While this offseason doesn't present many issues for Carolina, the 2024-25 offseason is geared up to be one of the most stressful.
The Carolina Hurricanes are in a good position this offseason with nearly all of their core players still under contract heading into the 2023-24 season.
But while this offseason doesn't seem very precarious, it's the next one that will dictate a lot of the Canes' future success.
The Hurricanes' core, which can be seen as most of their top-nine forwards and top-four defensemen, has had multiple playoffs runs now, making it as far as the Eastern Conference Final, but has yet to win a game in that round and beyond. This group has larger aspirations, however, they've been less than fortunate with untimely injuries.
This year it was Andrei Svechnikov and Max Pacioretty. Last year it was Frederik Andersen. As such, we've yet to see the full squad get a solid run at the Cup. That's hockey though and every team deals with it, but time is ticking for this group.
Both management and Jordan Staal have confirmed that a deal will be made this year, but past him, Sebastian Aho, Teuvo Teravainen, Brady Skjei and Brett Pesce will all be UFAs after next season and Martin Necas and Seth Jarvis will be at the end of their deals too, but at least both of them will still be under team control as RFAs so the situation isn't as critical.
And even still, after all of those players, you still run into issues the following year as both Jaccob Slavin and Brent Burns only have one additional year on their deals too.
In fact only three players on the team have deals going beyond 2025 - Svechnikov, Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Pyotr Kochetkov.
There's going to be a lot of money owed out in a short window and Carolina is going to have to make some decisions on who won't be coming back because of that, especially if all the players are looking for longer-term deals, something this front office has been opposed to doing for players heading into their 30s.
“We have a plan in place, but we haven’t started the negotiations yet," Waddell said in his end-of-season availability. "But I think the guys that are potentially unrestricted – Aho, Pesce, Skjei – are going to come quickly."
From what it sounds like, Carolina has a budget set aside for a lot of these players and they'll start at the top of their priority list and work their way down.
Obviously that list starts with Sebastian Aho who is the big ticket for the Hurricanes. The Finnish center has been the Canes' top scorer for six straight seasons and is now the franchise's all-time leading playoff scorer in all major categories.
He has one year remaining on the five year, $42.295 million ($8.46 million AAV) offer sheet contract he signed from the Montreal Canadiens that Carolina matched.
A pay raise is coming, but with Aho already being on the higher end of hockey salaries, an extra $1-1.5 million won't really impact Carolina's ability to work below the salary cap.
Along with that, team owner Tom Dundon told Luke DeCock of The News & Observer that re-signing Aho was "a top, top priority."
“We want to get him on an eight-year deal, done as soon as possible," Dundon told DeCock. "I think we’re on the same page. It’s kind of his team now.”
So a deal's getting done.
After Aho, the next two extensions kind of go hand-in-hand.
Skjei and Pesce have been an outstanding defensive pair for Carolina for three seasons now, being strong in both sides of the ice. They've gotten the toughest assignments defensively and have started to really take off on the score sheet as well.
Carolina's blueline has also been criminally underpaid for years now and that's very true for both defensemen.
Skjei has one year left on his six year, $31.5 million ($5.25 million AAV) contract and Pesce has one year left on his six year $24.15 million ($4.025 million AAV) contract.
However, Skjei will be 30 and Pesce will be 29 after next season and the Hurricanes have to be weary of that. In addition, Pesce has a history of shoulder injuries.
But both players are still effective and both want to stay. At some point, you're going to have to eat some potentially bad years, especially without many prospects capable of taking those top matchup, shutdown minutes.
The front office though, is hoping that they will take less than their market value to stay.
"We’d like to go into the year knowing we’re going to have them for the future," Waddell said. "But saying that, players play all this time to become free agents. We’re hoping that what Rod has created here in the locker room and the culture and all that, that they all want to be here and we’ll figure out the value of those contracts should be.”
And then there's Teravainen, who struggled this season with constant injuries. He'll be playing for a contract this upcoming season and I can't imagine either side would be comfortable making a deal until he can prove he will bounce back.
This still isn't even accounting still for players like Jordan Martinook, Stefan Noesen and Jalen Chatfield or any other players brought into the mix.
The Hurricanes are safe to head into next season feeling confident, with a well-established and successful group. but they should also be aware that this might be the last run for this core.
After next season, moves and decisions are going to have to be made and this team might be a different one than we're used to seeing.
A plan is in place, but how much reality actually follows it will have to wait to be seen.
