Hurricanes eliminated the Devils, so ... now what? Taylor Hall contract, for one
The Carolina Hurricanes’ locker room was subdued Tuesday night, which was understandable.
It was late. The Canes had just beaten the New Jersey Devils in double overtime to win their Stanley Cup playoff series in five games, and it was approaching midnight. Many of the players dressed and quickly left. There were no loud voices heard or any real signs of celebration.
It had been an exhausting game, one with an emotional ending — both in winning the first-round series and then exchanging handshakes with some old teammates on the other side.
“Our brother,” the Canes Sebastian Aho called the Devils’ Brett Pesce, but also Stefan Noesen and Dougie Hamilton.
Aho had the winning goal in the second overtime, one-timing a power-play shot for a 5-4 victory. It also was Aho who took time in the traditional post-series handshake line for a few extended hugs, as did Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour, before heading off the ice.
“They were big parts in building what we’ve got going here.,” the coach said.
But there was something else, too, noticeable after the game — a “been there, done that” kind of feel in the room and with the players. It was one series, the first series. The Hurricanes have won those. They want to win four.
“You want them to enjoy it, take it in and have the memories,” Brind’Amour said. “But these guys know. They all said it in there, I didn’t have to. ‘Good, that’s one down, now we have to go forward to the next one.’
“I don’t worry about that with this group, about being satisfied. That’s not going to happen.”
With Brind’Amour as coach, the Canes have been to the playoffs seven consecutive seasons and won at least one series in all seven. That’s a level of success most NHL franchises would covet, one that many Canes fans might take for granted.
“It’s what we hang our hat on, being consistent,” Brind’Amour said.
But this Canes team wants more — the “whole thing,” Brind’Amour said. They await the winner of the first-round series between the Washington Capitals and Montreal Canadiens with a quiet confidence about them, with the realization they have taken just one step toward their goal and are capable of better this year.
“We believe in each other, we believe in the group,” forward Andrei Svechnikov said, explaining the comeback Tuesday from a 3-0 first-period deficit but also in winning the series.
Brind’Amour was quick to note the Canes emerged from the first round with a mostly healthy group. Goalie Frederik Andersen is “day to day” after being injured in Game 4 of the series, but was on the ice Tuesday morning and now has extra time to recover.
Center Jesperi Kotkaniemi took a stick over the eye in Game 5 that caused a “bad gash,” according to Brind’Amour. It drew a double-minor high-sticking penalty against the Devils’ Dawson Mercer in the second OT that resulted in Aho’s winning goal. Other players, Brind’Amour said, are nicked up and also can use the recovery time.
“The mental break will be good, but the physical break, too,” he said. “Everybody’s banged up, so hopefully a few extra days will help the group.”
The Devils, in contrast, lost defensemen Luke Hughes and Brenden Dillon during the series and had Pesce and Jonas Siegenthaler playing at less than 100 percent much of the series. And that after losing their biggest offensive star, Jack Hughes, to a shoulder injury during the regular season.
“We played a team that was beat down and missing a lot of their best players,” Brind’Amour said. “It’s hard to win in the playoffs when you don’t have your group.”
Brind’Amour has his group. He has guys sitting out as healthy scratches aching to be in– forward Jack Roslovic and defenseman Alexander Nikishin, the newcomer from Russia, to name two. He has a team that won a series on the strength of solid special-teams play, scoring the last two goals Tuesday on the power play while not allowing the Devils a power-play goal in the series.
That’s winning hockey. That’s one down. It’s on to the next one.
Hurricanes sign Taylor Hall to extension
The Canes, with an eye on next year’s roster, have signed forward Taylor Hall to a three-year, $9.5 million contract extension.
Hall, 33 and a former NHL MVP, was acquired from the Chicagp Blackhawks on Jan. 24 as part of the three-team deal that had Mikko Rantanen traded from Colorado to the Canes and Martin Necas from Carolina to the Avalanche. He quickly helped bolster the power play while adding experience for the postseason.
Hall, a five-time NHL All-Star, was due to become an unrestricted fee agent after the season.
“He’s been a solid veteran presence in the locker room and a difference maker on the ice,” general manager Eric Tulsky said in a statement.
This story was originally published April 30, 2025 at 11:00 AM.
