With the Canes not having a first-round draft pick (was given to Montreal along with third round pick to obtain Kotkaniemi) and no trades going down, the first day of the 2022 NHL Draft was mostly a non-event for the Carolina Hurricanes.
But with only DeBrincat of the big names swirling around coming off the table, the Canes could hypothetically be in the mix for any of a number of higher-end additions.
Today’s Daily Cup of Joe considers a bunch of options in stream of consciousness format…
Building a second scoring line
At forward, the biggest issue for the Canes coming out of the 2021-22 season was adding more scoring help ideally at wing. But if Trocheck departs, the team also needs a second line center.
I view the Canes forward depth chart as follows:
Teravainen/Aho/Svechnikov — Despite his rough playoffs, I am doubling down on Svechnikov all day. Paired with Aho and Teravainen, the team has one scoring line.
_____/Staal/Fast — Staal and Fast give the team a great start to a third line that is light on scoring but incredibly good at defending. Despite not scoring much, that line was a big plus, the team’s most consistent and arguably the team’s best in the playoffs. Niederreiter is a good fit, but per my previous article on keep/do not keep for Canes free agents, a cap team like the Canes cannot both have a $5 million slot on the third line and at the same time upgrade the top of the lineup. Be it a young player rising up or one of the current depth forwards seizing the slot, I think the Canes can (or at least needs to try to) build a third line that slots a $1 million-ish player next to Staal and Fast, and I think the chance of this working out fine is very good.
The fourth line probably sees at least one higher-ceiling young player fall to here but also needs to be built witha budget past that.
That leaves the second line. Players whose ceilings could be a good second line player include Necas, Kotkaniemi and Jarvis. Exactly none of those three players has yet to prove he can play at that high of a level for a full (or most) of an NHL season. Jarvis had a tremendous rookie season as an 18-year old which projects well, but he was also invisible for a long stretch and finished with 40 points. Necas has similarly had runs of looking like a top 6 forward but also finished the 2021-22 season with a fit of complete invisibility in the playoffs. Kotkaniemi is maybe most interesting. The Canes gave up a first and third round draft pick and spent the last big chunk of their 2021-22 salary cap budget to add him theoretically as a scoring line wing. After failed auditions both on Aho’s and Trocheck’s lines, Kotkaniemi fell to being a fourth line center. He definitely looked more comfortable in that role and produced reasonably well for a fourth-liner, but the key phrase there is “for a fourth-liner.” The team then made an interesting moving deciding to go double or nothing not once but multiple times in signing a player who was a fourth-line center at the time to an eight-year contract for $4.8 million per year. The HUGE commitment maybe says that the Canes have him pegged as a second line center for a scoring line despite the fact that he has yet to prove he can fill that role?
In ‘win now’ mode, with a two-year window with the current group before needing to re-sign key players currently on bargain contracts, I think the Canes will spend at least some of their available budget on adding more proven components for a second line.
Enter the big names.
Alleged to possibly be available are Evgeni Malkin (free agent who is squabbling with Pittsburgh so far), Claude Giroux (free agent) and Vladimir Tarasenko (possibly available via trade from St. Louis).
They are in addition to some bigger name forwards possibly available via trade that I covered HERE.
If the Canes want to go for it, I think they pour as much money as the budget can hold into a second line for a year or two.
Some other parts would have to move to, but if the Canes could land two of Malkin, Vladimir Tarasenko or Giroux for $7.5 million, things would be tight but could work.
As fellow Russians, might acquiring Tarasenko help lure Malkin? Might any two of the three be intrigued by being paired with another veteran star as 2/3 of a line on a team that is probably within Stanley Cup range? Tarasenko’s contract is already the $7.5 million needed. That number might not be highest bidder, but maybe it is enough especially if the Canes stretch to two years.
For it to work probably requires Malkin. Though Giroux played most of his career as a center, he has shifted to right wing the past couple years which is where Tarasenko plays.
No doubt there is some risk with these players’ ages, but all have produced recently and seem to be a reasonable bet to do the same if healthy.
The Canes have about $19 million of salary cap space available and would then have 16 players under contract. If the Canes could unload Jake Gardiner’s salary (would have to pay futures to do so), that would get them back to having $8 million available to fill 5-6 roster spots. Per my previous article, I would love to see the Canes push for a deal that sends Necas, Gardiner and futures to Arizona for Chychrun. At that point the Canes would have a solid top 4 on the blue line with Chatfield for the bottom part of the lineup, 10 forwards under contract and two goalies. The team would need to fill the last spots with players near the NHL minimum salary, but that could be doable with Lorentz to be re-signed, Drury on his entry-level contract likely winning a spot and another inexpensive signing for the blue line.
