Jalen Chatfield 2023-24 Exit Interview Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Jalen Chatfield became an integral part of the team's defensive structure over his two-years as an NHL regular. His game has grown leaps and bounds and his ability to do all of that while on a budget contract certainly helped out the Canes. However, Chatfield's contract has expired and now he's an upcoming UFA so the question will be what will the future hold for him? The Canes held their second round of exit interviews on Sunday following the conclusion of their 2023-24 season which ended after losing in six games to the New York Rangers in the second round of the playoffs. Here's what Chatfield had to say: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On what his priorities are this offseason : Just doing what's right and hopefully being able to stay here because obviously this is a good place to play and everybody loves it here. This is a place that I think everyone who's up wants to stay. On Dmitry Orlov: He's awesome. He's a Russian beast out there. He plays hard, he shows up every night and I learned a lot from him this year. He's a great partner to have. On what makes Carolina so special: I haven't been around too much on too many other teams. Just one other team, but I know when you come in, you have a locker room with a group of guys like this and coaching and with the support of the fans and being able to play on a winning team and having a chance to win it every year, that's something special. That's what we played for. All those things makes people want to stay here. On if he feels his game would be a good fit on a lot of teams: I haven't dug that deep. If anything happened and I played somewhere else, I wouldn't know what systems they're playing, but like you said, you're starting to see it around the league a lot. More dumping pucks, getting it deep, pinching on walls and using speed around the ice. I think that's the way the NHL is going. A lot of winning teams are doing it and playing that simple, hard, direct game. On if he still feels like he has a lot more of his game to grow: Yeah. The game is limitless in what you can learn. This summer, I'm going to go back and right now I'm going to figure out in my head what I need to work on, kind of review the year and then get to work right away and just keep improving like I have been the last few years. On if he plans to not take a lot of time off again this offseason: I got to see how the body feels. Honestly, I feel pretty good. A little beat up from the playoff and the grind of the season, but if I can get my recovery going right now, the sooner I get that done, the better I get my body going, the quicker I can train. So I'll hopefully be back going real soon. On the wear and tear of the season: You know the game. It's hard out there. I mean, just taking hits. I'm always going back for pucks so I think I take a few more than normal, but you try your best all year to keep your body in the best form and shape, but it takes a toll. The offseason is huge in just making sure you get everything back to normal before you start pushing again. On the growth of his game in Carolina: Its all just part of the process. I'm just living life. I really committed a few years ago to my craft and having the opportunity to come here and play with such a good group of guys and a great team, I think that helped. Being able to just find the things I needed to work on and really realizing that. Everything came together. It's just been exciting and I'm just excited for the future.
