RALEIGH, N.C. — The noise of the playoffs is long gone, replaced at PNC Arena by the sound of ice being pulled up and the clock ticking … ticking … ticking.
In the wake of the Carolina Hurricanes’ harsh second-round elimination at the hands of the New York Rangers, this group’s first real run as a legitimate Stanley Cup contender having established themselves as such over 82 games, there’s an equally harsh realization that this group as currently constructed doesn’t have many chances like that left.
There was a time when contracts for players like Jordan Staal, Jaccob Slavin and Brett Pesce seemed to stretch off into an indefinite future, but that future is now. Staal has one year left, and this week said he hasn’t made any decisions about his career beyond that. Pesce and Brady Skjei each have two years left. The goaltending tandem of Frederik Andersen and Antti Raanta has a year to run.
