The Carolina Hurricanes re-signed Martin Necas to a two-year deal. That leaves them with a breakout forward still in need of a new contract in 22-year-old Seth Jarvis.

It's hard to tell that Seth Jarvis played most of last season with a torn labrum and rotator cuff in his right shoulder when looking at his stats. The broken finger he suffered in the first round of the playoffs just adds to the bewilderment. 

Needless to say, it is difficult to withstand all the physicality and play at a high level when your shoulder is at risk of sliding in and out. Or trying to stickhandle and shoot with a numbed broken finger.

Healthy or not, the Carolina Hurricanes forward continued to produce points at a high rate in what was a breakout season last year.

And yet, the 22-year-old RFA is still waiting on a new contract.

While the Minnesota Wild saw enough out of one full season of Brock Faber to sign him to an eight-year contract extension on Monday, Jarvis is three seasons into his NHL career and is waiting on the right deal to re-sign with the Hurricanes after his entry-level contract expired.

And after Carolina avoided an arbitration hearing with RFA forward Martin Necas and agreed on a two-year deal worth $6.5 million per year, Jarvis is the only RFA left for the team to re-sign.

PuckPedia projects the Hurricanes at $6.44 million in cap space after the Necas re-signing, with 22 of 23 roster spots filled. The 23rd slot awaits Jarvis, although the Hurricanes could free some more space by assigning depth players to the minors.

Jarvis nearly doubled his previous career high of 17 goals set in his rookie year, scoring 33 times last season and capitalizing on 18.8 percent of his 176 shots. He also recorded career highs in assists (34), points (67), plus-minus (plus-23), average ice time (18:45 per game,) game-winning goals (nine) and more. In the playoffs, he nearly recorded a point per game with nine in 11 outings.

Despite his shoulder injury suffered in a game against the Philadelphia Flyers on Nov. 15, 2023, he had 115 hits and 52 blocked shots as well while having the second-most takeaways among Hurricanes forwards with 43. He ranked eighth in voting for the Selke Trophy as the NHL's top defensive forward, finishing three spots above Hurricanes teammate Sebastian Aho and behind second-place finisher Jordan Staal.

With all that, it seems likely Jarvis could get a larger cap hit than what's currently available. Raleigh radio host Adam Gold suggested on July 18 that the team and the player want an eight-year deal and that the cap hit could be north of $8 million. The Hockey News' Hurricanes site editor Ryan Henkel opined the same.

At least now, the team can focus mainly on Jarvis without having to re-sign someone else before an arbitration hearing.

"It will get done eventually," Eric Tulsky told reporters on July 18. "He wants to be here forever. We want him here forever. We just have to agree on what the right number is."

Tulksy, who is in his off-season as GM, also added the Hurricanes aren't concerned about whether Jarvis will be around for the long haul or not, but there remained uncertainty at the time about what contract or contracts will get him there.

"It's possible it will be short-term deal and then a longer-term later," Tulsky said. "It's possible we'll do a long-term deal now."

If the Hurricanes do send a couple of players to AHL Chicago, that could give them enough space to work on an eight-year deal. Tim Hiebert on The Hockey News' Lineups site has Bradly Nadeau ($918,333 cap hit), Tyson Jost ($775,000) and Scott Morrow ($916,667) as projected scratches. 

If Carolina determines the best spot for rookies Nadeau and Morrow is in the AHL, that could leave the Hurricanes with $8.275 million in cap space, per PuckPedia.

The Hurricanes also have eight pending UFAs after the 2024-25 season, including Dmitry Orlov ($7.75-million cap hit), Brent Burns ($5.28 million) and Jesper Fast ($2.4 million). 

With each of those three players being at least 32 years old and Burns currently 39, it's uncertain whether the Hurricanes believe they could manage to keep them around on a pay cut to make room for a higher cap hit for Jarvis in the future. If so, that could make it likelier he accepts a short-term deal for now. There's also uncertainty about Fast's status after suffering a neck injury in the Hurricanes' last game of the regular season and missing the playoffs.

Either way, the Hurricanes and Jarvis seemed determined to make this work. And with a summer to recover, it should be an exciting next season for the young forward to show what he can do when fully healthy.

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