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Report: Canes shopping Skinner, working on extensions for Eric Staal and Cam Ward

By Dhiren MahibanJun 25, 2015, 7:10 PM EDT
23 Comments

According to ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun, the Carolina Hurricanes have made it known that forward Jeff Skinner is available.

Skinner is set to enter the third year of his six-year, $34.35 million deal next season. He does have a no-trade clause in his contract, but it does not activate until the 2017-18 season.

The 23-year-old, who has battled concussion issues, scored 18 goals and 13 assists in 77 games last season. His deal carries a cap hit of $5.725 million.

Meanwhile Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News & Observer reports that Canes GM Ron Francis is in the process of working on extensions for both Eric Staal and Cam Ward.

Francis told reporters on Thursday that both players have given him “every indication” they want to remain in Carolina.

Neither can sign extensions before July 1.

Both players are heading to the final year of their respective deals and will become unrestricted free agents next summer. Agent Rick Curran also represents both players.

Staal his heading into the final year of his seven-year, $57.75 million contract while Ward has one year remaining on his six-year, $37.8 million deal.

Alexander also reports that Carolina will part ways with pending unrestricted free agent defensemen Jack Hillen and Brett Bellemore.

Additionally, the Canes won’t re-sign forward Patrick Dwyer

According to Generalfanager.com, Francis has $13.95 million of cap space to work with heading into free agency.

Hurricanes ink Chris Terry to one-year deal

By Ryan DadounJun 25, 2015, 9:28 AM EDT
2 Comments

The Carolina Hurricanes and forward Chris Terry have agreed to a one-year, $875,000 contract extension, per the team’s website.

Terry had the option of becoming an unrestricted free agent this summer after completing his one-year, $600,000 deal for the 2014-15 campaign.

After recording at least 59 points in four straight campaigns in the AHL, Terry had 11 goals and 20 points in 57 contests with the Carolina Hurricanes last season. He logged 12:43 minutes per game, including an average of 1:11 minutes with the man advantage.

Patrick Dwyer, Jack Hillen, and Brett Bellemore are among the players within the Hurricanes’ organization that are still eligible to test the UFA waters this summer. Carolina also has restricted free agents to re-sign, including forwards Riley Nash and Andrej Nestrasil.

Is Gleason questionable? Caps summon Schmidt

By Ryan DadounMay 11, 2015, 6:21 PM EDT
9 Comments

The Washington Capitals announced that defenseman Nate Schmidt has been summoned from AHL Hershey in a move that might be a hint about Tim Gleason’s status for Game 7 on Wednesday.

Gleason didn’t see any ice time in the final 10:57 minutes of Sunday’s 4-3 loss to the New York Rangers. After the contest coach Barry Trotz described the 32-year-old defenseman as “banged up,” per the Washington Post’s Alex Prewitt.

Washington acquired Gleason from the Carolina Hurricanes on Feb. 28 in exchange for Jack Hillen and a 2015 fourth-round draft pick. He had two assists and a plus-five rating in 17 games with the Capitals to finish the season, but his ice time has dipped to just 13:28 minutes per game in the playoffs as Washington has leaned on its top-five blueliners in John Carlson, Karl Alzner, Matt Niskanen, Brooks Orpik, and Mike Green.

Schmidt, 23, had a goal and three assists in 39 contests with Washington during the 2014-15 regular season.

If Gleason can’t play on Wednesday, then that would mark the first change in Washington’s defense since the playoffs began.

Hard-luck Hillen out with second concussion in two years

By Mike HalfordMar 9, 2015, 12:10 PM EDT
4 Comments

Another health setback for ‘Canes defenseman Jack Hillen.

Hillen, acquired from Washington just prior to the trade deadline, has been sidelined by a concussion and will undergo testing/protocol, the club announced on Monday.

Hillen, 29, appeared in three games for the ‘Canes prior to getting hurt, sitting out yesterday’s wild 7-4 comeback win against the Oilers.

As mentioned above, it’s the latest in a series of tough injury breaks.

Hillen missed significant time during the lockout-shortened ’13 campaign with a shoulder injury, suffered on a big hit from then-Lightning captain Vincent Lecavalier. Hillen then missed almost all of last season following a major leg fracture — 60 games all told — and, upon returning to the lineup, suffered a concussion after colliding with Alex Ovechkin.

During the offseason, Hillen complained of lingering knee pain that carried over from the end of the regular season — which turned out to be a staph infection, stemming from a plate screwed into his knee.

So yeah, rough times.

It stands to reason that Carolina might shut down Hillen for the remainder of this season, given his previous health concerns and concussion history. The ‘Canes have just 18 games left on the slate and are playing out the string.

