The Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes are an interesting case study.

It took years for the “computer boys” to get that team to the promised land, and while so much has been made about the analytically driven moves the organization has made over the years, their ability to identify market inefficiencies is what drove them over the top.

You can go up and down their roster and see it. Despite a long list of very good players, they don’t have any true superstar-calibre players in the way other Cup-contending teams have. They don’t have the Aleksander Barkovs or the Matthew Tkachuks that helped lift the Florida Panthers to back-to-back Stanley Cup titles, or the Jack Eichels who helped Vegas win in 2023, or the Nathan MacKinnons and Cale Makars that lifted Colorado in 2022.

And when you look at the Hurricanes, it’s easy to see they’re a team that’s only now entering their Cup-contention window. As of July 11, they still have $9.8 million in cap space and all of their own draft picks in the years to come.

That surplus of cap space is thanks to some of the signings they’ve made over the years. They have no player making over $10 million per year, and only four players making over $7 million, but they have multiple key pieces on long-term deals at very reasonable cap hits.

What can the Oilers learn from Carolina’s long-term contract model?

Look no further than Logan Stankoven and Jackson Blake, both of whom are signed for the........

© Oilers Nation