NHL Rumors: Hurricanes Forward Wants Contract Extension Before Playing A Game

It appears as though the Carolina Hurricanes have the inside track on signing one of their players to an extension. The thing is it comes before he has even played a game for them. Max Pacioretty is reportedly interested in signing an extension, per Pierre LeBrun. The Hurricanes want to wait though, as it makes more sense to see if he fits their scheme on the ice before jumping to a new contract.

At this point, the Hurricanes haven't even needed Pacioretty as they rank second in the NHL with 54 points in 36 games and have won 10 games in a row.

Pacioretty's current contract is $7 million AAV and he will become an unrestricted free agent after the season if he doesn't have a new contract. The Hurricanes have left more than enough cap space to fit him back into the lineup once he's recovered from his achilles injury. Getting him back will be like a free trade deadline acquisition.

It remains to be seen which line Pacioretty will play on and how well he will fit in. He is a left winger, but the four left wingers on the team right now are Teuvo Teravainen, Andrei Svechnikov, Jordan Martinook, and Stefan Noesen. The least productive of the four has actually been Teravainen on the top line, but he has missed some time with an injury. Fortunately the Hurricanes have the ability to shuffle some pieces around the lineup as all four of the players mentioned can also play on the other wing.

However the Hurricanes sort out their lineup, Pacioretty will surely provide even more offence as he has scored 43 goals and 88 points over the last 87 games.