After months of speculation, the Hurricanes have finally agreed on an eight-year deal with center Seth Jarvis. A deal that also happens to have a particularly interesting structure.

After an off-season rife with speculation, GM Eric Tulsky announced the Carolina Hurricanes and center Seth Jarvis have agreed on an eight-year, $63.2-million contract, with $29.2 million in signing bonuses.

Jarvis, who was drafted 13th overall by Carolina in 2020, is now entering his fourth NHL season. In 2023-24, he took his game to the next level, finishing second on the Hurricanes in regular-season scoring with 33 goals and 67 points in 81 games. He then continued to shine in the post-season where he led the team in goals, putting up five in 11 playoff games.

This re-signing comes after the team announced on Thursday that veteran winger Jesper Fast had undergone neck surgery on Aug. 6 and would likely miss the entire 2024-25 season as a result. With Fast likely headed for the LTIR, this would give them some extra funds to play with to make a deal like this possible.

The deal itself – which holds an average annual value of $7.5 million – has an interesting structure when it comes to the signing bonuses. Some portion of Jarvis' signing bonuses have been reportedly deferred. Although it is not known how much money has been deferred in total, Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reported there is a deferred signing bonus payment scheduled for July 1, 2032 – one day after the contract officially expires on June 30, 2032.

This post-expiration payment – which is technically in the ninth year of the eight-year deal – allows the 'Canes to pay Jarvis annually just based on the total contract amount given in the eight years of the deal, excluding the deferred payment from the ninth.

The Hurricanes had a similarly structured deal earlier in the summer when they extended defenseman Jaccob Slavin. But in that case, the deferred pseudo-ninth-year payment didn't have a big enough cap impact to register on people's radars.