3 Moves The Carolina Hurricanes Should Make This Off-Season

The Carolina Hurricanes had a strong regular season, as evidenced by their 36-12-8 record. However, they did end up falling to the Lightning in the second round of the playoffs. Many thought they were ready to take that next step, so it was disappointing to see. This off-season is one that also will present the Hurricanes with a lot of challenges, as they are on the verge of losing some key players. Yet, they also have an abundance of cap space to work with, so there is hope that they can still have a great off-season.

Here are three moves they must make.

Pull Off A Dougie Hamilton Sign-And-Trade: With the Hurricanes giving Dougie Hamilton permission to speak with other teams, it seems that his time in Carolina may be over. If he refuses to re-sign with Carolina, a sign-and-trade must happen. They cannot afford to lose a player of Hamilton's ability for nothing. Furthermore, they would receive a great return if Hamilton agrees to a long-term deal with his hypothetical new team. The Hurricanes also would likely want NHL-caliber talent in return, as they hope to remain contenders.

Extend RFA Andrei Svechnikov: Andrei Svechnikov needs to be in the long-term plans of the Hurricanes. Therefore, their primary goal should be to ink him to a multi-year extension. In 55 games this season, the 21-year-old had 15 goals and 42 points in 55 games. These are already strong statistics, but when seeing as how he is still very young, there is a lot more room for growth. Therefore, it's a no-brainer that they need to re-sign him.

Bring Back At Least One UFA Goalie: Petr Mrazek and James Reimer are both set to hit the open market this off-season. The emergence of Alex Nedeljkovic shows that he is more than ready to be an NHL goalie. However, a big reason behind the Hurricanes' success these last few years was because of their strong goalie tandem. They should look to keep this trend going, as Nedeljkovic is still young and may need extra support. Between the two pending UFAs, Mrazek should be their bigger priority, though.