By Louis Fernandez, WRAL Sports

NHL free agency begins on Monday, July 1 at noon. The Carolina Hurricanes have been active already, trading the rights to forward Jake Guentzel to the Tampa Bay Lightning the day before and signing young players that have proven themselves since the end of the season.

Here’s the list of free agents for the Carolina Hurricanes, both restricted and unrestricted.

As a reminder: restricted free agents are given qualifying offers from the organization, essentially one-year deals that depend on the player’s salary from the previous year. While they can receive offer sheets from other teams, the Carolina Hurricanes ultimately have a lot of control in the situation. Unrestricted free agents are just that, unrestricted. Come noon on July 1 they can speak with and negotiate with any team they would like. This is where things stands for the Carolina Hurricanes going into free agency.

Carolina Hurricanes deals done before free agency

Jake Guentzel, forward (Rights traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning)

Carolina Hurricanes general manager Eric Tulsky announced a trade with the Tampa Bay Lightning, sending the rights to forward Jake Guentzel for a 2025 third round pick on Sunday.

Carolina received the two-time all-star and defenseman Ty Smith from the Pittsburgh Penguins in a big move on March 7 last season in exchange for forwards Michael Bunting, Ville Koivunen, Vasily Ponomarev, Cruz Lucius, a conditional 2024 first-round pick and a conditional 2024 fifth-round pick.

“The difference between 8 (million dollars) a year and 9.25 (million dollars) is a player, a bottom of your roster player, but it’s a player, and the Hurricanes have a lot of players to sign between now and the start of training camp and really now and the next week,” Gold said.

The 29-year-old had 25 points in 17 games during the regular season for the Hurricanes. He had four goals and five assists in 11 postseason games for the ‘Canes as well. Carolina’s season came to an end in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs after falling in six games to the New York Rangers.

Ryan Suzuki, forward

Carolina’s first round pick in 2019, Suzuki signed a one-year, two-way contract in late-May. He will received $775,000 at the NHL level and $70,000 at the American Hockey League (AHL) level, with a $90,000 guaranteed. The 23-year-old played 51 AHL games with the Springfield Thunderbirds in the 2023-24 season, finishing with 30 points (14 goals and 16 assists).

Jalen Chatfield, defenseman

Chatfield signed a three-year, $9 million contract extension in June that will keep him with the Hurricanes through the 2026-27 season.

“Jalen has been an integral part of our blue line over the last two seasons and firmly established himself as an NHL defenseman,” General Manager Eric Tulsky said after the signing. “His elite speed and tireless work ethic make him an incredibly dynamic player at both ends of the ice.”

The 28-year-old netted 22 points in 72 games with the Hurricanes this season, with career-highs in goals, assists, points, blocked shots and ice time per game. His offensive production was among the highest for Hurricanes defensemen.

“That was great bit of business done at the very beginning,” 99.9 The Fan’s Adam Gold said this weekend, “dynamite signing.”

Ty Smith, defenseman

Ty Smith was part of the Jake Guentzel trade in the middle of the 2023-24 season. In June he re-signed with the Hurricanes, a one-year, two-way contract for $775,000 at the NHL level and $200,000 at the AHL level with a $275,000 guarantee.

“Ty is still developing as a player, but he possesses a keen ability to generate offense from the blue line,” Tulsky said. “Our style of play relies on defensemen to pitch in offensively, and he is an experienced NHL player who can fill that role for our team.”

The 24-year-old, had 43 points (9 goals and 34 assists) in 63 AHL games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in 2023-24, leading all Penguins skaters in assists and points. He also finished eighth in assists, tied for ninth in points among all AHL defensemen.

Carolina Hurricanes Restricted Free Agents

On June 30, the Hurricanes sent out qualifying offers to four restricted free agents and did not offer four others. Players have until 5 p.m. on July 15 to accept the offer. In the event the player declines the offer, arbitration could be an option depending on age and how long they’ve played in the NHL. If a restricted free agent does not receive a qualifying offer, they become an unrestricted free agent.

Seth Jarvis, forward (Received qualifying offer)

Jarvis was drafted in the first round in 2020 by the Carolina Hurricanes and should be a pillar of what the team wants to do moving forward. He was second on the team in points, 67, behind only Sebastian Aho. He was also second in goals scored and tied for second in assists. His non points in 11 Stanley Cup Playoff games ranked third, only behind Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov.

Martin Necas, forward (Received qualifying offer)

Necas re-signed a two-year deal in August 2022. The forward was fourth in points for the Carolina Hurricanes in the regular season (53 points in 77 games), but until the draft, Gold says Necas could have been playing for a different team in 2024-25.