If the Canes tried to pull this off, the lineup looks something like…
Teravainen/Aho/Svechnikov
Jarvis/Malkin/Giroux or Tarasenko
Drury/Staal/Fast
Lorentz/Kotkaniemi/Martinook
Skjei/Pesce
Slavin/Chychrun
____/Chatfield
Andersen
Raanta
I think the way to pull this off is to talk to Giroux and Malkin’s agents once free agency opens to see if this situation strikes interest with them. If they shrug and do not really care, it will be impossible to just get them by winning two bidding wars. But if they see it as an interesting opportunity, the $7.5 million is not a huge discount and maybe the pairing is what gets them.
As an aside, maybe what is most exciting about dreaming up configurations like this is that the Hurricanes under Tom Dundon are a team that has made some splashes, will spend to the cap ceiling and are legitimately in ‘win now’ range aiming for the Cup.
What say you Canes fans?
1) Would you be willing to throw $15 million to add two aging stars as the core for a second scoring line and then try to fill pretty much all of the other holes on a budget?
2) How do you feel about Tarasenko, Malkin and Giroux individually and any two as a duo at this stage of their NHL careers?
3) Any chance this could actually happen?
4) Of any other big names floating around, who do you like?
Go Canes!
What about Patrick Kane? That would provide some serious scoring. Sounds like the Blackhawks are still entertaining the idea of trading him. Of course I don’t know if the Canes can afford it.
Then there’s Johnny Hockey of course, but he’s more likely to want a long-term high-value deal.
I think the fact that the Pens re-signed Letang means that they plan on one more “gun for the cup”, in which case I think they’ll get a contract done with Malkin.
I find it unlikely that the Canes would go for 2 big names at forward, probably only one (+ perhaps one guy in need of a rebound chance).
The ultimate rebound guy is Evander Kane. The Canes took a chance on TDA and it was a success. I think that guy has too much baggage.
My guess is they will go after one of Giroux or Tarasenko.
I really like Patrick Kane. He is still an elite playmaker. It is odd that he is not being mentioned as available despite the dismantling of everything else in Chicago. Taking his $10 million salary would require Chicago eating salary or possibly taking Jake Gardiner (which they might do). Canes would still need a 2nd line center and have less budget to add one unless they are willing to bet that Kotkaniemi (or maybe Necas) is it.
Unclear if it is posturing but Malkin’s camp seems legitimately offended with how Pens have handled his negotiations. If that is not just posturing for negotiations, he could be available and maybe staying in the same division is exactly what he would want. We will see.
Tarasenko seems like he is most probable/available. I actually liked him last year when he could have probably been had for very little, but he is coming off a better season and probably costs a bit more now.
Canes trade DeAngelo to Philly .. not a move I personally wanted to see, but I am guessing his salary ask was out of line with what the Canes wanted, so at least they obtained a set of picks for him and there is more cap flexibility.
Now we only have Slaven, Pesce, Skjei, and Gardner as top 4 D which I have to say, on paper at least, looks a bit weak.
So maybe this points to Giroux again .. someone who can run a powerplay from the point.
I hear Malkin has reupped with the Pens .. have yet to see a confirmation.
Ouch, that hurts. Salary cap… I like everything about TDA. Not at all what I wanted. He had arbitration rights and we always seem to run from that. He obviously asked for too much and our management does not allow uncontrolled costs like that. Bummed!!
I’m sure we’ll be talking about defensemen again soon enough … 2 x $5M is on the high side of what I thought “fair” was. I thought the return was very reasonable so not terribly disappointed.
Surprised the Canes wouldn’t pay 2 x $5M for DeAngelo, but they may have bigger fish in mind.
I think everyone can put the Chychrun stuff to bed. They are need a righty D and potentially one that can run a PP. Chychrun is Slavin Light.
Unless the Canes plan to take a run at Klingberg I suspect they may go cheap on D and try to get more scoring. Tarasenko makes sense, but what do they have to offer St. Louis? They don’t want salary. They are trying to shed that. Necas would be of marginal value. They want picks and prospects. Drury and Morrow are probably the Canes biggest assets at this time. Hate to lose Morrow as he may be the PP QB from the right side in a couple years. We’ll see.
The wild card no one is mentioning is Patrick Kane. Would he come to Raleigh? He would solve multiple problems, scoring and PP QB. Could the Canes put together a big enough package? Their first round picks aren’t as valuable as many teams. Chicago will be able to take salary. Turbo, Necas, Morrow, and a first for Kane? Probably two firsts. Doubtful this could happen, but its fun to think about it.
