NHL Rumors: Carolina Hurricanes, Calgary Flames, Boston Bruins and the Edmonton Oilers

The Hurricanes and Brett Pesce are talking but teams are calling

Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic: The Carolina Hurricanes continue to talk to defenseman Brett Pesce’s reps as they’d rather re-sign him than trade him. Pesce has recently switched agents to Judd Moldaver. He doesn’t want to leave but teams are calling the Hurricanes. The Buffalo Sabres and Edmonton Oilers could be two of the teams keeping an eye on the situation.

NHL Rumors: Sabres trade targets, and two intriguing names to watch this offseason

Calgary Flames defenseman Noah Hanifin isn’t interested in an extension

Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic: It’s sounding like Calgary Flames defenseman Noah Hanifin isn’t interested in a contract extension. He has one year left at $4.95 million. Also with one year left on their contracts are Elias Lindholm, Mikael Backlund, and Tyler Toffoli. Will new GM Craig Conroy be able to convince those guys to stay?

An extra $2 million would really help the Boston Bruins and Edmonton Oilers

Daily Faceoff: Frank Seravalli and Jason Gregor on the tight salary cap situation for the Boston Bruins and the Edmonton Oilers and how much an extra $2 million would help those teams and others.

Seravalli: “Look at the Boston Bruins. They have $4.5 million bucks in dead cap space and really tough decisions to make. They want to keep Tyler Bertuzzi. They probably have to trade Taylor Hall. They’re not sure what’s happening yet with (David) Krejci and (Patrice) Bergeron, if they’re coming back.

That’s three million bucks. Instead, the additional two, I mean, could be both Krejci and Bergeron on a minimum, bonus incentive deal.”

Gregor: “Yep. 100%.”

Seravalli: “I mean, that’s how big of a difference, like people say, ‘well, who case. Just $2 million.’ It’s a big, big deal for every team.

NHL Rumors: On Boston, Minnesota, And The Vancouver Canucks

Look at the Oilers. A $2 million difference might be the difference between bridging Evan Bouchard and re-signing him to a long-term deal.

You might feel more comfortable biting the bullet and doing it rather than kicking the can down the road.”