By Justin Pelletier from the Charlotte Observor

The Carolina Hurricanes celebrate on the ice after defeating Vegas to win the Stanley Cup Championship. Ethan Hyman ehyman@newsobserver.com Key Takeaways AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom. The Carolina Hurricanes (Shop Canes Fan Gear) are Stanley Cup Champions, finally breaking through to win it all in their eighth consecutive trip to the NHL playoffs, and fourth trip to at least the conference final round in those eight years. The scary thing for the Canes’ divisional opponents — and perhaps for the NHL? They’re not even close to the end of their championship “window.” In fact, it may just now be opening. TOP VIDEOS It’s often suggested that in the NHL, a team has a particular span of time in which to win a championship — a window — affected by a confluence of factors that prove favorable to constructing a Stanley Cup-winning roster: equal parts talent, affordability, youth, coaching, and chemistry. The NHL, following its two most recent work stoppages, incrementally put rules in place, including its salary cap structure, to create parity, trying to ensure all markets — regardless of location, size or tax structure — have a chance to participate in the postseason. And, for the most part, it’s worked. With the Buffalo Sabres finally making the playoffs in 2026, the league’s longest playoff drought now stands at 10 years (Detroit, we’re looking at you). Anaheim and San Jose, who hold the next-longest current droughts at eight and seven years, respectively, have solid young cores and will be knocking on the playoffs’ door next season. The Hurricanes, of course, are on the flip side of that. They’ve been to eight consecutive NHL postseasons. Only Colorado and Tampa Bay with nine each have a longer running streak. But the Hurricanes’ streak will probably outlast them both, assuming relative health. Why? Because of the way Canes’ GM Eric Tulsky (and in part, his predecessor Don Waddell) constructed the roster, and worked the salary cap to their favor. “It’s been a long time coming,” Tulsky said Sunday, his team celebrating on the T-Mobile center ice around him. “This team has been built the right way for a long time, and just gotten better and better year after year, and we finally got where we wanted to be.” Hurricanes massage the salary cap Let’s start with next season: Thirteen of the Hurricanes’ 14 rostered forwards in the Stanley Cup Final, five of the seven defensemen and two of the three goalies are already under contract for 2026-27. That’s a far larger percentage of players returning than most Cup-winning teams face in the offseason following a title run, and it’s mostly because Tulsky chose not to complete a major trade at this year’s deadline. No expiring contracts allows for continuity. But it’s not just that they have the players locked up. The players who are locked up are on longer term, team-friendly contracts as the NHL salary cap continues to incrementally climb. For 2026-27, the cap ceiling jumped to $104 million from $95.5 million, allowing for the expansion of player salaries as league revenue increases. Half of the league’s 32 teams have at least one player making more than one-tenth of the team’s total salary allowance, more than $10 million. The Canes are not one of them, though they are spending to the cap limit. Sebastian Aho is Carolina’s highest paid player at $9.75 million, followed by Nikolaj Ehlers at $8.5 million, and Andrei Svechnikov at $7.75 million. Carolina Hurricanes left wing Nikolaj Ehlers (27) greets Carolina Hurricanes right wing Andrei Svechnikov (37) after his goal to give the Hurricanes a 4-1 lead in the third period in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final against Vegas, on Thursday, June 11, 2026 at Lenovo Center in Raleigh, N.C. Robert Willett rwillett@newsobserver.com Aho and Ehlers are locked in to those salaries through 2031, Svechnikov through 2029, even as the cap rises, allowing the Canes more room under the cap to sign other players that fit their system, including younger players like Jackson Blake and Logan Stankoven and Seth Jarvis. Each of those players are also on deals with Carolina through 2031, creating a pack of five forwards and two defenders — K’Andre Miller and Jaccob Slavin — who are contracted to spend the next five seasons in Raleigh. With 20 players under contract through 2027, and 15 through 2028, the Hurricanes are in no hurry to “rebuild.” Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere (4) celebrates with teammates Logan Stankoven (22) and Jackson Blake (53), after scoring to tie Las Vegas 4-4 in the third period of Game 1 in the Stanley Cup Finals, on Tuesday, June 2, 2026 at Lenovo Center in Raleigh, N.C. Robert Willett rwillett@newsobserver.com Down on the farm And then there is the Canes’ farm system, which is overflowing with NHL-ready, or near-NHL-ready talent, as exhibited by the Chicago Wolves run to the Calder Cup Final in the AHL. We also saw that organizational depth on display during the NHL regular season, when the Hurricanes had multiple defenders down with injuries in October, November and December. Charles-Alexis Legault, Joel Nystrom, Dominic Fensore and Ronan Seeley all played in at least one game on the blue line.

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• Diamondbacks’ Michael Soroka: Impressive again in no-decision

  Soroka completed seven innings against Cincinnati on Saturday, allowing one run on two hits and no walks while striking out seven batters in a no-decision.

  Soroka gave up a run on two hits in the third inning, but aside from that frame the only baserunner he allowed came on a first-inning hit-by-pitch. The right-hander retired the final 13 batters he faced and finished with his sixth quality start over his past eight outings while fanning seven batters. Soroka is in the midst of an excellent campaign, posting an 8-3 record along with a 3.11 ERA, 1.07 WHIP and 79:17 K:BB over 81 innings spanning 14 starts. Perhaps most importantly, he’s managed to stay healthy — he’s nine innings away from reaching 90 in the majors for the first time since the 2019 season.

  Marte hits go-ahead homer in eighth, Lowder pitches into sixth in Reds’ 2-1 win over Diamondbacks

• Diamondbacks’ Paul Sewald: Collects save No. 16

  Sewald struck out one batter in a perfect ninth inning to pick up the save in Friday’s win over Cincinnati.

  Sewald needed eight pitches to strike out Dane Myers to lead off the inning, but it took just five more offerings for Sewald to collect the final two outs and lock down his 16th save of the season — good for fourth in the National League. The 36-year-old righty has been much more effective recently than his 3.20 ERA might suggest, allowing just one run and striking out nine batters across his last 10 innings.

• Diamondbacks’ Eduardo Rodriguez: Poor command Friday

  Rodriguez didn’t factor into the decision in Friday’s 5-2 win over the Reds, allowing two runs (one earned) on two hits and five walks while striking out three batters in 2.2 innings.

  It was immediately clear that Rodriguez didn’t have his best stuff going Friday. He issued three free passes in the first inning and needed 40 pitches to collect his first three outs, though he managed to do so without giving up a run. The runs would come later, courtesy of a solo homer from Noelvi Marte in the second and an RBI single from Eugenio Suarez in the third. The D-backs made the call to take Rodriguez out of the game once he had reached 85 pitches midway through the third inning, marking the southpaw’s shortest start of the season. He’ll carry a 2.55 ERA and 1.23 WHIP into his next outing, which figures to be a relatively favorable matchup at home against the Angels.