“Trade Martin Necas,” Gold said, “and depending on which team they were going to move him to, there were rumors of Columbus, they had the fourth pick, the Devils had the tenth pick, the Sabres had the eleventh, all three of those teams were interested.”

Now that Guentzel’s rights were traded to Tampa Bay, his offensive ability is important to the ‘Canes immediate future.

“I think Martin Necas will be here and if they trade him, they will some how end up with another big bat in the middle of the lineup,” Gold said. “I think Necas wants to be great, I would rather him be here than not be here.”

Jack Drury, forward (Received qualifying offer)

Drafted in the second round of 2018 and signed before the 2021-22 season, Drury continues to grow with the Hurricanes. At 24 years old, he’s coming off of his best season to date with a career-high in games played (74), goals scored (8) and assists (19).

Dylan Coghlan, defenseman (Received qualifying offer)

Re-signed a one-year contract on July 5, 2023. He played in one game this season.

Max Comtois, forward (Did not receive qualifying offer)

Signed on March 4, 2024, Comtois played five seasons with the Anaheim Ducks. He played just one game with the Hurricanes.

Blake Murray, forward (Did not receive qualifying offer)

A sixth-round pick by the Hurricanes in 2019, he was signed on May 24, 2021. Murray played 90 games in the ECHL in the 2022-23 and 2023-24 season with the Norfolk Admirals, Florida Everblades and Allen Americans.

Tuukka Tieksola, forward (Did not receive qualifying offer)

The 23-year-old played 52 games with the Chicago Wolves in 2022-23, netting 24 points, and with Lukko in his native Finland in the 2023-24 season, where he finished with 18 points in 52 games.

Griffin Mendel, defenseman (Did not receive qualifying offer)

The 25-year-old played 116 games with the Chicago Wolves over two seasons, scoring 27 points. He played eight games this past season with the Norfolk Admirals in the ECHL.

Carolina Hurricanes Unrestricted Free Agents

After the deals made prior to July 1, there are eight unrestricted free agents on the Carolina Hurricanes roster. Many of them have played big roles or have had memorable moments for the ‘Canes in the past few years. Gold says it might be time to say goodbye to most of them.

“I’m not sure we’re going to see more than two of their unrestricted free agents come back, it’s going to be a very different looking roster next year,” Gold said.

Jordan Martinook, forward

Martinook originally joined the Hurricanes through a trade with the team formerly known as the Arizona Coyotes, re-signing with Carolina on July 28, 2021. He’s been consistent from the beginning, playing 82 regular season games in three of his six seasons with Carolina. His best two scoring campaigns have come recently, with back-to-back 30+ point seasons.

Gold says he’s nervous the 31-year-old might look elsewhere though, even though he’s been a huge part of the ‘Canes culture.

“This is his last crack at being an unrestricted free agent and being able to get the most he can out of the market, and it’s not going to be a huge number, but for him, the difference between say you know, 2.25, 2.5, 3.25, 3.5 (million dollars) or an extra year, that’s significant,” Gold said.

Teuvo Teravainen, forward

The 29-year-old Finn was originally acquired in a trade with the Chicago Blackhawks, but re-signed with the Hurricanes in 2019. He’s had 50+ points in five of his eight seasons in Raleigh.

Stefan Noesen, forward

Signed as a free agent with the Hurricanes twice – in 2021 and 2022. The 31-year-old played in 78 and 81 regular season games in the past two seasons respectively. Noesen totaled 36 and 37 points in those two seasons as well.

Callahan Burke, forward

The Hurricanes received Burke through a trade with the Colorado Avalanche on October 10, 2023 in exchange for defenseman Caleb Jones. He was assigned to the Colorado Eagles in the AHL and played in one game for the Hurricanes

Brett Pesce, defenseman

A third round draft pick in 2013 by the Carolina Hurricanes, Pesce re-signed with the franchise in 2017. Carolina’s top defenseman, Pesce’s injury in Game 2 against the New York Islanders in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs proved incredibly costly for the Hurricanes. He will be a major free agent target for teams around the league.

Brady Skjei, defenseman

Skjei joined the Hurricanes after a trade with the New York Rangers on February 24, 2020. In his four full season with the ‘Canes, Skjei has played in at least 80 games three times. He had his highest point total this season (47) and second highest +/- of his career.

Like Pesce, he too will be highly sought after in free agency.

Tony DeAngelo, defenseman

DeAngelo played in just 31 games in the regular season in his second run with the Hurricanes. He signed a one-year deal with Carolina last offseason.

Antti Raanta, goalkeeper

The 35-year-old goalkeeper is Carolina’s only free agent in net. He’s spent three seasons with the Hurricanes. He last played a game for Carolina in February and was reassigned to the Chicago Wolves in March.

Source: wralsportsfan.com