On the Blueline: Hurricanes Re-Sign Mike Reilly; Insider Gives Alexander Nikishin Update
· Yahoo Sports
Thursday, the Carolina Hurricanes announced that they had re-signed defenseman Mike Reilly to a one-year, two-way contract worth $850k at the NHL level, and $450k at the AHL level.
The news comes at an interesting time, as they just added a veteran seventh defenseman this week in Pierre-Olivier Joseph.
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While it isn’t necessarily uncommon for the Hurricanes to shore up the defense going into a new season – especially after the ‘Hurticanes’ fiasco that opened last season, heavily affecting the blue line – it brings to attention whether it means…more.
Naturally, as with any defensive move made by Carolina, we can’t help but look at their restricted free agent, Alexander Nikishin, who just completed his rookie year in the NHL and remains in a contract battle.
With their latest signings, the Hurricanes are down to just $8.18M remaining in their cap space. Nikishin has gone on record making it known that he wants ‘more’ than $8M yearly. With leaguewide signings re-shaping the defensive market, it is anticipated that his ask won’t lower from that point – especially with young gun Zeev Buium’s recent $9.38M extension with the Vancouver Canucks.
However, insider Elliotte Friedman – freshly signed to his own new contract with Sportsnet – recently pointed out that the Nashville Predators have shown interest in acquiring Nikishin.
Notably, Nashville acquired a pair of quality draft picks when they traded Luke Evangelista to the New Jersey Devils at the beginning of September, and currently have more cap space than the Hurricanes, with $9.7M.
Whether anything comes of that report or not is another story, but considering how dried up the rumor pool has become regarding Nikishin, it’s certainly something to keep an eye on.
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