Hurricanes’ unexpected trade the highlight of demure Day 1 of NHL free agency
The first day of free agency wasn’t what anyone necessarily expected from the Carolina Hurricanes, but it was also no surprise.
They didn’t add a center. They didn’t add a right-shot defenseman. They didn’t sign Nikolaj Ehlers — but then again, no one did.
They did trade for New York Rangers defenseman K’Andre Miller, who plays on the left side, locking him down to an eight-year contract in the process. At 6-foot-5, a smaller blue line just got a little bigger.
Miller’s an interesting one, only 25 but coming off two tough seasons in New York, a restricted free agent who the Hurricanes considered signing to an offer sheet but negotiated a sign-and-trade with the Rangers instead, allowing them to extend his contract out an extra season to eight years at $7.5 million per. The Hurricanes liked him enough to give up Scott Morrow and a first-round pick in the deal.
“It’s a big price to pay but we think he’s a good fit for us,” Hurricanes general manager Eric Tulsky said. “We talk about how hard our scouting department works to find players for us and we think he’s one of them.”
Just like last weekend’s draft, what’s usually a frenzy of activity on Canada Day fizzled across the league. Ehlers, the top player available as a free agent and a Carolina target on the wing, apparently decided to sleep on the offers he received. Evan Bouchard, a potential Carolina offer-sheet target, had re-signed with the Edmonton Oilers. Most of the big signings Tuesday were the same few teams overpaying for depth players, or worse, in a weak free-agent pool. The Hurricanes, wisely, avoided that.
Miller has a chance to thrive in Carolina’s system, but at the moment there’s not a natural fit for him on the roster. Maybe Shayne Gostisbehere is going to play his off side, because Miller isn’t displacing Jaccob Slavin or Alexander Nikishin on the left side, and neither of them is going anywhere. Then again, Miller may take some of the pressure off Nikishin — who is, after all, still a rookie battling a language barrier despite his obvious talent.
It was clear the Hurricanes wanted to take the opportunity to add Miller when they had it and figure out the rest later.
“All of our left-shot D are effective with their stick and effective with their feet and should be able to (play on the right) if they need to,” Tulsky said.
They also added a veteran reserve defenseman in Mike Reilly at a cheap $1.1 million, giving them the depth on the blue line they so sorely lacked in the postseason.
All of which is a long way of saying the first day of free agency passed slightly less quietly for the Hurricanes as the draft did. They also added a second depth goalie in as many days and signed Logan Stankoven to an eight-year extension, but Miller was the headline.
They might win the Ehlers sweepstakes eventually, which would certainly put a different spin on things, and Miller’s arrival and the ensuing reshuffle might obviate the need for someone on the right side on defense, but they still desperately need an upgrade at center, a position that may take even longer to fill.
On that note, the fact that the Hurricanes made it through the draft and the first day of free agency with Jesperi Kotkaniemi still on their roster suggests his contract might be a little harder to move than they might have hoped. Either way, the Hurricanes desperately need a change there.
It’s been a weird offseason that way, with very few big moves anywhere, in part because the salary cap is going up so fast no one really feels financially pressed, in part because the very few no-doubt also-rans have already flipped most of their saleable assets. The Miller deal, prompted by the Rangers’ inability or unwillingness to sign him to a long-term deal, was one of the biggest of the offseason so far.
“This summer, we came into it with a lot of cap space and watched free agency approach and saw everybody sign with their own teams,” Tulsky said. “We also have a lot of picks and prospects and pivoted to that to get the K’Andre deal done.”
Just because the days that have tended to provoke movement in the past didn’t do it this summer doesn’t mean the market is closed. Ehlers is still out there, and there are still more than two months to go until training camp starts. It might take that long for the Hurricanes to make the changes they still need to make.
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This story was originally published July 2, 2025 at 5:30 AM with the headline "Hurricanes’ unexpected trade the highlight of demure Day 1 of NHL free agency."
