Here’s what should top the Carolina Hurricanes’ summer shopping list
When pressed on where the Carolina Hurricanes need to improve this offseason, the coach and general manager spoke mainly in platitudes. Defend really well in our own end. Create turnovers. Create offense.
“I think in all three areas, honestly, there’s room for improvement,” general manager Eric Tulsky said Tuesday.
“There’s a lot of optimism regardless of what Eric can do this summer,” coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “That’s how I look at it.”
Which is fine. They’re both right. There is certainly room for improvement up and down the roster, although probably not as much as fans might think. Despite the five-game loss to the Florida Panthers in the conference finals, this is, after all, a team that whipped through two rounds of the playoffs — dispatching the division champs in five games — and was one of the last four teams standing for the second time in three years.
Unlike last summer, there aren’t many holes to fill on the roster, nor are the Hurricanes up against the salary cap, and Alexander Nikishin showed with his constant improvement when pressed into service in the postseason that the Russian rookie is ready to fill one of them on defense.
But there are clear areas where the Hurricanes desperately need to get better, and with the contracts of Brent Burns and Dmitry Orlov expiring, oodles of cap space and a bunch of first-round picks stockpiled, the Hurricanes do have the opportunity to address them — and the obligation, as Sebastian Aho so acutely pointed out last week.
The shopping list is not long, but it is difficult: A legitimate top-six center with some size and a right-shot defenseman who fits the Hurricanes’ style but maybe also adds some bulk and snarl. An upgrade at center and a veteran D so they don’t have to rely on Scott Morrow yet would help address deficiencies that were all too apparent against the Panthers, and that’s where the bar is set.
Neither of those is easily filled in the free-agent market, and both should be a priority over a shiny object like Mitch Marner. The Hurricanes have tried adding wings, like Jake Guentzel and (briefly) Mikko Rantanen, but they need to get better down the middle as Jordan Staal ages and Jesperi Kotkaniemi, at this point, has established that he isn’t the answer.
The trick here is going to be acquiring quality players without giving up young stars like Seth Jarvis or Andrei Svechnikov, but the Hurricanes have the two first-round picks they got from the Dallas Stars in the Rantanen deal plus their own, which puts them in a good position not only to make a trade but to make a run at a restricted free agent if there’s one out there they like. Just because it didn’t work out with Kotkaniemi doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing.
And all that cap space — about $25 million, roughly — doesn’t have to be spent on bloated contracts, necessarily. It can be utilized to bail another team out of a bad contract, as when the Hurricanes got a first-round pick for assuming Patrick Marleau’s contract and buying him out. Sometimes, shedding a big salary can be as attractive a trade acquisition as any player.
“We have full buy-in to spend to the cap if there are ways to go do it to get better,” Tulsky said. “We have so much space and such a strong team there’s no guarantee we can find ways to spend all that money, but we’re going to spend all summer trying.”
If the Hurricanes could leverage their cap space and draft picks to get two players like Detroit Red Wings center Dylan Larkin — who hasn’t been to the playoffs in nine years and was openly furious at the trade deadline — and Calgary Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson — a 28-year-old right shot the Flames are believed to be shopping — there’s no question they would have a more formidable roster at the start of next season than the end of this one.
The Red Wings may be unwilling to move their captain under any circumstances and there will be many suitors for Andersson, but the Hurricanes are in a financial position to make their best possible offer for both. Money is no barrier.
That flexibility opens the door to any number of gambits that might shake something loose elsewhere, and the assignment is clear. There aren’t a lot of ways the Hurricanes can improve on their current roster, but filling the gap on the right side of the defense and a major upgrade at center top the list. There’s no ambiguity about that.
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This story was originally published June 4, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
