Follow me on Twitter:
@BenShelley_20
Follow HockeyBuzz Hurricanes on Twitter:
@HB_Canes
Defenseman Jake Gardiner is able to resume his NHL career, as announced by the Carolina Hurricanes yesterday.
Gardiner will turn 32 years old next month and has a single year remaining on his contract at a $4.05 million cap hit. He had a regular role in his first season with the team back in the 2019-20 season, then played just 26 games in the 2020-21 season and ended up being placed on waivers. This year, Gardiner missed the entire season as a result of back and hip surgeries and it seemed likely that he'd be on long-term injured reserve next season.
Now with Gardiner able to return though, it presents an interesting dynamic for the Hurricanes. It’s always good news that a player is healthy and it’ll be great to see Gardiner back on the ice after what’s likely been a rough year for him. While Gardiner being able to continue his career is a great thing though, it seems less likely it’ll be continuing in Carolina.
As of now, the Hurricanes have a pretty set top-four group with Jaccob Slavin, Brett Pesce, Brady Skjei and Tony DeAngelo (assuming the Hurricanes are able to reach an extension with DeAngelo). Then while Ethan Bear, Ian Cole and Brendan Smith are all in need of new contracts, any of them would come cheaper than Gardiner’s $4.05 million cap hit. Even if they don’t bring back one or multiple of the defenders, they can find cheaper bottom-pairing replacements or dip into their prospect pool. Keeping Gardiner around as an offensive, likely sheltered defenseman for the price of his cap hit probably isn't the ideal way to use cap space.
Add in that Gardiner was waived even before his missed season and it doesn't seem likely that Carolina will end up using him as a regular member of the roster next season. If the Hurricanes are to try to move on from Gardiner though, they’ll likely have a tough time trading him. There won't be a ton of teams lining up to take on his cap hit even if just for a year and it would probably mean Carolina attaching an asset, likely a second-round pick, which isn’t ideal.
The other option would be a buyout. I’m fairly against buyouts in many cases because it means sacrificing cap space for additional years to get out of a current cap issue. In this case though, it could work. If Gardiner is bought out, the penalty would be $1.08 million against the cap this season, followed by $1.48 million against the cap in 2023-24. It’s not great but is also far from disastrous.
The final option though and one that could certainly end up playing out would just be to waive Gardiner and bury his contract for the year, if he doesn't earn a spot in training camp. The Hurricanes would get $1.13 million off Gardiner’s contract in relief, meaning there’d be a penalty of $2.93 million against the cap this season and then it would be off the books. It is a pretty hefty cap penalty but if the Hurricanes are able to work it into their cap situation for the year, it may be the best option.
So there are quite a few different ways this could play out for the Hurricanes. It seems unlikely that Gardiner will actually end up back on the roster, but regardless, they’ll need to figure out what to do with the final year of his contract.
Quiz Maker
OTHER ARTICLES FROM JUNE
2021-22 Season Recap: Carolina Hurricanes
Jake Gardiner cleared to resume NHL career 
Carolina Hurricanes Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»