With the Draft and Free Agency behind us, the new reality is this: a lot of familiar faces are now going to be playing in new spots, and the Canes are not as strong a team as they were going into the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs. They still have a few big players to sign to their RFA deals, but they have cap space and they are now the news slows to a trickle until—well—September barring a trade.
Which don’t rule that out. It was about this time of year in 2022 when the Brent Burns trade happened, and as teams now have to sift through what their new squads look like, it’s possible there are some moves to be made to make sure they’ll end up cap compliant on Opening Night.