Last week, the Carolina Hurricanes signed forward Jackson Blake to an eight-year contract. Blake, 21, scored 17 goals and 17 assists in 80 regular season games with the Hurricanes. The contract, which starts in the 2026-27 season, carries an average annual value of $5.625M per year.
“Jackson had an outstanding rookie season, and we think he is just scratching the surface of the player he can be,” said Hurricanes general manager Eric Tulsky . “His tenaciousness on the puck and competitiveness match our team’s culture and we’re excited about his future with our club.”
Hurricanes Believe in Blake’s Potential
Blake, originally selected in the fourth round of the 2021 NHL Draft, brings top-six stability to an already deep Hurricanes roster. He’s set to play on the second line next season. His other line mates, Taylor Hall and Seth Jarvis, add additional threats to a team in search of secondary scoring.
Signing Blake after one season to an eight-year deal is a gamble, but it’s one Tulsky is prepared to make. Should he pan out, Blake could become one of the NHL’s best contracts. Having said that, the Hurricanes have made this bet before.
Jesperi Kotkaniemi, acquired from the Montreal Canadiens in 2021, has yet to live up to his eight year contract. Kotkaniemi carries an average annual value of $4.82M per season. He’s only scored above the 40-point plateau once since his extension. Kotkaniemi’s deal runs through 2030. Blake’s, by comparison, runs through 2034.
Hurricanes Push for Finals
The Carolina Hurricanes have been busy this offseason. They’ve traded for K’Andre Miller, signed top free agent Nikolaj Ehlers and locked up their key free agents to long-term deals. They’ve built a deep roster with plenty of potential. With that said, however, the work isn’t done. They’ve still got to make the Stanley Cup Finals.
Last season, they lost in the Eastern Conference Finals to the Florida Panthers. The year before, they fell to the New York Rangers. Now, just making the playoffs isn’t enough: they have to show success.
One of the most important players in this process is Nikolaj Ehlers.
“He’s incredibly fast and dynamic with the puck,” Tulsky said in a press conference this month. “He’ll bring creativity to our game. We have the puck as much as any team in the league and the more we can turn that into premium scoring chances, the better off we’ll be. Nikolaj is the kind of player who can create scoring chances out of nothing and that’s the sort of thing that you can layer onto what we’ve already built and it can help take us to the next level.
“It’s definitely a faster game than I’m used to and I’ve been adjusting to that,” Blake said during the 2024-25 season. “I think I can provide offense for this team, a spark.”
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