2025-26 Carolina Hurricanes:
High Standards, Huge Hopes Surround
Early Roster Glance, Salary Cap Snapshot
By David Glenn
North Carolina Sports Network
(last updated Aug. 25, 2025)
The Carolina Hurricanes, one of the National Hockey League’s most consistently successful organizations during the seven-year tenures of owner Tom Dundon and head coach Rod Brind’Amour, have used their considerable salary-cap space in the 2025 offseason to maximize their Stanley Cup chances in 2026.
“We’ve raised the bar to the point where you lose in the semifinals and it’s disappointing. That’s pretty good,” Brind’Amour said in early June, soon after the Canes were eliminated in the Eastern Conference finals by the Florida Panthers, who went on to win the Stanley Cup for the second year in a row. “We’re feeling like (garbage) because we lost. This is where you want to be. This is the level, the standard you want to have as an organization.”
Unlike in the 2024 offseason, when a half-dozen proven veterans (i.e., Jake Guentzl, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Stefan Noesen, Brett Pesce, Brady Skjei, Teuvo Teravainen) left the franchise, the Canes already had almost all of their key players under contract for next season.
In addition — and also unlike a year ago — Carolina entered July among the teams with the most available salary-cap space for next season, which maximized the chance of an exciting offseason for Dundon, Brind’Amour and second-year general manager Eric Tulsky.
“If there’s any chance to get better, we’re going to take it,” Tulsky said. “We have the full buy-in to spend to the cap if there are ways to do it to get better. 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.
“Our goal is to win a Cup, and our goal is to win more Cups after that and keep going. We’re trying to build a team that can compete year after year. But competing isn’t enough; we want to win. So you’ve got to find a way to do that.”
The 2025-26 salary cap is $95.5 million, and entering July the Hurricanes had only about $69 million in salary-cap commitments for next season, leaving more than $26 million in available cap space that could be used in the free-agent market.
Entering July, only the San Jose Sharks, Columbus Blue Jackets and Anaheim Ducks had more available cap space than the Hurricanes. Meanwhile, nine NHL franchises — nearly one-third of the league — had less than $10 million (each) in available cap space entering the 2025 offseason.
The Hurricanes’ most obvious offseason needs included two commodities that can be difficult to acquire: a high-scoring forward and a top-four defenseman.
While the Canes finished 10th in the league in goals scored during the 2024-25 regular season, led by forwards Seth Jarvis (32), Sebastian Aho (29), Jack Roslovic (22) and Andrei Svechnikov (20), they also ran out of offensive firepower in their 4-1 series loss to the Florida Panthers in the Eastern Conference finals.
That has become an alarming postseason trend for Carolina, which boasts the fourth-longest active postseason streak (seven straight years) in the league but also has petered out in each of its three trips to the Eastern Conference finals during that span. During those series against Boston (2019) and Florida (2023, 2025), the Canes went 1-12 and scored only 18 goals in their defeats, meaning a truly anemic 1.5 per game.
On defense, the already-under-contract Hurricanes included an elite player in Jaccob Slavin, a crafty power-play point man in Shayne Gostisbehere, two reliable veterans in Jalen Chatfield and Sean Walker, and an extremely talented young player in 23-year-old recent Russian signee Alexander Nikishin.
However, top-four veteran defensemen Brent Burns (who paired with Slavin) and Dmitry Orlov (who paired with Chatfield) were unrestricted free agents this summer, meaning the Canes were likely to face significant changes on the blue line for the second year in a row.
Sure enough, on July 1, the opening day of free agency, Carolina acquired 25-year-old New York Rangers defenseman K’Andre Miller in a sign-and-trade deal that sent 22-year-old defenseman Scott Morrow and two high-round draft picks to New York. Miller signed an eight-year, $60 million contract with the Hurricanes.
Then, on July 3, the Canes landed one of the higher-profile players in the entire 2025 free-agent class. Nikolaj Ehlers, a 29-year-old from Denmark who spent the past 10 seasons with the Winnipeg Jets, signed an eight-year, $51 million contract with Carolina. The #9 overall selection in the 2014 NHL draft, Ehlers compiled 225 goals and 520 points during his decade with the Jets.
Carolina Hurricanes Salary Cap Summary
2025-26 NHL Salary Cap: $95,500,000
2025-26 Hurricanes Commitments: $84,855,709
2025-26 Hurricanes Cap Space: $10,644,291
NHL Forwards Under Contract (14)
Player, Position, Age, 2025-26 Salary Cap Hit (Long-Term Status)
Sebastian Aho, C, 28, $9,750,000 (signed through 2031-32)
Nikolaj Ehlers*, LW, 29, $8,500,000 (signed through 2030-31)
Andrei Svechnikov, LW/RW, 25, $7,750,000 (signed through 2028-29)
Seth Jarvis, RW/LW, 23, $7,420,087 (signed through 2031-32)
Logan Stankoven, C/RW, 22, $6,000,000 (signed through 2033-34)
Jackson Blake, RW, 22, $5,117,002 (signed through 2033-34)
Jesperi Kotkaniemi, C/LW, 25, $4,820,000 (signed through 2029-30)
Taylor Hall, LW, 34, $3,166,667 (signed through 2027-28)
Jordan Martinook, LW, 33, $3,050,000 (signed through 2026-27)
Jordan Staal, C, 37, $2,900,000 (signed through 2026-27)
William Carrier, LW/RW, 31, $2,000,000 (signed through 2029-30)
Eric Robinson^, LW, 30, $1,700,000 (signed through 2028-29)
Mark Jankowski, C, 31, $800,000 (signed through 2025-26)
Tyson Jost^, C, 27, $775,000 (signed through 2025-26)
Additional Forwards Under NHL Roster Contract
Bradly Nadeau, LW/C, 20, $918,333 (signed through 2026-27)
2024-25 Hurricanes Forwards In Free Agency
Jesper Fast, RW, 34, unrestricted (retired in June 2025)
Jack Roslovic, RW, 28, unrestricted (still considering KHL/NHL teams)
NHL Defensemen Under Contract (7)
K’Andre Miller*, LD, 25, $7,500,000 (signed through 2032-33)
Jaccob Slavin, LD, 31, $6,395,955 (signed through 2032-33)
Sean Walker, RD, 31, $3,600,000 (signed through 2028-29)
Shayne Gostisbehere, LD, 32, $3,200,000 (signed through 2026-27)
Jalen Chatfield, RD, 29, $3,000,000 (signed through 2026-27)
Mike Reilly*, LD, 32, $1,100,000 (signed through 2025-26)
Alexander Nikishin, LD, 24, $925,000 (signed through 2025-26)
Additional Defensemen Under NHL Roster Contract
none
2024-25 Hurricanes Defensemen In Free Agency
Brent Burns, RD, 40, unrestricted (one-year, $1 million deal with Colorado)
Dmitry Orlov, LD, 34, unrestricted (two-year, $13 million deal with San Jose)
NHL Goaltenders Under Contract (2)
Frederik Andersen^, G, 36, $2,750,000 (signed through 2025-26)
Pyotr Kochetkov, G, 26, $2,000,000 (signed through 2026-27)
Additional Goaltenders Under NHL Roster Contract
none
2024-25 Hurricanes Goaltenders In Free Agency
Spencer Martin, G, 30, unrestricted (one-year deal with CSKA Moskva/KHL)
Yaniv Perets, G, 25, restricted (one-year deal with Lehigh Valley/AHL)
Dustin Tokarski, G, 36, unrestricted
^—retained free agent
*—2025 offseason acquisition
NOTE: Age = at conclusion of 2025 calendar year.
