RALEIGH — With the free-agent market thin and winger Nikolaj Ehlers weighing his options, the Hurricanes looked to the trade market and took care of some in-house business on the first day of NHL free agency.
While Carolina is still pursuing Ehlers, GM Eric Tulsky got one of his own wingers signed to a long-term extension and also landed a top-four defenseman via trade.
Miller time
The Hurricanes took advantage of a cap-strapped division rival to add to their defense.
After the Rangers signed former Kings defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov to a seven-year, $49 million contract, Carolina orchestrated a sign-and-trade deal with New York for 25-year-old blue liner K’Andre Miller.
The Hurricanes sent two 2026 draft picks — a conditional first round pick and a second round pick — and defensive prospect Scott Morrow to New York for Miller after he agreed to an eight-year, $60 million extension with an annual cap hit of $7.5 million. The first round pick will reportedly be top-10 protected and the higher of the Carolina and Dallas picks the Hurricanes have.
“He’s a really powerful skater who can close out really effectively, take away time and space,” Tulsky said of Miller, who had seven goals and 27 points in 74 games with New York last season. “And the aggressive way we play is really going to suit him very well.”
The 6-foot-5, 215-pound Miller was the 22nd overall pick in the 2018 draft by the Rangers and played 368 regular season games over the past five seasons in New York.
The question for coach Rod Brind’Amour and his staff will be where to play Miller. Carolina already has Jaccob Slavin, Shayne Gostisbehere and Alexander Nikishin penciled in on the left side of its defense, so where Miller will fit and how the team’s pairings will shake out — particularly who will play with Slavin — still needs to be determined.
For now, it looks like the Hurricanes will have to play one of their left-handed defensemen on their off side, something Tulsky said both Slavin and Gostisbehere are capable of doing.
“All of our left-shot D are effective with their stick and effective with their feet and should be able to do it if they need to,” he said.
It’s also possible the Hurricanes aren’t done tweaking their roster and could further alter their defense to get back to a preferred split of right- and left-handed defensemen.
Signing Stankoven
Forward Logan Stankoven became eligible for an extension Tuesday, and the Hurricanes wasted no time signing the 22-year-old to an eight-year contract worth $48 million.
Stankoven, whose new deal will kick in at the start of the 2026-27 season and cost $6 million against the salary cap, was acquired at the trade deadline in the swap that shipped Mikko Rantanen to Dallas.
“It’s just been a dream since day one,” Tulsky said of having Stankoven on the team. “He’s also, off the ice, just an incredible guy and someone we wanted to have part of our family for as long as we could.”
Stankoven totaled 14 goals and 38 points in a combined 78 games with the Hurricanes and Stars last season, and he then had five goals and eight points in 15 playoff games with Carolina.
The signing locks up another piece of the Hurricanes’ core: Stankoven joins Sebastian Aho, Seth Jarvis, Andrei Svechnikov, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, William Carrier and Eric Robinson among forwards signed through at least the 2028-29 season.
That doesn’t mean Carolina is done adding up front. Ehlers, the Jets forward who is the biggest name left on the open market, is being pursued by several teams.
“We’ve had talks with his agent,” Tulsky said. “He’s taking his time to field offers. He’s obviously a very popular person right now, and we’re waiting to see where that goes.”
Adding depth
Carolina reworked its goaltending depth during the week. On Monday, the Hurricanes traded a 2026 seventh-round pick to Montreal for Cayden Primeau. Primeau, the son of former Hurricanes forward Keith Primeau, was a 2017 seventh-round pick by the Canadiens who has bounced between the NHL and AHL during his six professional seasons.
With AHL Laval last season, he was 21-2-2 with a 1.96 goals-against average and .927 save percentage. He signed a one-year, one-way deal worth $750,000 Tuesday night.
The Hurricanes also signed Russian goalie Amir Miftakhov. The 25-year-old was drafted in the sixth round of the 2020 draft by Tampa Bay and played one season in North America, but he has spent the last three seasons in the KHL.
“We were looking to get a little bit younger,” Tulsky said of the team’s goalie situation, “and we brought in two players who we think are both very capable of providing that depth and also have upside to grow into more than that and help give us opportunities to keep taking steps forward in the future.”
Carolina also added a depth defenseman on the first day of free agency, signing 31-year-old Mike Reilly, a veteran of six NHL teams, to a one-year deal worth $1.1 million. He has 18 goals and 124 points in 418 career NHL games.
“This is another player who I think should look his best for us,” Tulsky said.