I think $15M is too much to spend on two aging stars but I would spend 2-3×6 for Malkin – that further hedges against what Staal does after next season; so does Scheifele’s two years he’d be my primary target.
As for Kane, I see CHI keeping and dealing him at next year’s Trade Deadline – he’ll be the most premium asset out there at that time and CHI can even eat a lot of his Cap for more assets.
Tarasenko is interesting because his name is out there but I’m not sure what that package looks like – they’d probably want a roster player back – maybe Raanta now that they’re looking for a backup goalie?
There are Vegas guys that are interesting and they need Cap relief. Also, Phil Kessel is still out there – he’s quite durable even if he’s not a 2-way player. Any takers?
I don’t get the Malkin love. They guy has struggled to stay on the ice for years and is getting even older. He can still play, but you can’t count on him. I think Hextall blinked giving the contract he gave to Letang. That contract is going to look really bad in a couple years. If they give term to Malkin? Woof. Hextall is bending to pressure instead of doing the right thing and moving on. Fans can STFU. They will cry and lash out, but forget when the winning starts. Those same fans will call for Hextall’s head in a couple years for signing the contracts they wanted and those guys are killing the team.
I was thinking that Kessel would be a good scroing addition, if he’s willing to take a cheap deal hoping to win it all.
His scoring has fallen off dramatically, but that is fairly typical when you are in Az.
I don’t understand why the Canes wouldn’t re-sign TDA on a 2 x 5 mill deal .. where are they going to find a right handed D man with PP expertise for that kind of money?
Klingberg is talking 8.5 X 7 years I heard somewhere, no thanks.
Josh Mansun is another possibility, but he’ll want some good cash and term as well.
I hope there’s something in the works.
I predict that we’ll see Giroux .. maybe with Kessel on that second line.
Though he does not fill the need for a power play quarterback, I really like Klingberg as a steady top 4 defense who could pair well with Slavin as a shutdown pair, but just like you I also found his salary demands of $7-8M per year for 7 years. While I do think the Canes will need to take some contract risk at this stage to try to win the whole thing, this is too extreme.
That’s why I like Chychrun so much that I would overpay a bit. He is signed for 3 years at a great price already. If you only get that, it could be worth it. But also when his current contract ends, he will only be 27 so ponying up a long-term deal if he works out could also be possible.
Not sure how Klingberg does not fit the bill as a PP QB. Had 20 PP points last season. Same as DeAngleo. Has averaged 22 PP points for his career. He is exactly a PP QB. His defense is what has suffered, then again everyone looks good playing with Jaccob Slavin.
You are willing to overpay for Chychrun. What is overpaying? What are you giving up?
Context on overpaying a bit for Chychrun…
He is only 24 years old and is signed for 3 years at a reasonable salary. That means two things. First, if he is available, there will be other teams similarly enticed by adding a top 4 defenseman for a price that is maybe as much as a $2.5M discount if you consider Klingberg the top free agent option. That makes for a possible bidding war. Further, because of his age and contract, Arizona does not have to hurry. They can do this deal at any point over the next year and a half or maybe not do it at all. The only reason he is likely available is because he wants out (which makes him not so great to have around a young, hopefully growing group) after 6 years in the desert chaos.
So with that context, I think it takes some prying to make Arizona move and also be best offer. For the Canes I think that means Necas plus higher-end futures. I think you offer Necas and a 2nd or 3rd round pick and some lesser prospect (maybe a goalie not named Kochetkov?) and then you say fine and upgrade to a 1st round pick if they also take Gardiner.
Giving up a 1st round pick with a good young player like Necas is a lot, but remember that Chychrun is also a good young player, that the 1st round pick is most like #24-32 range and also that part of the payment is to take Gardiner’s contract (that isn’t free).
I’m with you on comparing a Klingberg contract to DeAngelo. Way more money and term for Klingberg. I would be surprised if they go that direction. I’m guessing they will go cheap on a defenseman and spend on forwards. We’ll see.
I’m not wild about Giroux. Nice player, but similar to what they already have. Another playmaker. Someone has to bury the puck.
I predict that the Canes will make a trade for a defenseman that involves one of the goalies, probably Raanta.
It’s a bit of a risk but you got to give something to get something and the Canes could run the risk of relying on Pyotr Kochetkov as a backup.
The Blackhawks are not qualifying dylan Strome, letting him walk as a UFA.
He could probably be had for the 3.5 to 4 mill.
It’d be a downgrade from Trocheck for sure, but he’s a center who has had spells of good play.
We need someone in the 2C slot, KK ain’t going to cut it.