PHT’s 2015 NHL Trade Deadline Tracker

By Mike HalfordMar 2, 2015, 4:00 PM EDT
36 Comments

Our running list of all the deals leading up to 3 p.m. ET on Monday, Mar. 2…

Monday, Mar. 2

To Boston: Zack Phillips
To Minnesota: Jared Knight

To Anaheim: Korbinian Holzer
To Toronto: Eric Brewer, 5th-round pick (’15) (link)

To Anaheim: James Wisniewski, 3rd-round pick (’15)
To Columbus: William Karlsson, Rene Bourque and 2nd-round pick (’15) (link)

To Boston: Max Talbot, Paul Carey
To Colorado: Jordan Caron, 6th-round pick (’16) (link)

To Vancouver: Sven Baertschi
To Calgary: 2nd-round pick (’15) (link)

To Anaheim: Simon Despres
To Pittsburgh: Ben Lovejoy (link)

To St. Louis: Olli Jokinen
To Toronto: Joakim Lindstrom, 6th-round pick (conditional, ’15) (link)

To Minnesota: Chris Stewart
To Buffalo: 2nd-round pick (’17) (link)

To Montreal: Torrey Mitchell
To Buffalo: Jack Nevins, 7th-round pick (’16) (link)

To Arizona Coyotes: David Leggio
To New York Islanders: Mark Louis (link)

To Minnesota: Jordan Leopold
To Columbus: Justin Falk, 5th-round pick (’15) (link)

To Vancouver: Cory Conacher
To New York Islanders: Dustin Jeffrey (link)

To St. Louis: Roberto Bortuzzo, 7th-round pick (’16)
To Pittsburgh: Ian Cole (link)

To San Jose: Karl Stollery
To Colorado: Freddie Hamilton (link)

To New York Islanders: Michal Neuvirth
To Buffal Sabres: Chad Johnson, 3rd-round pick (’16) (link)

To New York Islanders: Tyler Kennedy
To San Jose Sharks: 3rd-round pick (conditional, ’16) (link)

To Detroit: Marek Zidlicky
To New Jersey: 3rd-round pick (conditional, ’16) (link)

To San Jose: Ben Smith, 7th round pick (’17, conditional)
To Chicago: Andrew Desjardins (link)

To St. Louis: Zbynek Michalek, 3rd-round pick (conditional, ’15)
To Arizona: Maxim Letunov (link)

To Montreal: Brian Flynn
To Buffalo: 5th-round pick (’16) (link)

To Montreal: Jeff Petry
To Edmonton: 2nd-round pick (’15), 5th-round pick (conditional, ’15) (link)

To Tampa Bay: Braydon Coburn
To Philly: Radko Gudas, 1st-round pick (’15), 3rd-round pick (’15) (link)

To Boston: Brett Connolly
To Tampa Bay: 2nd-round pick (’15), 2nd round-pick (’16) (link)

Sunday, Mar. 1

To Detroit: Erik Cole, 3rd-round pick (conditional, ’15)
To Dallas: Mattias Janmark, Mattias Backman, 2nd-round pick (’15) (link)

To New York Rangers: James Sheppard
To San Jose: 4th-round pick (’16) (link)

To Winnipeg: Lee Stempniak
To New York Rangers: Carl Klingberg (link)

To New York Rangers: Keith Yandle, Chris Summers, 4th-round pick (’15)
To Arizona: John Moore, Anthony Duclair, 1st-round pick (conditional, ’16), 2nd-round pick (’15) (link)

To Washington: Curtis Glencross
To Calgary: 2nd-round pick (’15), 3rd-round pick (’15) (link)

Saturday, Feb. 28

To Chicago: Antoine Vermette
To Arizona: Klas Dahlbeck, 1st-round pick (’15) (link)

To Anaheim: Tomas Fleischmann
To Florida: Dany Heatley, 3rd-round pick (’15) (link)

To Washington: Tim Gleason
To Carolina: Jack Hillen, 4th-round pick (’15) (link)

Friday, Feb. 27

To Chicago: Kimmo Timonen
To Philly: 2nd-round pick (’15), 4th-round pick (conditional, ’16) (link)

Thursday, Feb. 26

To Columbus: David Clarkson
To Toronto: Nathan Horton (link)

To Florida: Jaromir Jagr
To New Jersey: 2nd-round pick (’15), 3rd-round pick (’16) (link)

To Toronto: T.J. Brennan
To Chicago: Spencer Abbott (link)

To St. Louis: Adam Cracknell
To Columbus: Future considerations (link)

Wednesday, Feb. 25

To Los Angeles: Andrej Sekera
To Carolina: Roland McKeown, 1st-round pick (conditional, ’15 or ’16) (link)

To Pittsburgh: Daniel Winnik
To Toronto: Zach Sill, 2nd-round pick (’16), 4th-round pick (’15) (link)

To Winnipeg: Jiri Tlusty
To Carolina: 3rd-round pick (’16), 6th-round pick (conditional, ’15) (link)

Tuesday, Feb. 24

To Minnesota: Sean Bergenheim, 7th-round pick (’16)
To Florida: 3rd-round pick (’16) (link)

To Anaheim: Jiri Sekac
To Montreal: Devante-Smith Pelly (link)

Sunday, Feb. 15

To Nashville: Cody Franson, Mike Santorelli
To Toronto: Olli Jokinen, Brendan Leipsic, 1st-round pick (’15) (link)

Wednesday, Feb. 11

To Dallas: Jhonas Enroth
To Buffalo: Anders Lindback, 3rd-round pick (conditional, ’16) (link)

To Buffalo: Evander Kane, Zach Bogosian, Jason Kasdorf
To Winnipeg: Tyler Myers, Drew Stafford, Joel Armia, Brendan Lemieux, 1st-round pick (’15) (link)