NHL
Winger Nikolaj Ehlers signs a six-year deal with an $8.5 million AAV with the Carolina Hurricanes.
Dom Luszczyszyn: It’s difficult to think of a less surprising free-agent signing in recent memory than Carolina signing Ehlers. It feels like the Hurricanes have quietly longed for a player exactly like Ehlers — fast, dynamic, creative, chaotic — for a while now. A true game-breaker, but one who isn’t a liability without the puck. In Ehlers, they finally have it.
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For both player and team, this is a perfect fit. Ehlers is a unique talent as someone who can heavily drive play with the puck on his stick and bring it up and through all three zones with extreme regularity. He’s a potential star player, a guy who can bring the offensive oomph on every shift. He’s the kind of talent missing on the Hurricanes, especially since the team moved Martin Necas. Where Ehlers differs (and excels) is there’s a lot more substance beyond his production, especially without the puck. He can hold his own defensively in a way that Necas could not, and for a defensive team like Carolina, that’s a big deal. Same flash, more cash.
For Ehlers, the Hurricanes offer a big opportunity for him to finally show how valuable he can be. For too long in Winnipeg, Ehlers has been shoved to the periphery in terms of usage. That shouldn’t be the case in Carolina.
That’s a big part of what makes the acquisition so tantalizing. An $8.5 million cap hit is a fair price for what Ehlers currently is as a guy who plays second-line minutes. Give him a bit more responsibility and watch him take off. Over the last three years, Ehlers is 17th in five-on-five points per 60 between Elias Pettersson and Jesper Bratt. If he can translate that into bigger minutes, he can be a $10 million player. That’s the value bet Carolina is making here, and if the downside is that Ehlers can’t play more (and that his previous coaches were right), he’ll still be worth his deal. That takes a bit of the risk off.
In the regular season, anyway.
One of the problems with Ehlers is that he hasn’t been a consistent playoff performer, which makes some sense given his size and that he’s a bit of a perimeter rush threat. To his credit, Ehlers was much stronger during the 2025 playoffs, but it’ll take a lot more than that to prove his doubters wrong.
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The Hurricanes likely believe Ehlers’ playoff resume is more small-sample-size randomness than anything, willing to take the bet that he’s the game-breaker they’ve been looking for.
Whether that’s the case or not remains to be seen, but for now, this looks like a solid deal for a perfect fit, one we all could’ve predicted before July 1. Next to a talented center like Sebastian Aho, there’s a good chance Ehlers can really thrive.
Contract grade: B+
Fit grade: A
Shayna Goldman: The Hurricanes were in a pretty unique position for a contender, with a ton of trade assets and cap space to work with this summer. And general manager Eric Tulsky has made the most with that, between the Miller trade, Logan Stankoven extension and now signing one of the top free agents of the summer in Ehlers.
When Carolina disappointed in the Eastern Conference final against the Florida Panthers, the system came under fire. But maybe the system isn’t the problem, and it’s a lack of high-end skill behind Aho, Seth Jarvis and Jaccob Slavin. That’s a big part of what separates the Canes and Panthers. Enter Ehlers.
If you had to design a Hurricane forward in a lab, Stankoven and Jarvis would probably be the result. However, a forward group can’t all play one style; it helps to have more versatility up front, and Ehlers adds that with creativity. He is a puck-moving force who can transition up the ice and thread crafty passes to his teammates. He has a pretty effective shot, too. While there are some flaws to his game, between his risk-taking and the fact he isn’t a defensive ace, the Jets haven’t trusted him enough in recent years. Maybe there is a reason behind that deployment, and the Hurricanes are about to find out. However, Carolina has a lot of structure and two-way talent to negate any shortcomings that Ehlers brings to the table. These kinds of gambles don’t always pan out — the Mikko Rantanen situation was the prime example of that. But it doesn’t mean management should stop swinging, either. The Canes should be able to maximize Ehlers’ dynamic ability and add a much-needed spark up front.
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An $8.5 million cap hit comes in just ahead of his market value and Evolving-Hockey’s six-year projection (which carried an $8.2 million cap hit). More trust and top-line deployment should unlock his value in Raleigh. Even if it doesn’t, and the 2024-25 version of Ehlers is what the Canes are getting, the high price is still manageable. If a team is going to overspend anywhere, it should be on star-caliber players. Ehlers has the potential to get to that level.
It’s a pretty penny to spend this much on a player who doesn’t exactly fix the most glaring gap on this team, the 2C position, but Ehlers’ presence should help. Stankoven should get a look there over Jesperi Kotkaniemi, but if he can’t shake it, the Canes can try to load up on the wings to balance out that weakness. Between Andrei Svechnikov, Jarvis, Stankoven, Taylor Hall and now Ehlers, that looks a lot more possible.
Contract grade: A-
Fit grade: A
(Photo: Patrick McDermott / Getty Images)
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