What moves might we see in the Canes off season?

I spoke to Tripp Tracy almost every single day. I have not spoken with Tripp now in almost two weeks. I'm going through withdrawal.

I have the shakes. There he is. He is headed on vacation.

I'm glad we got him before then. Tripp Tracy is joining me on the Adam Gold Show. How you doing, my friend? Hi, great to hear your voice. I'm actually at the moment driving and I've been in Strathroy, Ontario. That's where you find me right now at this moment.

That is beautiful. Shouts to our friends across the border. Let me ask you a couple of things. We always call it a hot stove, but the real hot stove is when we're talking about what kind of moves the team needs to make. I was reading about, you know, Brett Pesci is one year away from a contract extension. I talked to Tom Dundon the other week. Actually, I think it was beginning of last week and Dundon said that a priority is figuring out Pesci and Shea. And that one, I think the Pesci part of this is going to be very complicated.

You know, he's an original, he's an original hurricane. It's a little different with Brady Shea, who started his career with the Rangers, but Pesci is an original guy. He and Slavin were joined at the hip.

Pesci got here before Slavin just by a little bit, but he got here before Slavin. And I don't believe that they can get better. If they can't come up with a contract, I don't believe they can get better with a trade unless the trade is monumental. How do you view this off-season through a prism of Brett Pesci knowing what he wants, probably, in terms of a contract? Well, first of all, prism, great word, AG.

The rub to it for me is there's a couple of different things, and that's why prism is the right word. There's no question that the foundation, this to Carolina's team, that has been elite in regular seasons in the last few, their biggest strength is their blue line. And both Brett and Brady are a big part of that. I thought that Brett and Brady, probably candidly in October, November, December, January, were certainly as good as any two-way tandem in the National Hockey League at both ends of the ring. You can make an argument that they were the best.

I thought that they fell off a little bit after that. But that stretch of time, I thought that they were, they didn't get the notoriety, but they were as good of a tandem as there was in the league. And the rub is that there's no question, and I'm sure you and Tom talked about it, that one thing that will not change is that the Hurricanes will be a cap team.

And that's an automatic, and I still never take that for granted because it's a terrific thing. For both Brett and Brady, can you achieve a number that is going to be satisfactory to both of them? But it probably will be a little bit less than what they would get on the open market, and that's no different than other teams. Because the reality is, you know, it takes guys taking a little bit less to be on a Stanley Cup contending team than what you would get in Tracy. A compromise where you're in striking distance, you love being a Carolina Hurricane, but it helps Carolina achieve their team goals of continuing to give themselves a chance to win the Stanley Cup. And if the Hurricanes can do that, if the Hurricanes can bring everybody back 18, on top of the luxury that other elite teams don't have with regards to their cap space and all of their assets, they're in a more advantageous position than any of the other teams that you would think of that are Stanley Cup contenders with regards to next year. But it is a big challenge in the prism that you have coming back, including guys like Brett and Brady, Sebastian Alo, that are away from three agencies. Trip Tracy is joining us here. He's driving, my guess is, to the airport in Toronto, is my guess here.

And I want to get a couple of things here before, I don't know, before the exchange rate changes. So just to kind of finish the Pesci thing, because if they have the idea that they're so far apart in a conversation that they would not be able to sign him when he does hit unrestricted free agency, the tendency, especially over the last few years when we've had this, whether it was Justin Faulk or Elias Lindholm, is to move a player like Pesci out. I just don't think they get closer to their goals, which is winning a Stanley Cup, by not having Brett Pesci. And unless you're bringing in a foundational piece that you are going to have for a long time, and I don't see that happening, I just don't see how they get better by moving Pesci. Do you think that it's more about money or more about years on a contract for Brett? Boy, there's a couple of things there in play, A.G., that for me are very significant.

