RALEIGH — Now that the last piece of confetti has fallen, the final bits of trash collected and, just maybe, the Hurricanes themselves have passed peak celebration after Saturday’s Stanley Cup celebration, who’s opposed to running it back next June?
Certainly not the Hurricanes or the Caniacs, who don’t want to wait another 20 years to fill the streets of downtown Raleigh with 150,000 people for a Cup parade.
“Why don’t we do it again next year?” defenseman K’Andre Miller said Saturday from a stage on Fayetteville Street to the roaring approval of an ocean of Caniacs.
Twenty years ago, after their first Stanley Cup championship in 2006, the Hurricanes failed to sustain success. They didn’t even make the playoffs in the 2006-07 season.
These Hurricanes are far better positioned to hoist the Cup again. No one — not the owner, the coach, the captain or the general manager — is backing down from those elevated expectations.
“The question for us every summer is how we can make the team better,” Hurricanes General Manager Eric Tulsky said. “It’s nice to be in a position where we have a championship team that’s almost all under contract already. But we’re still going to be looking for ways to make the team better.”
Tulsky made his first offseason move at the post-parade party, signing trade deadline acquisition Nicolas Deslauriers — a reserve forward, but top-line teammate — to a two-year contract. Deslauriers was one of just three unrestricted free agents who played for the Canes during its playoff run.
“It’s hard to get better than what we are,” owner Tom Dundon said. “But that’s the job.”
The biggest pieces are in place.
Franchise icon Rod Brind’Amour, the most important person in the organization who is entering his ninth season as head coach, said Saturday that the joy the team has brought to so many people is “going to be the motivation to do it again.”
“I promise you we’re going to try to do it again,” Brind’Amour said Saturday.
WATCH: Videos from the Hurricanes’ Stanley Cup celebration
Dundon said Brind’Amour can coach the franchise as long as he wants — and winning the Cup just may extend that stay.
“The reason he’s so good at it — because he cares so much — is also the thing that could cost us over time, right?” Dundon said Saturday. “How long can you go through that? I think this helps keep him happy for a while.”
Captain Jordan Staal, who at 37 became the oldest player to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP, said he wants to win another Cup. Staal is signed through next season.
Nearly everyone else signed for even longer.
After the 2006 Cup win, the Hurricanes missed the playoffs in the next two seasons and 11 of the next 12 — a stretch that stunted the team’s momentum in the market and eventually led to a 2018 sale to Dundon. This version has reached the playoffs eight consecutive years under Brind’Amour and is the betting favorite to win the title next season.
Carolina hopes to be the fourth team to repeat since 2016, including Florida which won in 2024 and 2025.
“The team should be just as good, maybe better,” Dundon said. “If that’s the case, based on what just happened, we should have a chance.”
Tulsky has shown a willingness to take big swings. His stated goal is to improve all the time. Before this year, Carolina added forward Nikolaj Ehlers as a free agent and traded for Miller before signing him to a long-term contract. The two played key roles in helping the Hurricanes win the Cup.
The Hurricanes have about $11 million in space under the NHL’s $104-million salary cap after signing Delauriers.
Veteran goaltender Frederik Andersen, who went 13-2 in 16 playoff starts but was coming off his worst regular season, is the only player who played in the Stanley Cup Final who is an unrestricted free agent. The Hurricanes have Cup hero and regular-season sensation rookie goaltender Brandon Bussi along with Pyotr Kochetkov signed for a combined $3.9 million for next season and could roll with that tandem in net. Bussi signed a three-year extension during the season.
Defenseman Mike Reilly, who played two games in the playoffs, is an unrestricted free agent. Defenseman Alexander Nikishin is a restricted free agent.
The Hurricanes have several prospects, notably winger Bradley Nadeau, who could push for a role in Raleigh next season.
“It’s hard to top this, but we’re going to have to try next year,” Tulsky told WRAL on the ice in Las Vegas after a Cup-clinching Game 6 win over the Vegas Golden Knights.
He won’t have much time.
The NHL Draft is Friday. The Hurricanes currently hold a first-round selection (No. 31 overall), a fourth-round pick from San Jose and two sixth-round picks (their own and one from San Jose). Carolina has a history of trading down for more picks, including in 2024 and 2025 when they dealt their own first-rounder for two second-round picks.
There is also the June 30 buyout deadline, which could affect center Jesperi Kotkaniemi, a talented 25-year-old and former No. 3 overall pick who was a healthy scratch for the entire postseason. Kotkaniemi has four years and more than $19.2 million left on his contract. Is there another team intrigued enough to trade for him and his contract or will the Hurricanes be forced to attach an asset or buy him out?
It’s an enviable position for the Stanley Cup champions: cap space, the majority of its core locked up into the 2030s and no major holes.
“Our team has been really good for a number of years and this year we just happened to win,” Dundon said in Las Vegas. “I think we can duplicate it. I think we can keep being this good. Whether we win at the end, there’s a lot more chance that goes into those things. We’ve got a pretty good group for a while.”
Free agents
Frederik Andersen (unrestricted), Mike Reilly (unrestricted), Alexander Nikishin (restricted)
Signed through 2026-27
Jordan Staal, Jordan Martinook, Pyotr Kochetkov
Signed through 2027-28
Taylor Hall, Mark Jankowski, Nicolas Deslauriers, Shayne Gostisbehere, Jalen Chatfield
Signed through 2028-29
Andrei Svechnikov, Eric Robinson, Sean Walker, Brandon Bussi
Signed through 2029-30
Jesperi Kotkaniemi, William Carrier
Signed through 2030-31
Nikolaj Ehlers
Signed through 2031-32
Sebastian Aho, Seth Jarvis
Signed through 2032-33
Jaccob Slavin, K’Andre Miller
Signed through 2033-34
Jackson Blake, Logan Stankoven