Hurricanes Were Going to Offer Sheet a Defenseman Before The Trade with the Rangers
Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet was on NHL Network with Tony Luftman on July 1, the day of free agency, and was asked about the K’Andre Miller trade. Friedman stated that there was a chance the Carolina Hurricanes were going to offer sheet either Evan Bouchard or K’Andre Miller before they traded for Miller.
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
Tony Luftman: “All right. Elliotte, it took some time to finalize this one. K’Andre Miller officially to the Canes, tell us how this went down.”
Elliotte Friedman: “So earlier , the (New York) Rangers signed Vladislav Gavrikov to a seven times seven contract. And the belief was, if they got Gavrikov, they would move K’Andre Miller. They are trading him to the Carolina Hurricanes.
And just to give you an idea of what I think Carolina has been up to the last few days, Evan Bouchard got his deal done in Edmonton four times 10 and a half. At the trade deadline this year, when (Mikko) Rantanen was still in Carolina, they talked to Edmonton about the player, and I believe the player who they asked for was Bouchard. And Edmonton remembered that.
Carolina has a lot of cap room. Carolina has a lot of draft assets, draft capital. And I think that the Oilers were worried that the Hurricanes were going to offer sheet Bouchard. So they signed him to that extension. Didn’t even let him get to July 1.
Now, I think they switched their focus a bit to Miller, and they were interested in doing it. I think the Rangers knew that, and I think what the Rangers did was, they’re going to trade Miller to the Hurricanes. I do think that Miller was potentially an offer sheet target for the Hurricanes, and instead, the two teams, excuse me, the two teams are going to work a deal with that.
NHLRumors.com Note: The Carolina Hurricanes and New York Rangers were able to complete the trade for K’Andre Miller. Miller signed an eight-year $60 million contract with an AAV of $7.5 million. In exchange, the Rangers received a conditional 2026 first-round pick (top-10 protected), a 2026 second-round pick, and defenseman Scott Morrow.
So it was a win for both teams. But the parts of the trade were similar to what we would see if there an offer sheet on the table for Miller. So the Rangers and Hurricanes worked on a deal that sent Miller to Carolina. It was also a high price for inside the division, but that is the price a team had to pay.
But imagine if Carolina sent an offer sheet to Evan Bouchard? You have to think Oilers would match, but then again, would the owner have paid Bouchard?
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