Hurricanes need a second-line center. Here are some free-agent and trade options
RALEIGH, N.C. — The Stanley Cup has been awarded, the draft is a week away and free agency looms. For those working in an NHL front office, this is arguably the busiest and most consequential time of the year.
That will undoubtedly be true for the Carolina Hurricanes, who saw the team that beat them in the Eastern Conference final — the Florida Panthers — win their second consecutive championship. That should provide the perfect measuring stick for where GM Eric Tulsky and the Carolina front office need to improve to take the next step as a contender.
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But while the Panthers will need to get creative to keep their team together in the hopes of three-peating, the Hurricanes are loaded with cap space and assets with which to improve their roster.
With more than $28 million in cap space, according to PuckPedia, and a mostly complete roster, Carolina can focus on improving its lineup rather than plugging big holes. One way they could do that is on defense, where the team could pursue a new partner for Jaccob Slavin, but the Hurricanes' biggest need is a second-line center.
Given the available cap space, a surplus of draft picks and prospects, and a mostly full lineup card, Tulsky and the Hurricanes have several routes they can use to improve down the middle.
The second-line center role was occupied mainly by Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Jack Roslovic last season. Neither was good enough to be in that slot on a Cup team.
Roslovic scored 22 goals — 12 of them in the first 20 games of the season — but was often unnoticeable and a defensive liability. He's a UFA, and his return is unlikely.
Kotkaniemi has been given chance after chance to seize that spot, but he's scored 12 goals in three of the last four seasons and has eclipsed 35 points just once (his 18-goal, 43-point 2022-23 campaign). Ideally, he'd be centering the third line, but Jordan Staal has that job locked down for two more seasons.
If the Hurricanes pursue and land Mitch Marner, they will be overloaded at right wing. Jackson Blake will stay on the wing, but Seth Jarvis and Logan Stankoven both have the ability to move to the middle.
Stankoven has proven to be a great fit in Carolina, but at 5-foot-8 and 165 pounds, using him at 2C isn't realistic. Jarvis isn't much bigger (5-10, 184 pounds), but moving him to the middle is a possibility I've mentioned before.
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Having two smallish centers on the top two lines — Sebastian Aho is listed at 6 feet, 180 pounds — wouldn't be ideal, but Jarvis has become a defensive standout (12th in Selke Trophy voting last season, eighth the year before) and has back-to-back 30-goal seasons despite an ongoing shoulder injury.
All these solutions, however, feel more like rearranging deck chairs rather than positioning the Hurricanes closer to their championship goal.
There are targets, both big and small, realistic and out of left field, to be considered when exploring the trade market.
Minnesota's Marco Rossi has come up as an option for the Hurricanes. The Austrian center, who will be 24 in September, is a restricted free agent and is at a contract impasse with the Wild. Rossi, who does not have arbitration rights, had a breakthrough season with 24 goals and 60 points last season and reportedly is asking for a deal similar to the seven-year, $49 million signed by teammate Matt Boldy in January 2023.
Rossi is an intriguing option but does have his share of negatives. At 5-9 and 182 pounds, he certainly wouldn't add size down the middle for Carolina. He's also left-handed, which isn't a deal breaker, but coach Rod Brind'Amour has made clear he'd like someone who could offer a right-handed option at the dot.
The asking price would probably start at a first-round pick with a sweetener.
Another intriguing possibility is Vancouver's Elias Pettersson. While the Canucks seemingly picked Pettersson over J.T. Miller in the spat between the two players, dealing the latter to the New York Rangers last season, there are still questions about Pettersson's future in the Pacific Northwest. And the Hurricanes have poked around the 26-year-old in the past.
Pettersson checks several boxes. He has superstar potential, including a 100-point season on his resume. While slight — he's listed at 176 pounds — he'd give Carolina more length down the middle at 6-2. He also might benefit from the quieter atmosphere in Raleigh.
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Any trade for the Swede — who has five years left on a contract that costs $11.6 million against the cap annually — would be a blockbuster. The return for Vancouver would probably look something like what the Sabres received when they traded Jack Eichel to Vegas — two NHL players (probably at least one young and emerging one) and a first-round pick.
