The Carolina Hurricanes have already handled a big chunk of their young-core business, with Jackson Blake, Logan Stankoven and Joel Nystrom all on long-term deals. Blake and Stankoven are starting the first year of eight-year contracts, while Nystrom is entering the first season of a four-year pact. That gives the Hurricanes some breathing room, but it also sharpens the focus on two other names that deserve attention sooner rather than later: Bradly Nadeau and Charles Alexis Legault.
Nadeau looks like the priority. The forward has done enough in the AHL and in limited NHL looks to make a real case for a bigger role, and the Hurricanes have a strong reason to keep that kind of shot in-house for the long haul.
Last season with the Chicago Wolves, he put up 27 goals and 56 points in 52 games, then added seven goals and 17 points in 21 Calder Cup Playoff games. He also got two separate call-ups during the 2025-26 season, appearing in 12 games for Carolina and scoring three goals.
Back in December 2025, Nadeau was already pushing toward top-six consideration, and there’s a sense he could get another chance this season. After night one of the 2026 NHL Draft, general manager Eric Tulsky said of Nadeau getting more of a look, “He’s been great in the AHL.
He had, sort of, two call-up stints this past year. I thought in the first one, he looked like someone who was acclimating for the first time.
In the second one, he looked like someone who was acclimated. You could see the progression.
He absolutely will be in the conversation if we need a call-up at the start of the year. I think it would be a good opportunity for him to get some runway.”
AFP Analytics projects Nadeau to land a one-year, $940,000 deal, with restricted free agency arriving after the 2026-27 season. The Hurricanes have taken that route with Ronan Seeley and Aleksi Heimosalmi, but Nadeau’s situation feels different.
He’ll be 22 when his entry-level deal ends, and there’s a case for locking him in on something longer, even if it’s a two-way contract. His current pay is $82,500 in the AHL and $918,333 at the NHL level.
The numbers back up the idea that Nadeau is worth investing in. In his first pro season, he scored 32 goals and totaled 58 points in 64 games.
He followed that with last season’s 56-point AHL campaign, and the Hurricanes should be thinking in terms of years, not months, when it comes to his next contract. A deal of four or five years would make a lot more sense than a short prove-it arrangement.
Legault is the other name that belongs on the extension watch list. The defenseman missed two months after getting his hand cut on a skate during a fight against the Toronto Maple Leafs, but the Hurricanes still have good reason to keep him around.
In the 2025-26 season, he posted one goal and two points in 12 games with Carolina, along with three goals and eight points in 24 games with the Wolves. He then added one goal and four points in 16 Calder Cup Playoff games.
He’s in the final year of his three-year entry-level contract, which pays $82,500 in the AHL and $915,883 in the NHL. AFP Analytics has him pegged for a one-year, $940,500 extension for the 2027-28 season, but that would sell him short. A three- or four-year deal would make more sense, especially if the Hurricanes want him lined up more closely with Nystrom, whose contract runs through 2029-30.
Legault doesn’t need to be a headline scorer to matter. He’s a defensive defenseman, and that profile fits the Hurricanes’ system. A longer-term two-way deal would give Carolina another useful piece of insurance on the blue line and pair well with the organization’s broader plan for its younger players.
For now, the Hurricanes have a clear next step: decide how aggressively they want to move on Nadeau and Legault. Both have shown enough to stay in the picture, and both look like players the team should be trying to keep for the long term. The only real question is whether Carolina gets those deals done as short-term prove-it contracts or commits to something with a little more runway.
In Other News...
Hurricanes Just Sent An Early Playoff Message To The Rest Of The NHL
Carolina opened its 2025-26 playoff run with a statement that was hard to miss, sweeping Ottawa in the first round and advancing with authority. The Hurricanes got standout work from the Stankoven line and Frederik Andersen, and even in a series that included a double-overtime battle in Game 2, they never let the Senators gain the kind of foothold that can turn a first-round matchup into a grind.
Ottawa came in with momentum after a late regular-season push to reach the postseason, but Carolina quickly showed the gap between getting in and surviving once the games tighten up. For the Hurricanes, the sweep not only moved them on, it also sent a clear message about how hard they can be to handle when their depth is rolling and their goaltending is steady. [Read more 🡒]