at the blue line and in that, in that corner, top corner of the zone. But unlike Burns, he has a lot of shots also where he goes to the net and he pinches and that's where most of his goals come from. He doesn't score a lot of goals back from the blue line, as you would expect. Those are lower, you know lower danger shots. But when he does go towards the net and drive the net, he is able to get some more finishing in on those chances and he had I think it was six goals, 23 points or 23 assists and 29 points for the Rangers last season. I wouldn't be surprised if he exceeds that with the Canes this year because of the ice time and the opportunities he's going to be getting if he ends up playing next to Slavin.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, a couple of years ago 22-23, you know he was really on the right trajectory. He was starting to see his game really take off and of course that's before Peter Laviolette came in and ultimately the wheels came on for the Rangers. But he had nine goals and 34 assists for 43 points. So definitely a guy that can put up some numbers. He played almost 22 minutes a game. You know 22 in the playoffs he played almost 25 minutes a game.
Speaker 2:This guy's a horse.
Speaker 1:So you know you got to like it when you've got he and Alexander Nikitian, who are two guys that are going to eat minutes and both of them kind of bring a lot of size. So this is exciting. Mckean's had an interesting thing to say at the start of the season when they did their review of the teams and they said a rangy six foot five defender who is an exceptional skater, miller excels at using his speed and massive reach to shut down opposing forwards, to shut down the attack, often eliminating any threat against the rangers net. So again, as we've talked a little bit about, he's very good with a stick. He's very good in getting back. You know he looked like.
Speaker 1:You know I've seen a lot bit about. He's very good with a stick. He's very good in getting back. You know he looked like. You know I've seen a lot of highlights where he actually looks a little bit like Jalen Chatfield. He's one of these guys that has this enormous speed. There was some information from NHL Edge on his skating speed and he's in the 94th percentile in top skating speed and 89th in bursts over 20 miles an hour top skating speed and 89th in bursts over 20 miles an hour. Now, by comparison, burns was 53rd in skating speed, top skating speed, and 61st in bursts over 20th, 61st percentile.
Speaker 3:So way way down.
Speaker 1:Orlov was 50th in both, so I think we're getting a guy that's going to bring a lot more speed to the mix here, and again.
Speaker 1:I mean there's questions about Miller. You know some folks are wondering about his ability to see the ice. You know his ability to get those breakout passes from his own zone, some other things about. You know how he kind of reads the game and so on. We'll see how that plays out, but I think with the Kane style and if he's working with a guy like Jacob Slavin, he can make some mistakes. That's no problem. So I think, like you, I'm very excited. Interestingly enough, when the deal was done, uh, the NHL network had a couple of guys talking about the deal uh, Stu Grimson, former hurricane, and of course also Tony Granato who coached Miller at Wisconsin. Let's listen to what they had to say.
Speaker 4:I think we'll see better hockey from Keiondre Miller and the net benefit that has to these Canes on the blue line Absolutely, and I had the pleasure of coaching him at Wisconsin. Extremely talented athleticism can skate. The thing that is remarkable about him is he's got such a great reach first of all, so it's hard enough to get by him and if you do and you beat him, his recovery and his ability to adjust to with his skating ability is really at an elite level. So a great defender. I think the one thing for him offensively he's going to have an opportunity in Carolina to get some more important offensive minutes. I think Brendan Moore will tell him hey, I want you in the play more, I want you more aggressive in the offensive zone and he has got a good shot and very talented offensively. So his numbers should go up.
Speaker 1:Okay. So the Canes good start on solving the D and they had a good start with this. So of course you know they actually went about and made another move on the defense, kind of quietly, and they signed Mike Riley to a one-year deal, a $1.1 million deal, in free agency. This was all going on at the same time so you had to kind of navigate between trades and free agent signings. Riley's an interesting one, riley again, he had done some good work with the Islanders a couple of years ago. You might remember they had their defense was completely decimated and they brought Riley in to kind of shore it up.
