RALEIGH — The first thing you notice when watching Nikolaj Ehlers on the ice is his speed.
“He’s an exceptional, exceptional skater,” Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal said of the 29-year-old winger who earned the nickname “Fly” for his skating.
Ask players and coaches, and the word that often comes up is “pace.”
“I feel like he fits really well with us, how we play and fast, fast pace,” said Sebastian Aho, who has centered Ehlers throughout training camp.
After coming up short in trying to trade for Matthew Tkachuk three summers ago, trading for Jake Guentzel at the 2024 deadline but not re-signing him, and swinging the deal for Mikko Rantanen that ultimately saw him shipped off to Dallas, the Hurricanes left no doubt in getting Ehlers.
Ehlers — who did his fair share of due diligence before deciding on where he’d sign after a decade in Winnipeg — inked a six-year, $51 million contract to come to Raleigh in the first days of free agency.
Aho said the addition of Ehlers “doesn’t guarantee anything,” but the players clearly appreciate the team’s efforts to try to continuously improve by adding impact players.
“We know in here that we’re close, and so we just need a few more guys like Fly and people to bring in and really help out the team to get us over that hump,” right wing Seth Jarvis said. “And I think the management sees that.”
So does Frederik Andersen, the goalie from Denmark who will get to play with his new teammate and countryman this NHL season and also at the upcoming Winter Olympics.
“It’s going to be a little different because, obviously, we’re so few (Danes) that the odds of that are pretty low,” Andersen said of getting to play with Ehlers. “But it’s pretty cool to play together and then have a good year.”
Staal added, “It goes to show what we’ve kind of built here and the players that are excited to come here. There’s been a lot of years where it was pretty quiet summers and the Hurricanes wouldn’t be nabbing big names. So it’s an exciting time for Raleigh, exciting time for the team.”
Of course, there need to be results on the ice, and Ehlers has played just one of the team’s first five preseason games. Much of the opening night lineup is expected to dress for Saturday’s exhibition finale in Nashville, and all signs point to Ehlers playing to the left of Aho and opposite Jarvis on Carolina’s top line when the Hurricanes host the Devils next Thursday at Lenovo Center in the regular season opener.
“You want to lay a foundation in practice, but ultimately it’s the games that you find that chemistry and you learn how to play with each other,” Ehlers said following last Wednesday’s preseason game in Florida. “And I think we did a lot of good things today, but also a lot of shifts were, there was really nothing happening at all, but that’s also part of playing in the NHL. So we’ve got some work to do.”
Aho credited Ehlers for being able to quickly pick up the details of the Hurricanes’ systems.
“He’s very smart in a way that you don’t have to explain it twice,” Aho said.
Still, Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour knows it will take time — maybe “a couple months” — for Ehlers to grasp the finer points of how Carolina wants to play and also develop chemistry with his new teammates.
And Aho said none of that will change the mindset of the team.
“Either way, we’re going to work our asses off and try everything we’ve got, but I think it does give you a little bit of a boost when you keep adding guys like that,” he said.
Andersen — who went from the white-hot spotlight of Toronto to Raleigh four years ago — thinks Ehlers will also enjoy being out of the fury of a Canadian market.
“I think we’re probably in the sweet spot in the bell curve of interest, fans and how passionate fans we can have while also being able to live a pretty normal life,” Andersen said.
And the Hurricanes hope all of it can bring them closer to their ultimate goal.
“You want it to work Game 1,” Aho said, “but we’re building toward the goal that we have here, and that is winning the whole thing.”
