On Saturday, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reported that the Carolina Hurricanes and restricted free agent Seth Jarvis have reached a unique agreement on an eight-year deal worth $63.8 million.
The unique part of the deal is not the huge amount of cash the soon-to-be fourth-year player will be getting paid: it’s the structure of how he’ll be paid.
The 22-year-old will be one of the first players in the NHL to have a cap hit lower than the usual average annual value because he will have parts of his salary deferred, Seravalli reported.
It is unknown just how much money or which year the money is deferred, Seravalli added, but he said Jarvis has a signing bonus owed on July 1, 2032, just one day after his contract is set to expire.
In the recent salary cap era, dividing the total amount of money a player will receive by the number of years they signed for to reach the average annual value is common. If this were the case, the Hurricanes would be putting $7.9 million towards the salary cap per season for Jarvis, but with his deferred contract, they will save $400,000 a year, with Jarvis making $7.5 million per year, Seravalli noted.
Although the structure is a bit unusual, Seravalli mentions that deferred payments are allowed per the Collective Bargaining Agreement, but Carolina will be the first team to make the jump.
Seravalli added that both the NHL Players Association and NHL’s Central Registry had to sign off on the structure before Jarvis and the Hurricanes could agree to any terms. Additionally, before agreeing to any terms, Jarvis and his agent, Gerry Johannson, had to sift through the deal’s risk factors, including the possibility of a buyout or trade.
Seravalli continued in his article to explain how this particular structure will work and what it will mean for Jarvis and the Hurricanes organization:
“Well, the first thing to know is they’re not free. This is an example of Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon, who has somehow received a reputation of being stingy, actually spending more over time to benefit his team in the shorter term. A smaller salary cap hit, theoretically, allows for more spending and thus a more competitive team if spent properly.The NHL’s CBA calls for a time value of money discount calculation. It is easy to understand the value of money over time – we would all rather have $1 million today than $1 million three years from now. So, the NHL has a formula that estimates how much the time value of money is, based on the current interest rates, and adjusts for that. That way the $1 million that you deferred today for payment three years from now might only count on the books as if you received $850,000 today.”
Jarvis won’t be the only Hurricanes player possibly earning less throughout his contract. Defenceman Jaccob Salvin will also be taking a deferred salary structure on his new eight-year deal, which will see him earn around $6.396 million per year with the deferral. This means around $65,000 in savings for the Hurricanes per year.
With its innovative deferred structure, Jarvis’ new deal and the Hurricanes’ willingness to take a risk make it a game-changer that the remaining 31 NHL organizations may want to consider.
Seravalli also speculated about Leon Draisaitl deferring parts of his salary on his upcoming contract extension.
Canucks’ goaltender Arturs Silovs knee inflammation should be no problem for training camp
The 2024-25 season will be the first full season for Vancouver Canucks goaltender Arturs Silovs. Unfortunately, Silvos’ season is already off to a shaky start, with training camp nearing.
The 23-year-old netminder has been home in Latvia with their National Team training for the upcoming 2026 Olympic Qualification tournament in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.
However, The Athletic’s and CHEK News’ Rick Dhaliwal reported that the Latvian goaltender is not 100 percent and will be sidelined for the tournament as Latvian general manager Rudolfs Kalvitis does not want to push Silovs with his injury and the upcoming Canucks training camp in September.
Despite missing out on the opportunity to represent his country, the fortunate news is that the Canucks most likely contender for the backup position this upcoming season does not have a significant injury.
With an injury to Canucks starting goaltender Thatcher Demko during the 2023-24 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Silvos manned the crease for the final three matches against the Nashville Predators in their first-round series, helping them advance to the second round. In the second round, Salvos played all seven games against the Edmonton Oilers, earning a record of 5-5-0 with a .898 save percentage.
As Maxwell reported, Silovs will enter into his first one-way contract with the Canucks with a $850,000 cap hit this upcoming season.
Unfortunately, Silovs isn’t the only goaltender dealing with an injury ahead of training camp. The Athletic’s Dhaliwal and Thomas Drance reported last week that Demko will not take part in any on-ice training during training camp or preseason.
Demko faced an injury in the first game of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs and is still recovering from the knee injury.
However, both Dhaliwal and Drance are hopeful that he will be able to play in the Canucks home opener on October 9th against the Calgary Flames, but nothing is set in stone just yet.
Dhaliwal also connected the Canucks to unrestricted free agent goaltender Kevin Lakinen, the Nashville Predators backup netminder behind Juuse Saros during the 2023-24 campaign.
Hopefully, the Canucks can start their season with healthy netminders, but in the event the team is still missing Demko, the organization does have the luxury of the new additions acquired in the offseason, such as Jake Debrusk, Daniel Sprong, Vincent Desharnais, amongst others to help keep them in the upper echelon of the division.
