LAS VEGAS — A year ago, Brad Treliving met media at the draft in Nashville after being on the job as Toronto Maple Leafs general manager for less than a month and joked that he was drinking out of a firehose.
Currently holding that firehose is Eric Tulsky, who has taken over as full-time GM for the Carolina Hurricanes and has about a million things going on right now.
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And he might be the GM who is the biggest wild card as far as producing fireworks this week in Vegas.
“There’s a lot to do,” a calm-sounding Tulsky told The Athletic during a sitdown interview Wednesday. “I’ve had a month to sort through all of our player contracts, getting to know all of the other teams and getting to know what they want, finding out what’s on the trade market, it’s been busy.
“I’ve set an all-time record for calls made and received. But you know, that’s the job.”
One thing hasn’t changed, with the first-time GM replacing Don Waddell: The Hurricanes are in the middle of nearly everything draft week and ahead of July 1.
Not that they had a choice to be front and center, with a number of pending free agents, plus a player who wants out and teams calling.
“You’re right: We always try to be in the middle of everything,” Tulsky said. “We never want to see an opportunity get missed, right? So we want to consider every possibility there is and evaluate everything and look for every chance to make the club better.
“This year, with all the free agents and everything, we certainly have more that we have to do. There’s a lot to work out — a lot to get done, trying to figure out what our team is going to look like next year.”
The hottest potato right now involves pending restricted free agent Martin Necas, who wants a change of scenery. The Canes have heard from nearly every single team in the NHL on him — I believe the Buffalo Sabres have very serious interest — but it’s getting to be crunch time if a trade is going to happen that involves a first-round pick Friday as part of the package.
“Teams are calling. We’ve been working hard on it,” Tulsky said. “I would say that’s been one of my biggest focuses, trying to figure out where that’s going to go. We’ve had a lot of interest. We’ve had a few offers that I would consider very serious.
“Whether or not any of them get across the line remains to be seen.”
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Martin Necas trade destinations: 11 teams that could (or should) be interested
While Tulsky wouldn’t say, other league sources say that there is one team in particular that is pretty close with Carolina on the framework of a deal and that if that trade goes through, it would involve a first-round pick Friday night. So if that particular team decides to go ahead with Carolina, we will know within 48 hours here.
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In the meantime, there seems to be frustration from other teams involved in talks with Carolina over the high asking price, which has led to some clubs chatting internally about the possibility of an offer sheet.
“I don’t see how an offer sheet makes any sense for the player,” Tulsky said. “If he wants to leave, he’s giving us control … He’s lowering the return to where we wouldn’t let him go.”
What Tulsky means is that an offer sheet paying $9 million a year, for example, would require compensation of a first-, second- and third-round pick. Carolina’s looking for a bigger package than that. It would match that all day long.
“Correct,” Tulsky said. “So I don’t see how that’s a direction that makes sense.”
And there’s also a world in which if a trade doesn’t materialize, the Canes just keep Necas, at least for another year. It’s not what the player wants, but short of not showing up to work in the fall, Necas is limited in his options.
And again, Carolina plans to match any offer sheet.
“Yeah I mean, if someone offer sheets him at $16 million a year, we won’t match,” Tulsky said smiling. “But if teams are drawing the line on a trade at less than what we’re asking for, then they’re going to be doing an offer sheet at a place where we would match it easily without a second thought.”
The Canes, meanwhile, continue to try hard to find a way to re-sign Jake Guentzel, the No. 1 unrestricted free agent if he goes to market Monday. The piece of candy that Carolina has that no other club can offer is the eighth year on a contract.
“We’re trying very hard on that one,” Tulsky said. “We are not that far apart. I’m still optimistic it’s going to get done. But it’s not done yet and we’re running out of time.”
There are serious rumblings about the Vancouver Canucks making a pitch (would they be willing to go seven years, $9 million?) and, of course, other teams would get in there Monday. So Guentzel and his agent, Ben Hankinson, have a big decision to make soon enough: Take Carolina’s best offer or go to market while leaving the door open to the Canes?
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In the meantime, Carolina has two top-four blueliners who are pending UFAs in Brady Skjei and Brett Pesce. I think it’s 99 percent sure Pesce is headed to market, and likely 60-40 Skjei is too, but Tulsky hasn’t given up hope.
“We’re still talking to both of them,” Tulsky said. “I just talked to Pesce’s agent yesterday. Look, they’re both really good players. We’d like to have them both back. It’s just a question of what we can fit, and how to make it work.
“I think they both want to be in Carolina, too,” he added. “So hopefully we can get something done. The salary cap makes it that you can’t have everything you want, and we’re trying to sort it out.”
One team to keep an eye on if Skjei and/or Pesce go to market is the Nashville Predators. They need to replace Ryan McDonagh, and I believe they would inquire and try to sign one of those two Carolina D if they go to market.
In the meantime, because he has no choice, Tulsky is closely investigating both the UFA market and the trade market for blue-line replacements.
“Yeah, for sure,” he said. “We always have a Plan B. We always have a Plan C. We usually have a Plan D. We try to make sure we’re prepared for all the possible outcomes. We want to make sure we’re in position to keep taking steps forward and be in a position to compete for the Stanley Cup.”
Another pending UFA is forward Teuvo Teravainen.
“Again, it’s another player who has a great time with us, loves playing for Rod (Brind’Amour), loves the way we play, loves our feel and our fit,” Tulsky said. “It’s just we can’t have back everybody who wants to be here. So we’re trying to work through it. We’ve talked to the agent a couple of times. I don’t have any clarity for you on it.”
So yeah, so much to get to for Tulsky, and we didn’t even cover it all in our interview.
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He doesn’t take lightly the fact that owner Tom Dundon entrusted him with the full-time GM job.
“It’s an honor,” Tulsky said. “This is an incredible team and a great organization and it’s an honor to be entrusted as its steward.”
Rumblings from elsewhere:
• The Dallas Stars are grinding away, trying to find a way to re-sign pending UFA defenseman Chris Tanev. If he goes to market Monday, the Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators would both be among the several teams making serious pitches.
• Pending UFA defenseman Tyler Myers and the Canucks remain in talks, but the sense I get is that things have not progressed on that front despite several weeks of discussions. They’ll chat again this week at the draft, so the door remains open, but there’s just as good of a chance he goes to market Monday at this point.
• The Predators also want to find some offensive pop up front. I believe they have interest in the likes of Steven Stamkos and Chandler Stephenson, if those pending UFAs hit the market, among several other forward targets.
• Patrick Kane’s camp, led by agent Pat Brisson, remains in talks with the Detroit Red Wings. The door isn’t closed on a return. But with Monday so close, obviously there’s a strong possibility he goes to market, and I think the focus for Kane would be on Eastern Conference contenders.
(Top photo of Martin Necas and Jake Guentzel: James Guillory / USA Today)
