Carolina Hurricanes’ Waddell feeling the time crunch in NHL offseason
With a lot to do and little time to do it, Don Waddell has been a busy man for the Carolina Hurricanes.
The 2020 NHL Draft is next week. A few days later, NHL free agency begins. There are team needs to be assessed, perhaps trades to be contemplated. There are contracts to be negotiated by Waddell, the Canes’ president and general manager.
All of this with the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, with much uncertainty about the 2020-21 season other than the NHL salary cap remaining flat at $81.5 million per team.
Andrei Svechnikov, fast emerging as one of the NHL’s best young power forwards, has a year left on his entry-level contract but could sign another deal with Carolina in the brief offseason. But it might be shorter rather than long-term.
“Our goal is to keep Andrei here for a very long time,” Waddell said Thursday on a media call. “Saying that, with the economics the way they are around the league it might make sense to do a bridge deal. You do a short-term deal. The ideal is you do a couple-year deal and then set yourself up for an eight-year deal, which then locks the player up for 10 years.
“We’re keeping open-minded. There’s no timetable.”
Or for forward Justin Williams. The former Canes captain, who turns 39 on Sunday, is a unrestricted free agent and has not revealed his plans for next season, Waddell said Thursday.
As for the starting date for the 2020-21 season, Waddell said the NHL owners are having a conference call Monday and might provide some clarity on scheduling.
“I think everybody sees it happening, if and when it happens, toward the end of December versus the first of December, but who knows?” Waddell said.
Regardless of the start date, Waddell said the Stadium Series outdoor game, set for Feb. 20, 2021 in Carter-Finley Stadium, is not a “realistic option” for that date and likely will be moved to either later in the 2020-21 season or 2021-22.
The Canes, in the Stanley Cup playoffs the past two seasons, could have a different look on the back end. Carolina traded defenseman Joel Edmundson, who was a pending unrestricted free agent, to Montreal. Two other UFA defensemen, Trevor van Riemsdyk and Sami Vatanen, remain unsigned and will test the open market in free agency, Waddell said.
“We made it clear we like both guys but also understand we’re under a little more scrutiny with our salary cap. ... It might be something they come back to us and it’s something we can talk about,” he said.
Defenseman Dougie Hamilton has a year left on his contract — with a $5.75 million cap hit — before becoming a UFA. Waddell said no contract conversations have yet to be held with a player who was an NHL All-Star before being injured this past season.
“We know we’re dealing with a flat (salary) cap in the next few years so that’s always going to be a challenge,” he said. “It’s my feeling he wants to stay here. It’s a matter of finding what’s the value for a player pre-COVID and now post-COVID with the revenue and salary cap being where they are. That’s something we have to figure out.”
Waddell said he expects new contracts to be completed with two restricted free agents, forward Warren Foegele and defenseman Haydn Fleury.
