2. Jake McCabe
Another assistant captain looking at a upcoming team change, Jake McCabe finds himself at Number 2 on my list. McCabe is more of that third pairing guy the Carolina Hurricanes need to look for, and could be the very best of the options. Now, anyone from Buffalo after the year they just had is interesting, but McCabe is a legit defensive defenseman that’ll get a ton of attention on the open market.
McCabe, currently 27 years old, had 1 goals and 2 assists for 3 points in 13 games for the Buffalo Sabres this past year, before being sidelined for 6-8 months with an ugly knee injury. On February 22nd, it was announced that McCabe had suffered injuries to his MCL, ACL and meniscus, which would keep him sidelined until October – just in time for the next NHL season.
Now, I know that injury sounds incredibly ugly, but nobody seems to be overly worried that he won’t be ready to return in this upcoming year. In the slight minutes he played in Buffalo, he played very impressively. He doesn’t bring a lot offensively, but the Carolina Hurricanes aren’t looking for that. His defensive numbers had him as a top 4 shutdown guy before injury and he should very much be able to keep up that level of play when he returns to the ice.
Heading back to Dom from The Athletic here, he has his projected contract at around 2 years at $2 million dollars as his injury holds him back from getting a bigger payday. He can be a shutdown 2nd pairing guy but the Hurricanes signing him to play a stabilizer to maybe Jake Gardiner or someone else could be a perfect situation for both sides.
The Carolina Hurricanes get a worse version of Brett Pesce, but still a decent shutdown guy, and Jake McCabe gets paid and gets to play for a contender and prove his worth for a potential bigger payday in 2023.