The ceiling for top defenseman contracts may not sit still for long.
Macklin Celebrini’s five-year, $94MM extension reset the NHL’s record for highest cap hit, but Newsday’s Andrew Gross believes Islanders defenseman Matthew Schaefer could be the next player to push it even higher. Schaefer is eligible for an extension in July, and with the cap set to rise again by then, Gross floated the idea that a five-year, $95MM deal could be enough to get a quick agreement done.
Schaefer’s camp, naturally, would have every reason to aim a little higher. The Calder Trophy winner put up 23 goals and 36 assists last season while averaging nearly 25 minutes of ice time per game.
There’s also been chatter around Hurricanes restricted free agent Alexander Nikishin, and not all of it has held up. Some speculation this summer suggested he was after $8MM per season on his next contract, but when RG’s Daria Tuboltseva asked him about that figure, Nikishin said he wants more than that.
He didn’t give a number, and he also didn’t say whether he’s looking for a long-term deal or something shorter. The 24-year-old’s only NHL season produced 11 goals and 22 assists in 81 games, and that makes some of the recent five-year contracts for Brandt Clarke, Simon Nemec, and Pavel Mintyukov imperfect comparisons since each had considerably more NHL experience than Nikishin.
Even so, he’s clearly aiming high.
For the Devils, Brett Pesce spent much of last season battling through injuries. He told Kristy Flannery of The Hockey News that a finger injury lingered for a good portion of the year, and the lower-body injury he suffered in early March was an MCL sprain.
That combination left him appearing in fewer games than he played in. Pesce said he’s now fully recovered from both injuries and has already had a full summer of training.
The veteran still has four years left on his contract at a $5.5MM AAV, and when he’s healthy, he remains a key shutdown presence for New Jersey.
In Other News...
The Worst Hurricanes Playoff Pain Still Defines This Team
The Hurricanes have built plenty of good regular seasons in recent years, but their playoff history still carries the weight of three Eastern Conference finals that ended badly. A retrospective ranking of the franchises postseason series puts those defeats at the bottom of the list, with the 2019 loss to Boston standing out for how thoroughly Carolina was controlled, while the 2009 meeting with Pittsburgh is remembered more for being competitive before slipping away.
For a team that has been close enough to taste a Stanley Cup Final berth, those series remain a reminder of how narrow the margin can be at that stage. Even in a rankings exercise, the same theme keeps surfacing for Carolina: when the pressure rises in the Eastern Conference finals, the Hurricanes have too often found themselves one step short of the breakthrough they were chasing. [Read more 🡒]
Hurricanes Face A Tough Alexander Nikishin Decision As Talks Drag On
Contract talks around young defenseman Alexander Nikishin have become one of the more intriguing loose ends of the Hurricanes offseason, and the uncertainty has only grown as the calendar has moved along. As Carolina weighs its next move, Nikishin remains a restricted free agent whose long-term fit is suddenly harder to read, especially with the team still trying to sort out what kind of commitment makes sense for a player with his upside.
The wrinkle is that the situation is no longer just about a simple bridge deal or a routine bit of summer housekeeping. Nikishins camp is pushing for a big-ticket contract, while Carolina has to balance that ask against the rest of its roster planning and the reality that his name has already surfaced in trade conversations. For a club built on structure and patience, it is the kind of decision that can shape more than one season. [Read more 🡒]