Speaker 1:And I remember a lot of good things were said about Riley and you know he's a guy that folks don't know much about. And what was said about Riley by the hockey forecaster I think was interesting. They said he's a college star whose game is finally starting to come together at the NHL level. So he's a guy that took a while to kind of find his way. Excellent complementary defenseman who could be a valuable contributor with the right partners. So I think the idea with Riley was again, a veteran, low cost, he can be that seventh defenseman, he can come in and fit in with anybody Solid getting out of his own zone. He's a good skater, so I think, again, a good complementary move by the Canes to get Riley locked up. So now they had the D done. What are they going to do about center and the scoring forward? So where did they go with the scoring forward? There wasn't much out there, katie. Any thoughts on that one?
Speaker 2:I think we all know exactly where they went when it came to the scoring forwards. We're still waiting on a 2C and see how that goes, whether or not KK sticks around for another season, but we got our scoring winger. Nikolai Ehers was the top free agent that actually made it to market and everyone was sitting on pins and needles wondering will he, won't he? Where will he? Does he stay in Winnipeg? Does he go somewhere else? Who's offering this? Is it the Capitals? Is it the Avs came up, where's he going to go? But he's a good fit for Carolina and the longer the conversation went on, it seemed more and more of the good fit in Carolina line was indicating well, even if he's a good fit, he's not signing with us.
Speaker 2:But surprise, surprise, he actually did sign with us, and I think Aaron even doomed it into existence.
Speaker 1:Yes, if I recall.
Speaker 2:But with Ehlers signing, it was very interesting and it's cool because it's obvious that he wants to be a Carolina Hurricane. The Jets sounds like, especially with that eighth year, that they could have used would have been able to offer him a similar or better deal, and it also sounds like that there were more lucrative offers out there from other teams. But I think that Ehlers wanted a good contract. But he didn't just want any contract. He wanted to go to a place that he felt that he could contribute but also get opportunity. That he wanted that. Go to a place that he felt that he could contribute but also get opportunity. That he wanted that top line role, that he wanted a chance to really be the key cog in the offense for a team but still be on a path to playoff success. And Carolina was the team that fit that bill and I think that's eventually what convinced him to sign here. And it sounds like Brindamore made a big pitch that was very meaningful to him.
Speaker 2:Wouldn't be surprised if Frederick Anderson also helped with being a right name, but very excited to see him on the canes and to see what he is able to do. There's no reason to assume he's going to be anywhere else in the lineup other than stapled right next to Sebastian Ajo. So what the two of them can create together, hopefully, will be very special, starting this season and for many seasons to come.
Speaker 1:Erin thoughts on Nikolai Ehlers.
Speaker 3:Well, I said it on X that I really hope, after all of the glowing things Ehlers said about really wanting to come to Carolina, really wanting to play for the Canes and play for these fans, that I hope he never has to pay for an adult beverage in Raleigh, north Carolina, because the fans have been waiting a long time for a player who didn't just end up in Carolina but who chose Carolina, and when I say a player, I don't mean you know, obviously they've signed people long term that are very happy to be here. They have homegrown prospects that have come all the way through the system. But for one of the well, literally, like Katie said, the top free agent left by the time free agency opened to choose Carolina. That is a big deal for a team that has had this lingering reputation that nobody wants to sign here. And that that was.
Speaker 3:You know it's almost like the antidote to what happened with Miko Rantanen, because you know that was another opportunity for the national media to complain and say nobody wants to sign in Carolina, nobody wants to go there, you're not going to get a top star or a top free agent.
Speaker 3:And so Nikolai Ehlers may not be right at that tier of the Rantanen and those types of players, but he's not very far below it and that is a player that I think that the Canes should be absolutely thrilled and excited to get for this team. And then just his character, his work ethic, the type of player that he is, all of those are qualities that are going to fit just great in Carolina, because it's just not. You don't see players too often that have the kinds of impact on their, you know, with the goal scoring and everything else, who are also, you know, willing to do all the hard work. And no one has ever complained at all about Ehlers' work ethic or his ability to not focus exclusively on scoring but to be a real team player. So it's a great move.
