Carolina Hurricanes: 5 potential free agent targets this off-season

Less than two months remains before the conclusion of the 2017-18 regular season. The Carolina Hurricanes soon turn focus to free agency.

Considering there’s still a lot to figure out for the Carolina Hurricanes before the conclusion of the 2017-18 NHL season, the off-season plan for the organization is still unclear. One things does loom large, the focus on the activity level of general manager Ron Francis a new majority owner Tom Dundon.

Francis has a laundry list of things to address, or at least shed light on during the off-season. If the Canes do make the playoffs this season, the pressure to make moves lightens up than if they don’t, and extend that long drought.

The free agent market this off-season is not as strong as it was in 2017. But, there’s still some huge names on the open market, as long as they do not re-sign before the summer of 2018 comes around. Most notably of all those names is New York Islanders superstar forward John Tavares.

Since the Canes did not do much at the Trade Deadline, they could be very active during the off-season. Francis showed last year that he can make some big moves in free agency, whether they can actually work out is a different thing. Justin Williams and Scott Darling were the two biggest moves from the 2017 off-season. One panned out so far and one has not.

The point is that fans will always be interested to see how this front office develops solutions to the Canes’ contention issues. They constantly find ways to underachieve and that is really testing the patience of the fan base.

Here’s five 2018 free agents that the Carolina Hurricanes could potentially pursue this off-season.