All of that said, the Canucks seem to want to give Pettersson — another lefty, by the way — another chance to right the ship next season with Adam Foote now running the bench and the Miller debacle fully in the rear-view mirror.
Miller's name has also come again, not even five months from his trade to the Rangers. Carolina also expressed interest in him during the fallout in Vancouver, but New York — like the Canucks — is probably content to see how new coach Mike Sullivan can piece together a lineup that underachieved last season.
Should the left-handed Miller again be on the block, he has five years at $8 million remaining on his contract, and the Rangers would want to recoup at least some of the assets they lost (Filip Chytil, a prospect and a conditional first) in any trade.
Teammate Mika Zibanejad's name has also come up in trade talks. The 32-year-old was a 90-point player two years ago but dipped to 20 goals and 62 points last season. That's not a good sign for a 32-year-old player with five years remaining at $8.5 million.
Still, Zibanejad fits the Hurricanes' mold. He can play in all situations, would add size in the middle and is a coveted right-handed pivot. A trade in the division seems unlikely, though, and there are several aforementioned red flags.
The Islanders seem content to keep both Mathew Barzal and Bo Horvat, and Jean-Gabriel Pageau — who could be on the block with one year at $5 million left on his contract — would just give Carolina another third-liner. Utah's Nick Schmaltz (one year, $5.85 million) also seems like a fringe option.
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Here are a few other off-the-radar options to keep in mind:
• Vegas is apparently interested in Marner. That would require the Golden Knights to move out money, especially considering Eichel has just a year left on his contract. Could Tomas Hertl be on the move in Vegas? He'll be 32 in November and has five years left with a $6.75 million cap hit (thanks to San Jose retaining some of the contract), but he scored 32 goals last year and is a handful at 6-3, 220 pounds. Hertl was held without a point in Vegas' five-game playoff exit against Edmonton.
• If Steve Yzerman wants to shake up things with the Red Wings, Dylan Larkin (five years, $8.7 million annually) could give the Hurricanes a one-two punch down the middle. He's been surpassed by the younger Lucas Raymond in Detroit, and Larkin has admitted to being frustrated by the team's nine-year playoff drought. Is Larkin a superstar? No, but he'd certainly solidify Carolina down the middle.
• Elias Lindholm's first season in Boston was a nightmare, and Brind'Amour has long admired Carolina's 2013 No. 5 overall pick. The Bruins likely don't want to give up on the 30-year-old yet, but if they do, his six years at $7.75 million looks much more palatable now, with the salary cap exploding upward, than it did last offseason. He'd also check the right-handed box.
• Nashville's Steven Stamkos (three years, $8 million) and Ryan O'Reilly (two years, $4.5 million) are fading options, and the Predators' trade for Erik Haula sure makes it seem like Barry Trotz is doubling down on an aging roster.
It's a thin UFA class, though Conn Smythe Trophy winner Sam Bennett is poised to break the bank. Even though he'd fill a lot of Carolina's needs — a big, physical agitator who steps up in the postseason — it's worth remembering that this year was his first season eclipsing 50 points.
Additionally, his style often leads to a decline in play. Bennett, who turned 29 Friday, will surely cash in, probably earning close to or more than Aho's $9.75 million annually. What will that contract look like in three, four or five years, let alone seven? It just doesn't seem like a move that's in the Hurricanes' DNA.
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The rest of the free-agent class is underwhelming. Claude Giroux is 37 and plays primarily on the wing these days. Mikael Granlund and Jamie Benn are similarly more suited to the wing, and Christian Dvorak would be a downgrade from Kotkaniemi.
Carolina could go this route with the aforementioned Rossi. The Hurricanes, however, are currently without their third-round pick in 2026, which would be part of the compensation in the range of the deal Rossi can expect.
JJ Peterka, Morgan Geekie, Dmitri Voronkov, Mavrik Bourque and Gabriel Vilardi are intriguing, but all have primarily been wingers in the NHL and certainly aren't proven second-line centers.
(Photo of Marco Rossi: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)
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