The Carolina Hurricanes don't appear close to extending their key pending unrestricted free agents, but general manager Don Waddell isn't sweating it.
"Pretty much everything has gone quiet the last couple of weeks," Waddell said regarding Brett Pesce, Brady Skjei, and Teuvo Teravainen, according to Chip Alexander of The News & Observer. "Not much talk at all."
Waddell added that it's not a concern: "Not at all."
A report from June stated that the Hurricanes would trade Pesce this offseason if they couldn't agree to an extension, but there haven't been many trade rumors regarding the 28-year-old defenseman.
With Pesce and Skjei still in the fold, the Hurricanes boast one of the best blue lines in the league after signing arguably the top free-agent defenseman in Dmitry Orlov. The club also added Tony DeAngelo and Caleb Jones for a combined $2.45 million. Here's their projected blue line:
| LD | RD |
|---|---|
| Jaccob Slavin | Brent Burns |
| Dmitry Orlov | Brett Pesce |
| Brady Skjei | Tony DeAngelo |
| Caleb Jones | Jalen Chatfield |
Waddell conceded that if a trade isn't made, the club will likely lose a defenseman on waivers.
"You never have too many (defensemen)," he said. "We'll have to put someone (on) waivers eventually, and if you lose them, then you're down. We just figured this was a strategy we'll do this year, and we'll figure it out as we go along."
The Hurricanes are set at forward, though, Waddell said.
Carolina's only notable addition up front was Michael Bunting. But the club also expects Andrei Svechnikov to be ready for the start of the season after tearing his ACL in March. Waddell already took care of a key piece of business by signing the team's most prominent pending UFA, No. 1 center Sebastian Aho, to an eight-year, $78-million extension.
The Canes enter the 2023-24 campaign as one of the top Stanley Cup favorites.
