News around the league hasn't been nearly as grand over the last few days, outside of the Leo Carlsson offer sheet. On Sunday, many of the remaining restricted free agents had until 5 pm to elect for salary arbitration, meaning they could no longer sign offer sheets and their contracts, unless a deal was reached ahead of time, would be negotiated in front of an arbitrator.
By the deadline, 15 players had elected to go to arbitration, including Hurricanes/Wolves defenseman Ronan Seeley. There are quite a few big names, including Dallas' Jason Robertson, Philadelphia's Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale, and New York's Braden Schneider. Seeley is one of the smaller cases on the docket, should we get to that point.
In most instances, these cases are settled before their scheduled hearing. Last season, none of the players who elected to do so made it to the final stage, signing extensions before their dates with the arbitrator. Otherwise, the team and the player will sit down and state their case to decide what the player's contract should be. History has shown that this can be a tough process for the players.
Seeley completed his fourth professional season with Chicago in 2025-26, putting forth his best offensive production since his rookie campaign by scoring 11 goals and 23 points. He's also part of the team's leadership group, wearing an "A" for the Wolves. Seeley made his NHL debut in the Hurricanes' season finale in April, playing over 15 minutes in a 2-1 win over the Islanders.
After concluding his entry-level deal in 2024, Seeley signed a one-year extension with the Canes last summer for a little under $814,000. The Hurricanes extended a qualifying offer to Seeley by the June 29 deadline, keeping him under team control for the time being. According to PuckPedia, this offer had to be worth at least 105 percent of his previous salary.
As I've said, since most of these cases are resolved before their hearing dates, it leads me to believe that the Hurricanes and Seeley's camp will get this figured out at some point in July. If not, they'll come together at a later date to discuss what comes next, and the decision will be made then. However, I think this matter will be decided before it is needed.
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