Carolina rises two spots from the publication's 2024 edition
© Josh Lavallee / Carolina Hurricanes
RALEIGH, N.C. – Another day, another accolade for the Carolina Hurricanes’ front office.
It’s been a sterling summer for folks at 1400 Edwards Mill Rd., reloading the roster with new talent for the season ahead while ensuring that some key young players continue to call Raleigh home for years to come, and the hockey world is taking notice.
This time, the praise comes from The Athletic, which recently published its annual ranking of teams based on who “spends money most wisely,” slotting the Canes in second place. The ranking compares each player’s “expected” salary — as determined by The Athletic‘s valuations — to the actual salary agreements between team and player, creating a holistic view of each club’s contract structure.
Trailing only the Tampa Bay Lightning in the overall rankings and one of just three teams to earn an A+ in this year’s crop, the Hurricanes earned particularly high marks for a few key forward deals. Seth Jarvis, Jackson Blake, Logan Stankoven and Sebastian Aho were highlighted atop Carolina’s sunny salary cap outlook, with each expected to provide ample value throughout the life of his contract.
Here’s some of what The Athletic had to say…
…In a sense, it’s treating a team like a portfolio where buying early on upside doesn’t always pay off, but the odds are generally in your favor. Thanks to those four forward deals, Carolina’s portfolio looks great right now with an average positive value of 65 percent, one of the highest marks in the league. The team’s $99 million in expected surplus trails only Tampa Bay.
Click here to read the full story ($).
The Canes are betting that long-term contracts combined with big projected cap increases will give them a big edge in the next 6-8 seasons.
As soon as 2027-28, their deals for Aho, Ehlers, Miller, Jarvis, Slavin, Stankoven, and Blake are projected to take up only 44% of the cap. pic.twitter.com/jeeLyM6ekn