Speaker 1:Well, you know Ehlers, eight of his last nine seasons has scored more than 20 goals and he's had you know, he usually gets around 60 points. This is a guy that's going to deliver and, again, you know he had some of those seasons where he missed action and he was on definitely a trajectory to score a lot more than 29 goals or 30 goals in the year. I'm excited about Ehlers. One of the things that was discussed recently about Ehlers and that we see is he has an ability to carry the puck into the zone effectively and make plays on his own. He's one of those guys that can create a goal out of nothing and I've seen a number of highlights showing that guys that can create a goal out of nothing and I've seen a number of highlights showing that. I think the Canes have missed very, very desperately the ability to get into the opposition zone on the power play. When Natchez left, he was the trigger of that. He was the catalyst that really made it happen and I think one of the reasons that they really wanted to go after Ehlers is because he does that well and so he brings that capability on the power play to really bring the puck up the ice quickly and to get in there and make something happen, and I think that's going to be exciting.
Speaker 1:You know, you mentioned the quality of Guy. I mean I was very interested watching the interview with him and the discussions with Ehlers. When he talked about, look, he called so many people as he was kind of preparing to make his decision right. So he was talking to players. He was talking to, you know, friends. He was talking to whoever would talk to him to say, hey, you know, I'm looking at these teams, what can you tell me? What do you think? And you know, fortunately for Canes fans, a lot of those folks spoke glowingly about the Canes and, of course, coach Brendan Moore. So clearly, you know he did his homework, he made the decision to come. It's kind of the antithesis of our man Rantanen. So all of a sudden you got a guy that definitely wants to be here and he's going through the effort to be here. So thank you very much and I think that's great.
Speaker 1:And you know the other, you look at him and you also look at K Andrew Miller. And Miller's a great guy too. You know, I've seen a lot of things on him. He's extremely well-liked. He's kind of a soft-spoken guy and one of the things he said that really caught my attention was he said you know, I was really excited about signing this long-term deal because that's going to set up my mom as well for her future. And you know, he said she gave up so much for me to be an NHL player and I just want to repay her. And I thought that was. You know, to me that's outstanding.
Speaker 1:And again, what are the Canes doing? They're filling that roster with people that you know they're just quality people in the room and they're going to fight. And you know they talked a lot about. You know, all those guys in the room have one thing on their mind how the heck are we going to beat the Panthers? So now these new folks are going to come in and they're going to start drinking the Kool-Aid as well. So the Canes did all this. They did lose a player along the road. We didn't really talk about this, but they did lose Scott Morrow in that Kandre Miller deal. You know, I think in the end I think you look at the body of work of Eric Tulsky, signing all these players on the Canes roster, signing some new folk and then, of course, trading for Miller I think it's a pretty good job done so far. Erin thoughts.
Speaker 3:I think there's really no complaints about Tulsky's first full offseason as a general manager. I mean, we know that his hands were really full last year to come in, you know, from the position of having been the assistant GM and then suddenly he's the GM and he had to handle, you know, the draft and the trade deadline and especially all of those departing UFAs, because you know we really didn't lose that many this year compared to last season the number of players, you know, and all of the juggling that was going on while he was also trying to negotiate with Jake Gensel. I know he got a lot of criticism for that, but this is the first offseason where he's really been fully in the driver's seat from the get-go. There was no transition, no handover, nothing like that. I look at this and say you know you really can't give this any lower of a rating than an A, because you know he's done a stellar job and he's done it thinking outside the box a little bit, not doing the kinds of things that most general managers would do sort of as a standard operating procedure. He didn't look to fill the roster with the same types of players that were leaving. He didn't, you know.
Speaker 3:And so everything that he's done, I think, has upgraded the Canes and improved their chances of getting farther in the playoffs. And that's what you want to see with an offseason of this importance, because we know that the Canes really want to keep pushing and you know it's not good enough to make it to the Eastern Conference Final and just win one game, and we know what their competition is. Barring anything really unforeseen happening, the Florida Panthers are going to be the biggest obstacle standing between the Canes and the Stanley Cup, until they reach the point where they can get past them. These are the kind of moves you want to see. Until they reach the point where they can get past them. These are the kind of moves you want to see. You want to see the kind of moves that are going to give them the scoring, the defense and just shoring up all of those areas that need to be fixed.
