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The Carolina Hurricanes have a Bradly Nadeau problem — in the best way possible.
Nadeau is an NHL-ready player.
Not in the future. Now.
The former University of Maine standout has been among the top performing forwards at the Hurricanes’ preseason training camp each of the past three years. This year, he’s the best player, alongside Felix Unger Sorum and Charlie Cerrato.
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In years past, finding room on the Canes’ roster would have been tough, but doable for the right rookie. It’s how Carolina ended up with young-and-able performers like Seth Jarvis and Jackson Blake, both of whom are now locked up on team-friendly contracts long enough to foster hopes of multiple Stanley Cup runs.
But this year presents a new, albeit fortuitous problem for the Hurricanes: They won the Stanley Cup, and they barely have any roster turnover from that championship team.
It’s easy to say, “Let’s run it back,” but it’s far more difficult in practice as teams around the division and across the NHL work to get better, each with the aim of knocking the Hurricanes off their shiny silver pedestal.
Carolina GM Eric Tulsky doubled down on his roster choices in the offseason, though, inking everyone eligible to return to extensions or new deals — except veteran goalie Frederik Andersen, who’s found his way to Edmonton, and restricted free agent Alexander Nikishin, who hasn’t reported to camp with his contract status pending.
The team also brought into camp two veteran NHL defenders, and, of course, half of the Chicago Wolves who played in the American Hockey League’s Calder Cup Final this summer.
The competition for playing time and roster positions is as fierce as it’s ever been which, for the team’s long-term outlook appears great, but also creates a different set of problems.
Young stars — and make no mistake, Nadeau is a budding star — need to play when they’re ready, or they’ll look elsewhere for a place to play. Should Nadeau reach that point — and there’s nothing to say that he hasn’t already, at least privately — that shouldn’t be held against him. He deserves a chance to ply his trade at the highest level possible. And that level now is the NHL.
Nadeau has nothing left to prove in the AHL. He had 27 goals and 29 assists in 52 games for Chicago last season. He had 32 goals and 26 assists in 64 games the season before that. That’s 114 points in 116 games as one of the youngest players in the league.
Given the chance in both preseason games and on an extended regular-season look with the Canes, Nadeau has also found success, proving he can hang with the big boys. He had three goals in 12 games in limited call-up duty last season, and an assist in two games his first pro season.
Sunday and Tuesday, in the team’s first two preseason games — against Florida’s starting NHL lineup on both nights — Nadeau was among the best players on the ice for either team, scoring a goal in each game and generally controlling play every time he jumped over the boards.
So, how can he make the Hurricanes’ roster?
Offseason surgery to Seth Jarvis gives the Hurricanes a bit of time to truly figure things out. Nadeau can play — and will play — in any role necessary to make the NHL club, of course. But his skill set is suited for a top-six role. His shot is elite. His shiftiness and creativity fits in well with the Canes’ aggressive style, because he doesn’t shift and create while sacrificing defensive accountability.
So, while Jarvis remains on the mend, Nadeau can find a spot alongside Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov. That would allow the dynamite unit of Taylor Hall, Blake and Logan Stankoven to remain intact, as well as the amazingly effective line of Jordan Staal with Jordan Martinook and Nikolaj Ehlers.
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The team could move Ehlers up, add one of Carrier or Robinson to Staal’s trio, and slot Nadeau alongside Mark Jankowski or Jesperi Kotkaniemi, but that would not afford him the minutes or the offensive freedom he deserves.
And then, of course, there’s the matter of what happens when Jarvis returns.
There is a potential answer there, too, though it may cause more than small stir, and it’s rooted in the ongoing and unquenchable rumors surrounding all-world goalie Connor Hellebuyck, who’s now widely known to have requested a trade out of Winnipeg.
The Canes have long been rumored to be “in” on Hellebuyck, the question has consistently been what it would cost.
With no deal in sight for Nikishin, and the glut of goalies Hellebuyck’s acquisition would create, there’s a plausible reality that a deal between the teams would include Nikishin and perhaps Pyotr Kochetkov, who’s coming off an injury and is in the final year of a team-friendly contract. But that alone won’t be enough to land a franchise-caliber goalie, and it won’t free up the room on the roster for a player like Nadeau.
But what if the Hurricanes added a top-six player to sweeten the deal? What if they offered … Svechnikov?
Of the Hurricanes’ true core, Svechnikov has the shortest term remaining on his deal. His salary closely matches Hellebuyck’s, which would maintain the Canes’ cap flexibility going forward. And while he shows flashes of being the best player on the roster, Svechnikov also disappears for long stretches of the season.
In 19 playoff games in the Canes’ Stanley Cup win, Svechnikov had six goals and 11 points. Given the same ice time and situational opportunities, it’s plausible to believe that Nadeau could replicate that output.
Would Svechnikov’s inconsistency, his contract terms, and a desire to manage the roster’s youth and depth be enough to convince Canes management to dangle him in a blockbuster deal?
Maybe. Maybe not. But it’s a reasonable solution to a problem that isn’t otherwise going away. Players like Nadeau, Unger Sorum and Cerrato – all of whom showed out in spades Tuesday – don’t all fall into an organization’s lap that often, and taking steps to keep them under team control at a cost-effective salary is imperative to constructing a winning roster.
Tulsky and company know that combination as well – or better – than anyone in the league, and it would be shocking if they haven’t at least considered moving a longer-tenured top-six forward to make room for a younger player or two.
Acting on those discussions could mean extending the Hurricanes’ championship window another several years. But even with the favorable direction of the league’s salary cap structure, allowing its top young players to find success elsewhere could hasten that window’s closure.
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