- Hurricanes re-signed defenseman Aleksi Heimosalmi to a one-year, two-way contract
- The deal carries an $850,000 NHL cap hit and keeps the 2021 second-rounder through 2026-27
- Read below for his AHL numbers and where he fits on Carolina’s blue line
The Hurricanes aren’t done tidying up their blue line depth.
Carolina re-signed defenseman Aleksi Heimosalmi to a one-year, two-way contract. The deal carries an $850,000 cap hit at the NHL level and pays $85,000 in the AHL, keeping the 23-year-old Finn under team control through 2026-27.
Heimosalmi has been a Carolina project since the 2021 draft, when the Hurricanes grabbed him 44th overall in the second round.
He spent all of last season in the minors with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves. The blueliner put up 17 points on four goals and 13 assists across 52 regular-season games.
Heimosalmi saved some of his sharpest work for the spring. He chipped in a goal and an assist over seven playoff games as the Wolves pushed all the way to the 2026 Calder Cup Final.
A two-way deal lets him bounce between Carolina and the AHL without any cap headache. For a team that just won the Stanley Cup, cheap and controllable depth on the back end is the kind of housekeeping that quietly matters.
The Finn gets another training camp to prove he belongs in the NHL rotation. At $850,000 with no term risk, Carolina gave itself a low-cost look at whether the 2021 pick is finally ready to stick.