Speaker 1:So I love what's been done so far. Yeah, and just to add to that and I'll give you a shot at this too, katie I think one of the things that Eric does and you know we always have to remember that any moves that Eric and his crew make are analytically based in a huge fashion, right? So I mean, they go through a lot of analysis, they do a lot of kind of investigation about the players. You know what they're like, you know what they can expect from these players as people and so on, like you know what they can expect from these players as people and so on. But if we look at what the Canes did in the offseason last year, they brought a lot of players in and most of them stuck. I mean it's incredible, right. They re-upped most of them and they contributed extremely well and in a very fast fashion to the Hurricanes.
Speaker 1:So you know that if Eric's got his eye on somebody, it's very likely other than the opportunistic deal for Ranteman, I think it's very likely that he's got his signature on it. And I think you're right with what you're saying, aaron. This is his first chance to really do it. And again, long-term contracts getting folks I mean, look at the number of folks who are on several-year deals. I mean it's incredible. His work over the next few seasons is going to be pretty easy. He's got so many folks locked up right and it's quite a story. So, katie, what did you think about Eric's work? I mean, obviously, aaron and I are pleased. What are you thinking?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I think he has definitely done very well, him and the entire group, because you know that it's a team effort. He might be the captain of the team when it comes to this sort of thing, but there's a lot of input from Dundon, from Brendamore, from Gleason, from the whole crew, the scouting department. So it just shows what a really unique team that they have, that they work together hand in hand so seamlessly when, whether it's the scouting for the at the different minor league levels or it's looking into current players and seeing who would fit the system. Because that's what's so key right now is finding players who fit the system.
Speaker 2:And the one thing that I know I personally have gotten caught up in before is worrying about players being too samey-samey for the Canes, and I think there's some validity to that. But at the same time, stankoven is a perfect fit for the Canes. But you can't say that he's super samey-samey in the way he plays. You can make the jokes about oh yeah, he's another short King or whatever, but the way he plays is not the same way that Jarvis plays, is not the same way that Jackson Blake plays. He is his own, his own player with his own particular style that is a Canes hockey player.
Speaker 2:And I think that Ehlers we're going to be saying the same thing about him. He is a Canes hockey player, but what Ehlers is going to bring I forgot to mention the hockey viz charts with Ehlers what Ehlers is going to bring is that he will go to whatever part of the ice in front of the net to create chances. His shot spread is across the board, it is not concentrated in any one given spot and his success.
Speaker 2:He has good finishing. Wait, yeah, a canes player with good finishing? Perish the thought. But that's the sort of thing that toski is looking for, is he's?
Speaker 2:yes he's not looking for. Oh, I want somebody who is a clone of sebastian ajo, just a winger. This is somebody who is going to come in and bring that little extra something. He still fits the system, but he brings that little extra touch that not only is going to make the Canes as a whole better, but is going to elevate the other players that play with him and make them better.
Speaker 2:I wouldn't be surprised if we see Ajo having a career year on the score sheet, because he has someone like Ehlers to play with, who will help motivate Ajo to shoot more and motivate Ajo to finish better, and Jarvis or Svetcher, whoever else is on the line with him. So that's part of the genius of Tulsky, and that entire crew is bringing in people that are going to to be good fits, but not just be good individual fits, but good fits on their line, good fits on their pair, good fits for but not just be good individual fits, but good fits on their line, good fits on their pair, good fits for the team overall. And so at this point I'm just going to say I'm going to give him an A just because I think he's got other stuff cooking and I want to have room to bump that grade up even higher when he pulls another rabbit or two out of his hat, whether it's before the start of the regular season or before the tread down vine or whatever.
Speaker 2:So I'm doing that just for my own needs of being able to, to, to boost him up a little bit more as the season goes along.
