- Frank Seravalli says Carolina won’t buy out Jesperi Kotkaniemi this summer
- The Hurricanes are actively shopping the center in a trade instead
- Read below for the cap math and why the Canes passed on the buyout
The Carolina Hurricanes are done waiting on a Jesperi Kotkaniemi buyout. They want to trade him instead.
Frank Seravalli reported Sunday that Carolina won’t use this summer’s buyout on the 25-year-old center, even with the window closing Tuesday. The Canes would rather move him in a trade and let a rising salary cap do the heavy lifting.
This was the last summer Carolina could buy Kotkaniemi out at one third of his remaining money instead of two thirds. Walking away from that discount tells you how the front office values him right now.
He has four years left at a $4.82 million cap hit. The Canes believe that number works as a trade chip with so few centers available and the cap climbing.
Seravalli laid out the thinking earlier in the day:
Kotkaniemi had a rough 2025-26. He managed two goals and seven assists in 42 games and sat as a healthy scratch for every game of Carolina’s championship run.
None of that stopped the Hurricanes from winning it all. They beat the Golden Knights in six to capture the franchise’s second Stanley Cup, with the former third overall pick watching most of the playoffs from the press box.
There’s also a money angle. Carolina grabbed John Carlson’s rights in a trade with the Ducks this week and needs cap room to get that deal done, which makes clearing Kotkaniemi’s salary more useful than ever.
A one third buyout would have left a cap charge near $850,000 on the books through 2034. Carolina is betting a contender takes the full contract off its hands before then.
