Jordan Staal hopes to re-sign with the Hurricanes
Luke Fox of Sportsnet: The UFA center market is going to be a little thin. Carolina Hurricanes Jordan Staal hopes he doesn’t get to free agency and is extended by the team.
“I want to be here. I want to be a part of this group. I love these guys, and I love this organization,” Staal told reporters, confident he’ll re-sign. “I want to finish my career off here.”
Staal made $6 million last season and will need to take a pay cut to stay.
The Hurricanes have a list of pending UFAs to make decisions on: Frederik Andersen Antti Raanta, Max Pacioretty, Shayne Gostisbehere, Calvin De Haan, Jesper Fast, Paul Stastny, MacKenzie MacEachren and Derek Stepan.
Could the Winnipeg Jets and Carolina Hurricanes become trade partners?
Ken Wiebe of Sportsnet: The Winnipeg Jets will be going over their options when determining which direction they are going to take the team next season and beyond.
If the Jets decide to move on from Connor Hellebuyck, Mark Scheifele, Pierre-Luc Dubois, or Blake Wheeler, one team that could become a trade partner is the Carolina Hurricanes. The Hurricanes finished second to the Boston Bruins in overall points but fell in the second round to the Florida Panthers.
The Hurricanes have a long list of pending UFAs and players entering the final year of their contracts.
If the Hurricanes are looking to take another big swing at the Cup next year, maybe they would have interest in one or both of Hellebuyck and Scheifele.
Frederik Andersen and Antti Raanta are pending UFAs with Pyotr Kochetkov under contract at $2 million. Hellebuyck comes in at $6.167 million for one more season.
Scheifele doesn’t play the defensive game Rod Brind’Amour demands, but he scored over 40 goals this year and is almost always a point-a-game player.
The Jets would likely ask for Seth Jarvis who is from the Winnipeg area. Other options could involve players/picks like Martin Necas, Teuvo Teravainen, Brett Pesce, 2023 or 2024 first-round pick, Scott Morrow, Ryan Suzuki and Jackson Blake.