NHL Rumor Mill – June 15, 2026
What’s next for the Carolina Hurricanes and Vegas Golden Knights? Could Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck request a trade? What’s the latest on the Flyers? Find out in today’s NHL Rumor Mill.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE 2026 STANLEY CUP FINALISTS?
ESPN.COM: Kristen Shilton and Ryan S. Clark examined the keys to the offseason for the Carolina Hurricanes and Vegas Golden Knights.
Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen is slated to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1. They have Brandon Bussi and Pyotr Kochetkov under contract for next season, so unless the Canes are comfortable carrying three goalies, Andersen could be the odd man out.
The Hurricanes must also negotiate with restricted free agent defenseman Alexander Nikishin, but after that, they’ll likely fill in around the edges rather than make a big move as they did last summer when they signed Nikolaj Ehlers. They could extend defensemen Shayne Gostisbehere and Jalen Chatfield or look for third-pairing help elsewhere.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Justin Pelletier of The News & Observer pointed out that the Hurricanes’ championship window remains wide open.
The Hurricanes have $11.9 million in cap space for 2026-27 to re-sign or replace their UFAs and to re-sign Nikishin. Thirteen of their 14 roster forwards, five of their seven defensemen, and two of their three goalies are under contract next season.
Pelletier pointed out the Hurricanes have 20 players signed through next season, and 15 signed beyond that. They won’t have any need to rebuild anytime soon.
Vegas Golden Knights winger Pavel Dorofeyev (NHL Images).
Meanwhile, the Vegas Golden Knights have salary-cap issues to address. They must decide if they’ll re-sign pending UFA defenseman Rasmus Andersson, and they have to re-sign restricted free-agent winger Pavel Dorofeyev.
Goaltender Adin Hill backstopped the Golden Knights to the Stanley Cup three years ago, but didn’t play in this postseason. He’s got five years left on his contract with an average annual value of $6.25 million, and is a trade candidate this summer. They could also look at moving other players to free up salary cap room.
Alex Pietrangelo’s status is another factor. He missed this season recovering from hip surgery, but indicated he’ll try to come back next season. Pietrangelo has a year left on his contract with a cap hit of $8.8 million.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Golden Knights have $4.625 million in cap space for 2026-27. They’ll get $8.8 million in cap relief if Pietrangelo remains on long-term injury reserve next season. They can exceed the $104 million cap by 10 percent starting on July 1, but must be cap-compliant when their regular season begins in October.
If Pietrangelo stays on LTIR and they take the 10 percent offseason overage, the Golden Knights could still lack sufficient cap room to re-sign Andersson and Dorofeyev. That means losing the former to free agency and potentially the latter to an offer sheet unless they make one or two cost-cutting moves.
COULD JETS GOALIE CONNOR HELLEBUYCK REQUEST A TRADE?
WINNIPEG FREE PRESS: A reader asked Ken Wiebe if goaltender Connor Hellebuyck would follow the example of Detroit Red Wings center Dylan Larkin by requesting a trade.
Wiebe noted that Hellebuyck expressed displeasure with the Jets’ direction during his end-of-season media availability in April. However, there hasn’t been any real fallout yet.
Hellebuyck could be waiting to see what general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff does during the offseason to improve the roster during the upcoming draft weekend, free agency, and the summer trade market.
THE HOCKEY NEWS: Adam Proteau suggested the New Jersey Devils could chase Hellebuyck if they manage to trade away starter Jacob Markstrom. ESPN’s Kevin Weekes recently reported the Devils are gauging Markstrom’s value in the trade market.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Some observers have taken Hellebuyck’s comments to suggest that he wants out. However, what he actually said was the Jets had to improve to win the Stanley Cup. However, he could seek a trade in a year or two if they fail to make any meaningful improvement this summer.
THE LATEST FLYERS SPECULATION
THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER’s Jackie Spiegel recently reported hearing there is mutual interest between the Flyers and Edmonton Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse, who requested a trade last week.
Spiegel indicated that Nurse is the nephew of former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb. She wondered what he might cost to acquire, whether the Oilers would retain part of his $9.25 million AAV, and if there was another move.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Flyers could have a bigger need for a right-shot defenseman with Rasmus Ristolainen having a year left on his contract. Nurse is also in his early thirties and earns the salary of a first-pairing defenseman, but his play is that of a second-pairing blueliner.
Unless the Oilers will retain a hefty chunk of Nurse’s salary, he might not be a fit for the Flyers.
