- Carolina still has not re-signed restricted free agent Alexander Nikishin
- Eric Tulsky says the Hurricanes get a lot of calls on the 24-year-old defenseman
- Read below for why Nikishin has almost no leverage in these talks
The Hurricanes hold every card in the Alexander Nikishin negotiation, and that is not an accident.
Nikishin did not have arbitration rights this summer and he is ineligible to receive an offer sheet. A new contract with Carolina or a trade out of Raleigh are his only two roads, and neither one comes with a deadline attached.
General manager Eric Tulsky was asked about the holdup by Tom Gulitti of NHL.com and pointed to a teammate who went through the same wait.
“RFAs without (arbitration) rights are often the last thing to get settled,” Tulsky said. He was talking about Seth Jarvis, who did not sign until Aug. 31 in 2024.
Interest from other clubs has not slowed, though, and Tulsky did not pretend otherwise when the trade rumors came up.
“We certainly get a lot of calls on him. We always have. We are, as always, looking to find ways to make the team better and if there are trades that will help move us forward, then, of course, we will do it.”
Money is where the 24-year-old has been less diplomatic. He was asked by RG in late July about reports that he wants $8 million a season, smiled, and answered with one word: “More.”
That ask sits on top of a rookie year that earned a good chunk of it. Nikishin put up 11 goals and 22 assists in 81 games at plus-18, added 94 blocked shots and 132 hits, then won a Stanley Cup in his first North American spring.
Pro Hockey Rumors laid out the company he keeps. Only 25 rookie defensemen since 2010 have scored as much as Nikishin did, and four of them also threw 100 or more hits: Moritz Seider, Aaron Ekblad, Nikita Zaitsev and Colton Parayko.
Every one of those four has held down a top-four job ever since. His shot is the part that travels loudest:
Carolina already has Jaccob Slavin, K’Andre Miller, Shayne Gostisbehere, Jalen Chatfield and Sean Walker signed on the back end. That depth is why the calls keep coming and why Tulsky can sit on his hands.
Jarvis got his deal done on Aug. 31. Nikishin has three weeks before that date starts to mean anything.
