McKenzie: "Lots of teams interested" in Hurricanes' Sekera

Bob McKenzie was on NBCSN’s NHL Live on Wednesday evening.

On how Eric Staal and Cam Ward seem to want to stay with Carolina, how the Hurricanes would like to keep its core despite how this season has gone, and why that might be difficult:

“Well, those guys are under contract. So that’s fine. And they’ve got no-move clauses, and as long as they don’t want to go anywhere, they’re not going anywhere.

“But where it gets difficult is when you get an expiring contract on a defenseman like Andrej Sekera, who is going to be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year. He’s having an excellent season. He’s playing very, very well. Part of the rejuvenation of Carolina lately is because he’s played as well as he has. He’s putting points on the board, being good defensively. But there’s a lot of trade interest in him.

“Now general manager Ronnie Francis has gone on record and said, ‘I’m going to give it one more try here to get this guy signed to an extension. But if I can’t get him signed to an extension, then we’re going to have to trade him.’

"Getting him signed to an extension will be difficult. Carolina is very much a budge team. Not even close to the salary cap. They’ve got a strong internal budget. Sekera, because he puts points on the board, is going to be a guy that’s going to generate between $5 million and $6 million a year on a longer-term deal.

“Lots of teams interested in Carolina, Sekera, if he’s available at the deadline.”

Source: NBCSN/ Transcript: Nichols on Hockey

Nichols on Hockey

Nichols on Hockey

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Nichols on Hockey

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