The Carolina Hurricanes' latest strategy with regard to defenseman Alexander Nikishin?
Delay the inevitable ... or at least try to.
While the issue of a larger payday and what that looks like is more than certainly on the table, the Hurricanes' front office is clearly content to kick the can down the road and prioritize the team's title defense. They proved that today by agreeing to a $3 million deal that gets Nikishin back into the lineup, but that only defers the discussion to next summer, if there even is one to be had?
Note that I intentionally said "if there even is one to be had." I'm going to clarify this in a bit.
The rest of the league wins big with Sunday's news
Even though Nikishin is under contract for the rest of the year, the chance that a trade doesn't takes place is still very close to zero.
In a tweet, Pierre LeBrun stated that "both sides could re-visit things next off-season if he still wanted out." That can be seen to imply that a trade is still on the table, though any such discussion might be deferred to the summer. That said, it also doesn't necessarily rule out a midseason trade.
One year, $3M. Nikishin had asked for a trade but the Hurricanes had been trying to convince him to sign a one year deal and both sides could re-visit things next off-season if he still wanted out. He will also be eligible for an offer sheet next summer. He wasn’t currently. https://t.co/d5UYbofVBM
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) October 25, 2026
Even then, the fact that he is offer sheet-eligible this summer ensures that there is the risk that Carolina loses him for next-to-nothing.
While Carolina wins by getting one of the league's best young defensemen signed, the rest of the league gets a much bigger win.
The reasoning?
The AAV attached to Nikishin's mini-extension should embolden anyone looking to bring Nikishin in via trade this season. Any franchise that is able to get a defenseman of his calibre at the age of 25 will essentially set themselves up at that position for the long-term so long as they can match his contract demands.
The New Jersey Devils are a team that immediately stands out in this regard. General manager Sunny Mehta has done wonders for the franchise mere months into his tenure, reinvigorating the forward group while acquiring one of the league's best goaltenders in Connor Hellebuyck.
He might not be done. Detroit Red Wings ex-captain Dylan Larkin only recently expanded his trade list to include the Devils, while Quinn Hughes is in a similar boat as Nikishin.
Getting all three players might be a bit of an ask for Mehta, but not a lot of people thought the Devils would pull off the Hellebuyck trade after teams like the Buffalo Sabres and Utah Mammoth were rumored to be among the recent front-runners. Even then, his $3 million AAV means that he can reinforce a position of need while keeping the door for a Larkin and/or Hughes trade open.
Any hope that the Oilers have at acquiring Nikishin could very well be reignited for this same reason
New Jersey is only one example. Any team will be looking at their cap situation right now and thinking that they could fit Nikishin into their roster while only needing to give up a contract or two to make it work financially.
Even when considering that the Edmonton Oilers are right up against the cap, this idea still applies.
All the team really needs to do to make the money work is either re-assign some players or send $3 million worth of contracts to Carolina. Their push to do so will be helped once Mattias Janmark, Jason Dickinson, and Matt Savoie are back in the lineup. Once they're back, the Oilers can have a better idea as to whether they could send a package centred around depth forwards.
Isaac Howard is going to be a popular pick in this regard, but Filip Hallander and Colton Dach could both find themselves in the mix as Edmonton looks to make the money work. Any of those players that don't end up getting traded would likely be re-assigned to Bakersfield to get Edmonton to $3 million in cap space, which would be enough to get Nikishin into the lineup.
This strategy works even though the Oilers are currently fielding 17 forwards, including those that are out of action. Obviously, a team cannot field six lines of forwards without cutting down elsewhere if they are to remain below the 23-player roster limit. Trading and re-assigning four forwards gets the Oilers to 13, meaning that they could put Nikishin into the lineup and still remain compliant with the league's roster limits.
If Nikishin hits restricted free agency once again?
Obviously, the money becomes a much bigger problem once again.
But the Oilers will have $25 million to work with once the offseason begins, which would be more than enough to offer Nikishin a contract that matches his desired AAV.
Unless the Hurricanes decide to pull a Leo Carlsson and match any offer sheet thrown his way, the possibility that he leaves Carolina only increases when free agency arrives. Even if the Hurricanes decided to match an offer sheet of at least $10 million, they'd have to make significant concessions elsewhere. In that scenario, the chance that they re-sign each of Jordan Martinook, Taylor Hall, Mark Jankowski, Shayne Gostisbehere, and Jalen Chatfield takes a significant hit. Given that those players make a combined $14.4 million, it becomes very hard to conceive how meaningful extensions and matched offer sheets keep the Hurricanes under the cap and part of the Stanley Cup conversation.
More than likely, they'd be facing a similar situation to the one that the Anaheim Ducks had to deal with over the summer; the fact that they needed to match the Philadelphia Flyers' record-breaking (at the time) offer and extend ex-Flyer Cutter Gauthier meant that they needed to move on from a handful of players to remain cap-compliant.
If Nikishin wants to stay in Carolina, then that's a much different and more solvable problem. But if not, then the Oilers and the rest of the league win big, now and once the summer arrives.
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