Winger Nikolaj Ehlers indicators a six-year cope with an $8.5 million AAV with the Carolina Hurricanes.
Dom Luszczyszyn: It’s tough to think about a much less stunning free agent signing in latest reminiscence than Carolina signing Ehlers. It feels just like the Hurricanes have quietly longed for a participant precisely like Ehlers — quick, dynamic, artistic, chaotic — for some time now. A real game-breaker, however one who isn’t a legal responsibility with out the puck. In Ehlers, they lastly have it.
For each participant and crew, this can be a good match. Ehlers is a singular expertise as somebody who can closely drive play with the puck on his stick and convey it up and thru all three zones with excessive regularity. He’s a possible star participant, a man who can carry the offensive oomph on each shift. He’s the type of expertise lacking on the Hurricanes, particularly for the reason that crew moved Martin Necas. The place Ehlers differs (and excels) is that there’s much more substance past his manufacturing, particularly with out the puck. He can maintain his personal defensively in a method that Necas couldn’t, and for a defensive crew like Carolina, that’s a giant deal. Identical flash, more money.
For Ehlers, the Hurricanes provide a giant alternative for him to lastly present how worthwhile he will be. For too lengthy in Winnipeg, Ehlers has been shoved to the periphery when it comes to utilization. That shouldn’t be the case in Carolina.
That’s a giant a part of what makes the acquisition so tantalizing. An $8.5 million cap hit is a good value for what Ehlers at the moment is as a man who performs second-line minutes. Give him a bit extra duty and watch him take off. Over the past three years, Ehlers is seventeenth in five-on-five points-per-60 between Elias Pettersson and Jesper Bratt. If he can translate that in larger minutes, he is usually a $10 million participant. That’s the worth wager Carolina is making right here and if the draw back is that Ehlers can’t play extra (and that his earlier coaches had been proper), then he’ll nonetheless be price his deal. That takes a little bit of the danger off.
Within the common season, anyway. One of many issues with Ehlers is that he hasn’t been a constant playoff performer, which makes some sense given his dimension and being a little bit of a fringe rush risk. To his credit score, Ehlers was a lot stronger through the 2025 playoffs, however it’ll take much more than that to show his doubters flawed.
The Hurricanes probably consider Ehlers’ playoff resume is extra small-sample-size randomness than something, prepared to take the wager that he’s the game-breaker they’ve been in search of.
Whether or not that’s the case or not stays to be seen, however for now, this appears to be like like a stable deal for an ideal match, one all of us may’ve predicted earlier than July 1. Subsequent to a gifted middle like Sebastian Aho, there’s an excellent probability Ehlers can actually thrive.
Contract grade: B+
Match grade: A
Shayna Goldman: The Hurricanes had been in a fairly distinctive place for a contender, with a ton of commerce belongings and cap area to work with this summer time. And basic supervisor Eric Tulsky has made probably the most with that, between the K’Andre Miller trade, Logan Stankoven extension, and now signing one of many high free brokers of the summer time in Ehlers.
When Carolina upset within the Jap Convention ultimate towards the Panthers, the system got here underneath fireplace. However perhaps the system isn’t the issue — it was an absence of high-end talent behind Sebastian Aho, Seth Jarvis, and Jaccob Slavin. That’s a giant a part of what separates the Canes and Panthers. Enter, Ehlers.
When you needed to design a Hurricane ahead in a lab, Stankoven and Jarvis would in all probability be the outcome. However a ahead group can’t all play one model; it helps to have extra versatility up entrance, and Ehlers provides that together with his creativity. He’s a puck-moving pressure who can transition up the ice and thread artful passes to his teammates. And he has a fairly efficient shot, too. Whereas there are some flaws to his sport, between his risk-taking and the truth that he isn’t a defensive ace, the Jets haven’t trusted him sufficient in recent times. Possibly there’s a motive behind that deployment and the Hurricanes are about to search out out. However Carolina has loads of construction and two-way expertise to negate any shortcomings that Ehlers brings to the desk. These sorts of gambles don’t at all times pan out — the Mikko Rantanen scenario was the prime instance of that. But it surely doesn’t imply administration ought to cease swinging, both. The Canes ought to have the ability to maximize Ehlers’ dynamic potential and add a much-needed spark up entrance.
An $8.5 million cap hit is available in simply forward of his market worth and Evolving-Hockey’s six-year projection (that carried an $8.2 million cap hit). However with extra belief and top-line deployment, it ought to unlock his worth in Raleigh. Even when it doesn’t, and the 2024-25 model of Ehlers is what the Canes are getting, the excessive value remains to be manageable. If a crew goes to overspend anyplace, it ought to be on star-caliber gamers. Ehlers has the potential to get to that degree.
It’s a fairly penny to spend this a lot on a participant who doesn’t precisely repair probably the most obtrusive hole on this crew, the 2C place, however Ehlers’ presence ought to assist. Stankoven ought to get a glance there over Jesperi Koktaniemi, but when he can’t shake it, the Canes can attempt to load up on the wings to stability out that weak spot. Between Andrei Svechnikov, Jarvis, Stankoven, Taylor Corridor, and now Ehlers, that appears much more doable.
Contract grade: A-
Match grade: A
(Picture: Patrick McDermott / Getty Pictures)