Speaker 1:And Katie. That's a great segue because if we look at where the canes are right now and putting together a kind of an analysis of the lineup with Puckpedia, 23 players under contract, $84.8 million, okay, which means we've got $10.6 million still in the coffers, and that, you know, doesn't include any players that might get traded, which would add to that. So you know, you take a look at the roster, the roster's deep Gosh. The roster as I had it together William Carrier is the 13th forward, for goodness sakes, because you've got Jackson Blake who's got to go down to that fourth line. So it's kind of crowded. And the D seven men on the D and three goaltenders and you're still sitting there with lots of room to go. So what takes Eric and puts him up to that A-plus side? We know that the discussion that has been raging for so long is gosh, what are we going to do with that two-center spot? So Eric's done great work getting the scoring forward. He's brought in, I think, a very exciting defenseman and given up very little, if you think about it. I mean, he gave up some draft picks which we had picked up from Dallas, more or less, and he gave up Scott Morrow who really, frankly, did not look like he was going to have a future with the Hurricanes and I know that sounds kind of challenging, but he just looked like he was going to be a future with the Hurricanes and I know that sounds kind of, you know, challenging, but he just looked like he was going to be struggling to be a Kane or certainly this year didn't have a spot. So there you are and you've got that lineup ready to go.
Speaker 1:A lot of folks have been talking about. You know here's the move they should make and this is the guy they should get. And you know we talked about Larkin and Thompson and McTavish and all kinds of guys. These folks aren't available. Don't even think about it. They're not leaving their teams because all those teams are. You know they're going to be pressing to do stuff and if you were going to trade for them, you'd give away, you know, a huge, huge amount. So where does that leave the Canes? It's kind of a tough place and I know kind of following it on X, people are tripping and falling all over the place. They're really struggling to try to find something that makes sense. What are we thinking about?
Speaker 3:this, aaron. Well, you bring up the discussions on X and I know I've been kind of pulling my hair out a little bit here and there with some of them, because there's a lot of fans that seem to think that Eric Cholski can just drive over to the 2C store and load up the back of the truck. You know there's no such thing. I'm sorry to tell you, it doesn't exist. But the other thing is, like you say, tom, a lot of these players are not available, especially not right now. The key for the Canes is going to be patience, because they're going to need to wait until, like Katie was talking about, how important is it to have a player that fits the Canes?
Speaker 4:Yes.
Speaker 3:Not just fits the spot on the roster but fits the Canes. You know, and I've gone through some of these players with you know, back and forth in the discussions, and I've said, you know, yeah, Tage Thompson, sure he's a great player, he's absolutely a great player. He spent half of his games last season at wing because his defensive capacity is kind of not there. I mean, it's it. Is he a disaster on defense? No, but does he play Kane-style defense? No, I think the answer to that is very clear to anybody who's ever watched Buffalo play a hockey game. So those are the kinds of things where you're like you're not going to give up here. Let's fill a giant box with all of our best prospects and draft picks and throw in a couple of roster players. You're not going to do that for a player like Thompson, who isn't the perfect fit. Yes, you're not going to do that for a player like Thompson who isn't the perfect fit.
Speaker 3:As the season wears on, you have a lot of teams right now that want to replicate what the Capitals did in terms of a rebuild and they think they're close enough to do that. So they didn't sell this summer. They're not selling their players because they really believe they're this close to making the playoffs and they want to get there. And you know there's too many teams in that list right now because statistically they can't all make it. So what's going to happen is you get between American Thanksgiving and the trade deadline and don't forget we have the Olympics in there too, which is going to change some things in terms of injuries and players maybe not being able to come back and play.
Speaker 3:So once we get through some of that chaos of the season, you're going to have some teams that look at their roster and look at where they are in the standings and say, okay, we're not going to make it. And now is the time to move some of these pending UFAs or make a deal for a pending RFA who isn't planning to sign long-term. You know we got maybe tough negotiations with a young player here and there. That's when the Canes are going to strike, because you know Tolsky's got his eye on some targets for the Canes that probably aren't even on any of our lists and he'll make those moves when it makes sense to make them. He's not going to make them ahead of time.
Speaker 1:Katie.
Speaker 2:I couldn't have said it any better. It's just a lot of patience, I think. And you know, if we start the season with Kokunyemi as 2C, then we start the season with Kokunyemi as 2C. We got to the Eastern Conference Finals last season with arguably not as talented a roster as we are going to start this season with KK as the 2C. So if KK is the 2C, then great.