ESPN’s Kevin Weekes reports sources claimed the Flyers are close to a contract extension with goaltender Dan Vladar. According to Weekes, it’s a five-year extension with an AAV that could be in the mid-$5 million range.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Vladar’s goaltending played a significant role in the Flyers exceeding expectations this season by qualifying for the playoffs and advancing to the second round. The 28-year-old is completing the first season of a two-year contract with an AAV of $3.35 million.
Carolina window open but once again league proved how hard it is to win a cup. East was up for grabs all year, but Carolina was clearly a top team and managed to stay relatively healthy. The West had better teams and Vegas wasn’t really the best. Dallas and Minny playing each other in 1st round was a joke. Colorado had 2 best players injured. Looking at a guy like Larkin, his best chance of winning is probably joining a team in the EC. Where he could make a difference
Congrats to the Canes, well earned. A deserved Champion.
Prefer the Flyers pass on the 9.2 million dollar turnstile and give a shot to Oliver Bonk or Emile Andrae.
Agree. NOT worth the $$
There are some questions regarding Vladar. Has he really elevated his game to a solid number one level, or was this season one and done? A five year extension will take him to age 34.
Is this a gamble worth taking? No coincidence that Bussi and Vladar both once played in the Bruins organization.
The reason VK lost was that pairing of anderson & hanifin. Couldn’t read plays couldn’t count how many players were in front so they gave up break aways on there goalie.
I would’ve separated them on different lines.
I know VK gave up to get anderson but the smartest thing they could do is let him walk and hope he goes to a rival team.
Did they miss Pietrangelo.
Vladar and developed and played more for the Flames than the Bruins. They let him walk to Philly.
I Don t know what the book is on Rasmus Andersen but he was awful most of the series. Unless he was hurt,buyer beware on his next contract!
I was surprised how consistently bad he was in the final series. He may have lost a ton of bargaining power for July 1.
Rasmus had flashes in the playoffs of looking like a 10million dollar dman but the last games he looked terrible
he can skate so well but looked off
Weren’t there rumblings that Anderson already had agreed to terms with Vegas on an extension but were waiting to formerly sign/announce/register with the league until Petro was placed on LTIR for next season?
Not sure why they would need to, not a capologist, just read that somewhere.
Ray, this from the Web AI:
“Entering the summer, the Golden Knights have roughly $4.6 million in projected 2026-27 salary cap space (with the upper limit set at $104 million).
Extension Costs: An extension for Andersson is projected to cost upwards of $7 million to $8 million annually, meaning they cannot formally absorb the new cap hit right now.
(Although) Vegas does not strictly have to wait for the regular season to place Alex Pietrangelo on LTIR to finalize an extension for Rasmus Andersson … they are heavily constrained by the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) rules regarding off-season cap space.”
EVery year one team has a path to the cup, with some breaks along the way. Sure seemed like Carolina made tho most of the path the bracket schedule indicated, and the “forced” goalie swap worked out. But I want to give credit (as a long time opposition fan) to a team that for eight years had a plan, chose a style of play, were tough on contract negotiations, brought in players galore, and kept those who would play the “system” and moved those who couldn’t or wouldn’t, kept knocking on the playoff door, didn’t let adverse results shake their faith, and were finally rewarded. Window open because of this consistency, unlike teams that go all-in for one year. Carolina treated the eight year quest like the hard road it was, and kept building. Teams that rinse and repeat coaching and player swaps every couple of years and don’t even make the playoffs might take notice. People who call for tougher contract negotiation might look at Carolina; they’ve lost some folks but have a complete and affordable roster with a little cap room left.
You can “make the playoffs” with a quick fix. And there have certainly been teams that caught Lightning in a bottle and won cups when they were good and made unexpected runs. But in this case, a long term plan came together, and a team that a was stubborn about what they were doing stubborned themselves to a cup; and when we complain about GM’s doing things like handing out NMC’s like candy….isn’t what Carolina did the other side of the coin?
Richard, re “isn’t what Carolina did the other side of the coin?” … in a manner of speaking, yes.
They have given NMC to Aho, Ehlers, Hall, Carrier and Slavin … a NTC to Staal … and MNT to Svechnikov, Kotkaniemi, Martinook, Jankowski, Robinson, Walker, Gostisbehere and Chatfield.
That’s 61% of a 23-man roster.
The how to build a SC team showing Carolina doing it with timely trades tends to forget the years of top 10 picks that got them going.
Understandable given the last 8 years it’s easy to forget that they started the ball rolling in 2010, drafting key pieces then tinkering and adding. So there’s no “formula”
It’s rare that teams have both great pro scouting and draft scouting along with all the other moving parts.