Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek on the 32 Thoughts: The Podcast – Porky Palmer Eclipsed This Podcast episode – on the Carolina Hurricanes and pending UFA forward Jake Guentzel and their other pending free agents. They’ve made some offers to a couple of UFAs but have had no luck so far. The Hurricanes will have a lot of big decisions this offseason.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Marek: “… Jake Guentzel is No. 1. 13 games, 20 points, 5 goals, 15 assists.”
Friedman: “Yeah, he’s been excellent.”
Marek: “This was as of Sunday morning.”
Friedman: “I’m curious to see what’s going to happen there too.”
Marek: “Oh, that’s another interesting one.”
NHL Rumors: Could Major Changes Being Coming with the Carolina Hurricanes
Friedman: “He’s been a perfect fit. And again, Carolina’s history, is not to pay what a 30-year-old would get on the market,
Marek: “But to that point…”
Friedman: “A perfect fit. Perfect fit.”
Marek: “They’ve, they broke their own protocols by acquiring him in the first place.”
Friedman: “I think to me, Jeff, and it’s gonna be interesting to see what the Hurricanes do with this. To me that is an easier one to break than the long-term one, or the long-term big money one.
Because I look up and down Carolina’s roster, and by the way, Carolina, they got Scott Morrow signed when the vultures were circling around him. One thing I didn’t realize about Morrow, and he, and he revealed it, I thought Morrow had another year before he could be a UFA. But he said when he signed with the Hurricanes, that he’s he was graduating this summer, so he could have gone UFA sooner. And the league knew that somehow. Like there were teams circling around him and Carolina had to battle to get him and they did.
And then on Sunday, they signed Bradley Nadeau, who’s a really talented young player. They got him to come out after his freshman season at Maine. And it’s believed they’ve got another one, Jackson Blake, who was a fourth-rounder three years ago coming to. So they’ve done a really nice job getting these guys to come out and commit to them.
But the interesting thing is, if you take a look at their cap situation, they’ve got a lot of players that need to be signed this summer, who still are not yet signed. So you take a look at it. There’s (Brett) Pesci, and …”
Marek: “(Brady) Skjei.”
Friedman: “It’s believed they offered Pesci five times five a year ago and it didn’t happen. And you know, none of this stuff is done until it’s done. Okay. None of this stuff is done until it’s done. But it seems unlikely that Pesce is going to stay.
Skjei, there’s been times I heard he was going to sign. There’s been times I heard he, they aren’t going to get it done. I heard they offered him, they had a couple of unique offers to him is what I heard but at this point in time, it’s still not done. And so we’ll see.
There’s also (Jordan) Martinook. There’s (Teuvo) Teravainen, It’s, you know, all these guys, like Teravainen’s 29.
Marek: “Chatfield. Jake Guentzel. Jalen Chatfield they’ve liked a lot too.”
Friedman: “Chadfield’s an interesting one, Chatfield’s an interesting one as I really like him as a player. That one’s been on and off for the whole season. Like there were, there were people who thought he was gonna get extended before the year and it’s been off and it’s been on and I do think they legitimately want to keep him.
But right now you know, teravainen is 29. Guentzel is going to be 30. Martinook is 31. Skjei is 30. Pesce’s 29. You know, Chatfield is a bit younger and also it’s not as big a deal. Even a guy like Stefan Noesen, has done a really nice job there. He’s 31 but you’ve got to think that’s also not an earth-shattering deal.
Plus, the other thing there is, I think they’ve also started to look towards next summer. Slavin is up after next year. Burns is up after next year. So it’s not just them looking at you know, who, and also there’s (Martin) Necass and I think that one’s going to come to an end this summer. So it’s interesting they, they’ve got a lot of big decisions to make.
I think they’re doing the smart thing. Go for the Stanley Cup this year, let the chips fall where they may. But and I could be proven wrong on this, we’ll see, I think it was easier and smarter for them to take the shot this year than I think it will be to give some of the, some term.
NHL Rumors: Could Montreal Canadiens and Carolina Hurricanes Be Trade Partners?
Because the owner there, (Tom) Dundon, he’s a big probability guy. Very big probability guy. He weighs the probabilities and the probabilities are, that a lot, even though I think athletes do a better job of taking good care of themselves than they ever have, like Burns is a perfect example. He’s 39 years old and still at the top of his game. I’d be very curious to see how he feels about long-term deals.