Speaker 2:I just hope that Brenda Moore leaves him as the 2C and perhaps gives him a little bit more ice, if not for him as much as for the other wingers, because we have so many talented wingers.
Speaker 2:Only two wingers can play with Ajo. That's how the math works, Right Three forwards on the eight, Unless they want to play a 4-1 system, which, even with Slavin back there as the one, I don't think they are going to do. Only two wingers can play with Ajo, which means that two other wingers have to play with KK and that still leaves in excess of really talented wingers, because we are blessed with good wingers, especially young wingers. Just to give those guys, to give Svetch or Stankoven or Blake or Hall, whoever Robinson even has shown that he can play up there, Whoever it is give them more time, give them opportunity to score, then even better. We'll be fine with KKs at 2C and we'll evaluate where the team's at, as Aaron said, along the road of the season, along the journey, and then sometime between American Thanksgiving and trade deadline, if something has to change, then we'll have a clearer picture not only of where the Canes are at but where the rest of the NHL is at.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean I totally agree, and you know you look at a Boston. I mean a lot of folks have looked at the Bruins. You're looking at Boston Bruins squad. They've got Pavel Zaka, who would be an interesting ad. They've got Elias Lindholm. Could we bring him back to Carolina? You know, depending on how his game kind of tracks, he's been sliding a little bit in recent years but maybe he'll get back on track. But those kind of guys could be the kind of players that could help. I know your target, dylan Larkin, is always on the radar for us. If the Wings have another one of their lame duck seasons, maybe he'll want out and maybe he'll be a guy we could pick up as well, and I think he'd fit the Canes' style quite nicely. These guys, I think, could all play for the Canes. But I think to your point, aaron, talking about a lot of these players is foolish because they aren't Carolina Hurricanes-type players and they are not going to be brought in. If Eric doesn't think they fit to a tee, then they won't be part of the Canes mix.
Speaker 1:Will the Canes sit around with $10 million until trade deadline, which would be worth millions? I mean a massive amount at that stage? I'm not sure. I think Eric will do something else this summer. I'm not sure it's going to be some kind of huge move. He might make a move for someone like maybe a Lucas Reichel I've talked about him before that kind of player, somebody that could come in and compete for a spot. Who knows? He's going to be out there. He's going to be trying to find somebody else he can bring in and we'll see how it goes. But in any case he's in a good situation. Once things start to turn for some of these teams, he'll be there, he'll be ready and he's going to have the assets, he's going to have the cap room and he's going to have the prospects and, of course, the draft picks to work with. So so far, I mean a great situation and I think the team could very well start with Kokunemi.
Speaker 1:And I know, aaron, you've talked a lot about KK and his good work five on five. I think a lot of folks misinterpret him because of the eye test, but you know he stacks up pretty good against a lot of the centers in the league in his role and you know, if he had a little bit more offense, this conversation wouldn't even be happening. So if he could get up to 45, 50 points even. I think we'd see a completely different story with Kokuniemi. And you know what? Sure, maybe he'll have a summer where he works hard and says you know, I'm going to prove these folks wrong. He's still on a good, friendly deal for the Canes. Of course, each year it gets better.
Speaker 1:And the other thing that with Kokaniemi, we have to consider is that his future as a third-line center could be a good one with the Canes, and we've talked about this before. Is that okay? He may not be the 2C because of his offensive shortcomings, but he definitely has the acumen to be a 3C, and at $4.8 million in three or four years that's not a problem. So I'm kind of with you guys. I'm not in a hurry to move Kokaniemi. A lot of folks just want him out for the purpose of getting him out, and I'm not one of those guys, for sure. And it's not just because you are a big fan of Zarin.
Speaker 1:I think he's a valuable player as well and I think you know the frustration with me, and I think with a lot of us, is that you know he's had periods where he's really looked the part. You know he's really looked the part. You know he's been great. So you know you think of the start of last year. He and you mentioned Robinson, katie, moving up the lineup. He and Robinson and they, just they were solid, they played well and they were delivering offense and gosh, all of them were contributing.