My suspicion is it's more about years, but I don't know. I'm not in the know with regards to the contractual negotiations, but that would be my suggestion. Adam, I mean, listen, I get it when you approach free agency that you're not going to be able to approach free agency, that you do not want to lose a foundational player for no return. But for all the reasons that I just mentioned, you know, the hurricanes have not rolled the dice yet with this period of excellence. I find them to be in a unique position because they're already, if you don't make any changes and you have that thing that they didn't have called luck with regards to health of extremely significant players, and that's a big piece of, I love Vegas's team, but that's a big piece as to why Vegas won. That's a big piece we celebrated, you know, June 19th yesterday of why the hurricanes won. They didn't have any injuries, they had duck weight go down, I could hear it cold too, but for the most part they stayed healthy. So, you know, do you get to a point, because you already have an elite team, you have very substantial cap space that your fellow elite competitive teams don't have, you have an abundance of assets, you have defensemen coming in the future that typically I learn about guys when they get close to making the NHL, I feel like that's my job description, the draft is coming up this week, but you have a couple of guys that you're quite high on when you project, projecting is a difficult thing, but on the back end, do the hurricanes get to a point where they roll the dice because it would be a qualitative decision to do so, as opposed to if you don't come to a contract here in the next several weeks, let's say, that you just move them, like the trade that you mentioned that involves Elias Lindholm and Noah Hanniford at the draft back in 2018. And Justin Falk also basically at the draft of getting Joel Edmond, at least they got a defensive player back in that deal, there wasn't much else. Final thing, because this is, Pierre Lebron wrote about it in The Athletic, that the hurricanes, we're talking with Tripp Tracy, hurricanes radio and TV analyst, along with Mike Metiscalco, could you bring back Freddie Anderson and Auntie Ronta, do you think they would come back on one year deals, because I don't see the hurricanes committing a lot of years knowing that they expect Pyotr Kachetkov to be ready, if not this year, then certainly next year, to be, you know, at least a 1B, a tandem goalie, could you bring back Anderson and Ronta on one year deals? I have a hard time believing that that makes true sense to bring them both back, then this is just me, but you know, you have Kachetkov, who's got what I think is worst case scenario, a solid team deal, best case scenario, a terrific team deal, you know, that you have in four years, two million per, I just see him with that contract kicking in, he's in the national occupant, and so I see you bringing back one of the two guys, you absolutely no doubt about it would have to get, if I'm right, you'd have to get a very reliable third guy, you know, look at what Alex Lyon, a brief time hurricane meant to the Florida Panthers, you absolutely need a reliable third guy that has NHL experience, but Kachetkov, when I factor in, I'm just the couple analyst, but I don't see how he's not in the National Hockey League, and then I would be very comfortable with bringing back Freddie or Antti, and then I think you get a third guy and you place him wherever it's going to be without an American Hockey League team with NHL experience, you know, he already has things to work on AG mechanically, but I see worst case scenario, that being a very solid deal, because at the very worst he's a National Hockey League backup, at the very best he's the number one, so I thought that going back to, I think it was November last year when Don struck that deal, I think that no matter what, that's going to be a solid deal, that could be a great deal, but I don't see you bringing back both. Trip Tracy, enjoy your holiday, sir, I will talk to you very soon, and good luck, safe trip.

Do you want to know what it is? Sure. Okay, all these young guys that keep me young on the team told me that I had to improve my casual attire, and they introduced me to these sneakers that I wear on TV, and the brand that they told me to get has invited me to their fashion show in Paris, it's going to be a Zoolander moment, and the boys are all, the boys can't believe I got invited, all the young guys on the team, so that's where I'm headed, I'll be back in the United States Friday, it'll be a quick one, but totally, not uncomfortable, it's going to be a great experience, but not my, not really my comfort zone with regards to going to a fashion show, but I have to do my best blue steel. This is fantastic, are any of the guys meeting you in Paris? There were a couple that ditched that they would come as my plus one, but I'm taking my nephew, but they have all requested, not just the young guys, Brent Burns this morning, they have all requested all sorts of dicks, and they're really pushing for me to do my best blue steel impersonation. That is fantastic, alright sir, enjoy Paris, I will talk to you later.