It all started rather innocently enough. On the first of two off days between Games 5 and 6 of the Stanley Cup Final word leaked out that the Carolina Hurricanes were in the midst of finalizing an eight-year extension for defenseman Jaccob Slavin with Elliotte Friedman reporting the average annual value at $6.5 million, not a bad bit of work for the newly anointed general manger Eric Tulsky.
Things ratcheted up a notch when the long-awaited trade of Jacob Markstrom finally came to fruition as the netminder went to New Jersey in exchange for Kevin Bahl and a top-10 protected 2025 first-round pick.