Speaker 1:So so again, you know it's it's kind of just finding that confidence in that space and getting them going and I believe the Canes may just decide to start with him. You know that might be the decision and I don't one thing for sure we know that Eric and his, his, his team, is not going to be making moves just for the purpose of making moves. So exciting stuff. The other discussion that comes up occasionally on X is should the Canes get a right shot D and you mentioned this as well, katie Should they be getting a right shot D Because of course they like righties and lefties together and all this kind of stuff? Any thoughts on?
Speaker 2:that it's just a matter again of the price is right. You don't get rid of KK for a 2C just to get rid of KK and have a change. You don't bring in a right-handed D just because you want to have three lefties and three righties. It's got to be the right person who fits the system and it will also be a good balance for whoever that that um, whoever their D partner is, whether it's somebody for Slavin, somebody for Miller, somebody for Nikitian I guess that would mean Ghost would be the odd man out, um, but that's, that's just kind of the question there.
Speaker 2:So I find that less likely, unless the Canes move on from Ghost, because you don't sit Ghost. He's not the type of player to hang around as a seventh D just waiting for somebody to get injured. He has a role. That's very valuable that if you're not going to play him, there is a team who will. And I just I'm doubtful that that happens. But again, for the right right-handed D, I'm doubtful that that happens. But again for the right, for the right right-handed knee, I, I'm sure they would. They would probably go ahead and do that, but I don't.
Speaker 3:I find it doubtful that that particular move is going to happen anytime soon. I would agree with that. I'd agree with that because I think that that's kind of what what we're we're hearing in the discussions about miller. You know um they were talking about. Well, uh, would miller play his um off wink, because he said he was up for the challenge.
Speaker 3:On the other hand, they know that slavin can play um on the right, and when you talk about ghost, he's another player that can also play on the right and has done so. So it's it's not like they don't have defensemen that can do this. I think that that's again, that's one of those areas where it hasn't been Rod Brindamore's comfort zone to play a defenseman on his off wing, but it doesn't mean it can't be done, and so you know that's that's something that the team might be looking at and saying you know what that's, it's OK, we're going to, we're going to do this and it's going to be just fine, because some of these guys have some experience playing on the right, and I believe I don't remember I'd have to ask some of our Russian friends but I believe that Nikitin has also played on the right at times before too, and it's very common in Russia for a player to play on the offside from his shot.
Speaker 3:So who knows what they're exactly planning to do? They may try everybody and just see who fits best. So but I don't see them. Like Katie said, unless there was the perfect RHD fit for the Canes, that was too good of an opportunity to pass up, and right now I'm looking out there at who's available. I don't see anyone like that. So I don't think that they're going to be making a move in that area. They could surprise us.
Speaker 1:You know the names. I mean it's Rasmus Anderson and Eric Carlson are the two names that come up the most. Anderson's not coming to Carolina, number one.
Speaker 3:No.
Speaker 4:Anderson wants Vegas.
Speaker 1:We don't need Carlson. So, frankly, those two guys in my mind don't make any sense. Not for the Canes, no, no, not for the Canes. Two quick points. One of them is that I don't know if you remember, but Brett Pesci played left side with Justin Falk. You know, probably four or five years ago, before Falk was traded to St Louis, and I remember watching those guys and they were tremendous.
Speaker 1:Pesci was outstanding on the left side as a right shot guy and, again, a lot of teams do that. So it's not like you know, it's not like the Canes are asking folks to do something which is completely and totally unnatural. One thing it does and this is interesting is that you know that that left shot guy is going to have a better opportunity offensively because they can slide into the center of the ice very, very easily from that right side and get a great shot. So there's great opportunity on the offensive side, because that's normally how it's done on the power play anyway. So it's good. So I think there's a real interesting opportunity here. Yeah, a lot of those guys can play on the opposite side. And one thing the other thing I was going to mention is that Shane Gossespierre interestingly enough, his analytics for last year defensively were his best. That was his best defensive year in the National Hockey League and so you know he's been working on closing his gaps. He's working on being more effective defensively. He even killed penalties at different points when we had injuries.
