Alexander Nikishin just sent the Hurricanes a message Eric Tulsky may not want to hear
Photo credit: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Alexander Nikishin wants more than $8 million from the Carolina Hurricanes. The number came from a deal Eric Tulsky signed a year earlier.
Alexander Nikishin did not invent his own asking price. The Carolina Hurricanes did, a year before he ever asked for it.
Speaking with Daria Tuboltseva of RG, the defenseman was asked about reports that he wants $8 million a season.
He smiled and answered with a single word: more.
This led to trade rumors flying and five teams being linked by The Hockey News.
Carolina wrote this comparable itself
In July 2025, general manager Eric Tulsky sent a conditional first-round pick, a second-round pick and defenseman Scott Morrow to the New York Rangers for K'Andre Miller.
Miller signed an eight-year, $60 million contract on the same day, a $7.5 million cap hit that runs through 2032-33.
He was 25 and coming off a 27-point season. Elliotte Friedman reported that Carolina had weighed an offer sheet before the sign-and-trade came together.
Nikishin is 24 and put up 33 points in 81 games as a rookie, becoming the first rookie defenseman in Hurricanes history to reach 10 goals.
Nobody had to explain to his agents what a young left-shot defenseman is worth in Raleigh.
Tulsky published that number himself at $7.5 million.
The counterargument is Carolina's own lineup card
Miller was acquired to log heavy minutes and averaged nearly 22 a night in his final Rangers season.
Nikishin averaged 18:11 in the regular season and 14:50 across 17 playoff games.
He finished the Cup run with one assist, and The Hockey Writers charted him with the worst five-on-five expected-goals-against rate among Carolina defensemen in the postseason.
So the Hurricanes hold two of their own data points pointing in opposite directions. One says pay him, the other says he has not played the role yet.
Carolina went into August with roughly $9.9 million in space and Nikishin as its only unsigned regular, per PuckPedia figures cited by The Hockey News.
The lesson travels beyond Raleigh.
Every club that pays a young defenseman early writes the comparable for the next one, and Carolina wrote Nikishin's before deciding how much it trusted him.
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