8 Questions for the Canes after Justin Williams signing

Assume for a moment that the Carolina Hurricanes are set for next season, their major moves made.

They’ve signed forward Justin Williams for two years, investing $9 million.

They’ve traded for goalie Scott Darling, investing $16.6 million over the next four years. They’ve added defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk.

In an addition-by-subtraction move, they traded away goalie Eddie Lack and defenseman Ryan Murphy.

As he looks at his team, general manager Ron Francis believes the most pressing issues have been addressed and resolved.

“I think the pieces we’ve added so far are good,” Francis said Saturday. “I’m open to doing something else if there’s something we think makes us better.”

That doesn’t mean a trade for, say, Colorado Avalanche center Matt Duchene. But the Canes do have money to spend.

Canes coach Bill Peters, who urged Francis after last season to bring in more quality NHL players, has gotten them.

“We made an impact in some high-end positions with Darling, with van Riemsdyk and with Williams,” Peters said. “We’ve done a lot of good work here.”

Enough good work to reach the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time since 2009? That remains to be seen. And there are other questions to be answered:

Will there be a captain?

No one on the Canes appears stressed about not having one – not Francis, not Peters. But Williams, who brings three Stanley Cup rings and a deep degree of professionalism with him into the locker room, must be a candidate.

Jordan Staal, Justin Faulk, Jeff Skinner and Victor Rask all served as alternate captains last season but no one wore the “C.”

“We’ll talk about that when the time’s right,” Peters said. “We’ll let the dust settle.”

Where does Williams play?

Again, the “dust” has to settle. Peters said he liked the line of Staal centering Sebastian Aho and Elias Lindholm last season, and liked having Derek Ryan at center with Jeff Skinner and Lee Stempniak.

Williams could be on the right wing with Rask at center and perhaps Teuvo Teravainen on the left side, but there are options.

“I’m a player who’s able to fit in anywhere, and I feel I’m a good complement to anyone I play with,” Williams said.

Are there enough scorers?

Francis noted Skinner was sixth in the NHL with 37 goals last season and Faulk second among NHL defensemen with 17. The Canes were 20th overall in scoring at 2.59 goals a game but have added Williams.

“We have goal scoring,” Francis said. “It’s more just getting that balance through our lineup. I think our top guys measure up pretty well against other teams in goal scoring.”

Who’s the fourth center?

It could be Lindholm, although Lucas Wallmark was called up late last season and given a good look as a fourth-line center.

Aho at center? Unlikely this season. “At some point in his NHL career, and sooner rather than later, Aho will be a center,” Peters said. “I would like it to be at least another year to give him time to get bigger, stronger and quicker.”

The sixth D-man?

Francis said he’s open to leaving the spot available for competition in preseason camp and letting defensemen Haydn Fleury, Trevor Carrick, Jake Chelios, Roland McKeown and others compete for it. That could include Jake Bean, a first-round draft pick in 2016.

“The beauty of Trevor van Riemsdyk is he can play both sides, so we have flexibility with that,” Francis said of the 5-6 defensive pairing.

Are the Canes done spending?

According to CapFriendly.com, which tracks NHL salaries, the Canes sit at $54.7 million for next season, still below the NHL salary floor of $55.4 million for 2017-18. They also have 47 contracts.

“With our (cap) situation, it’s not because we don’t have good players,” Francis said. “A lot of it is that a lot of good players are still young and on entry-level contracts.”

Francis said he had the “blessing” of owner Peter Karmanos to spend money if it makes the team better. That was said before the Williams signing, but there may be other moves Francis could make.

“I think our back end is very solid,” Peters said. “I think goaltending has been solidified for sure. If there’s something that makes sense up front, that’s probably one last thing we could look at.”

Does Duchene make sense?

Francis didn’t mention the Avs center by name Saturday when asked about Duchene during a Q-and-A with Canes fans at Summerfest.

“When I get on the phone with GMs around the league, they’re asking for a top young defenseman,” Francis said of trade proposals. “They’re very hard to get and very hard to find. We have them, and we’re not going to give them up, especially for a player who has two years left and then he can walk away.”

That describes Duchene, who has two years remaining on his contract ($6 million a year) with the Avs before becoming an unrestricted free agent. It also described Marcus Johansson, the forward the Washington Capitals jettisoned Sunday to the New Jersey Devils in a salary-cap squeeze of a trade.

A Matt Cullen return?

If Williams can return, what about Matt Cullen, another of the Canes’ 2006 Stanley Cup members? He’s 40, winning back-to-back Cups with Pittsburgh the past two seasons and apparently not ready to retire. But Francis said Monday he has had no conversations with Cullen.

This story was originally published July 3, 2017 at 12:14 PM with the headline "8 Questions for the Canes after Justin Williams signing."