Speaker 3:You made me laugh there, tom, when you were talking about increased offense from you know, a defenseman playing on his off wing. I had a sudden thought and it made me laugh. Maybe this is how Jacob Slavin finally gets an Oris. There you go, nice. If he plays on his off wing and suddenly gets all these great scoring opportunities, he's got a decent shot, you know.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, Well, we've covered a ton of ground here, you know, and I think it's been a lot of fun, of course, to go through this. You know more to be done by Eric. I think it's going to be quiet for a while. I think a lot of the folks are heading off to maybe get a break after the madness of finishing the season. And then, of course, the draft and free agency and trades and so on. Any closing thoughts before we wrap it up, Erin, closing thoughts.
Speaker 3:I think that the Canes have given us, you know, reason to look forward to next season. I think it's going to be exciting to see how all these pieces fit together. I can't wait to see Nick Ehlers in a Canes uniform, and the same thing for Keandre Miller. I think that he's going to be a great fit with the boys and he's, you know, especially given that he's right at the age with some of our younger troublemakers, it should be a lot of fun to see him fitting in in the locker room, and I just it feels like an injection of energy that they needed.
Speaker 3:I think that, you know, last season's team was very good. There's no question that they outperformed expectations, but, like you said, some of the players that have moved on, it was kind of time for that sort of change to be made. Thing I'm still looking at is that, you know, given how much everyone who was with the team last year contributed, I do hope that Jack Roslevic will find a good landing spot. He's a good guy too, and I hope he ends up somewhere good. So that's it for me.
Speaker 1:Katie.
Speaker 2:That pretty much sums it up from my point of view as well. I'm definitely going to be passing the time throwing out some data or some stats about different players or asking you know, who do you think here there? Just, it's fun to interact with other Canes fans and I really appreciate that community that we have over on X and all of the crazy ideas we like to pass off of each other and react to news and that sort of thing, and so, um, that will definitely help pass the time as we wait for the days to tick by and for the next piece of news to come to us. But other than that, just excited for what's to come every little bit, whether it's the training camp or that sort of thing, it'll be here before we know it.
Speaker 1:So it's going to enjoy the process along the way yeah, and of course, uh, prospect showcase training camp and and then of course, the season starts. You know, I look at, you know some of the changes that have happened as the as the kind of season went along, and you know the ranting and trade and everything that happened there and I think so much about you know the ranting and trade and everything that happened there and I think so much about you know the fortune we have in getting Logan Stankoven I got to tell you I think he kind of typifies the Hurricanes in every way. And you know a guy that says I wanted to sign a long-term deal right from the get-go. I mean they asked him as he was heading off for his summer, and they said, said, would you like to get a contract done? He said absolutely, I want to be here forever. I mean that's quite a statement. And now Nikolai Ehlers making a long-term deal and signing on to the Canes. And you know Kandri Miller, eight-year deal with the Canes and looking forward to a new opportunity. And it's like this is all good stuff, folks, and in a world that's noisy and a lot of things that you don't want to hear going on every day, this is the good stuff we want to hear Good people joining the canes and continuing to build what I think is a first-class organization. So great summer so far. I mean. We'll be chatting again through the summer, for sure, as things unfold, but things will quiet down for a little while. We've had a hectic period throughout the season and certainly into the playoffs, but we'll be back, I'm sure, in the not-too-distant future.
Speaker 1:And again, for all the folks who've been watching or listening, of course we're so delighted you would spend time with us and, as Katie said, of course we're so delighted you would spend time with us. And, as Katie said rightfully, we'd love to connect with those of you on X as well. Please, please, reach out to us. If you have any comments, anything you'd like to say to the folks, to any of us today, please leave those in the comments section down below. If you like this episode, please press the like button. And, of course, if you want to be alerted of future episodes of storm tracker and have a chance to hear the great insight of these two fine ladies and myself, uh, please, uh, press the uh, the uh subscribe button and the bell and we'll uh, we'll definitely make sure you're made aware of them when they're released. So so again, thanks so much for joining us and we'll look forward to getting together with you real soon, right here on Star Trek.
