The Hurricanes still talking to teams, and the Flames, Jets could move on from some players
Sportsnet: The Carolina Hurricanes could look to trade a defenseman. Both Brett Pesce and Brady Skjei have a year left on their contracts.
“My job as the general manager is just to stay on the phone every day and continue to look to see if we can make our team better — hard to do right now,” GM Don Waddell said recently, citing the Hurricanes’ salary cap crunch. “But certainly we’ll continue to talk to different teams and free agents and see what shakes out.”
The Calgary Flames have Elias Lindholm entering the final year of his contract and he could be next to go for the Flames if they can’t work anything out.
Mark Scheifele and Connor Hellebuyck are entering the final year of their contracts and may not be with the Winnipeg Jets for too much longer.
Hurricanes not making much progress with three players entering the final year of their contracts
Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News & Observer: The Carolina Hurricanes have forward Teuvo Teravainen and defensemen Brett Pesce and Brady Skjei entering the final year of their contracts this year.
GM Don Waddell said yesterday that there has been little progress made.
“Pretty much everything has gone quiet the last couple of weeks. There hasn’t been much talk at all, which I kind of expected once August set in. Hopefully we’ll get back after Labor Day.”
When asked if he was concerned, Waddell said:
“Not at all. I’ve been through this a thousand times. Trying to go early usually doesn’t work that well because of the unknowns with the (salary) cap.”
The Hurricanes have nine defensemen under contract and they like the depth and their lack of having an AHL complicated some things,
“Obviously we can’t carry that many guys. But you have to put someone on waivers eventually, and if you lose them then now you’re down.
“We just thought this was a strategy we’re going to do this year. Hopefully we’ll stay healthy and figure it out as we go along.”
