Hurricanes sign AHL standout Ronan Seeley to one-year extension

Carolina kept Ronan Seeley in the organization on July 23, locking the defenseman into a one-year, two-way contract that pays $850,000 at the NHL level and $100,000 in the AHL. The deal gives the Hurricanes a low-cost depth defender who can open the season with the Chicago Wolves, but still remains one injury or camp surge away from NHL consideration.

General manager Eric Tulsky announced the signing after Seeley finished a strong season in Chicago, where he put up 23 points, 11 goals and 12 assists, in 69 games for the Wolves in 2025-26. Walt Ruff, the Hurricanes’ team reporter, pointed to Seeley’s role in the room as much as his production, noting that the 2020 draft pick had been a key part of the culture in Chicago and won the Tim Breslin Unsung Hero Award last season.

Seeley’s path back to this point has been a steady organizational climb. Carolina chose him in the seventh round, 208th overall, in the 2020 NHL Draft, then signed him to a three-year entry-level contract on Sept. 24, 2021. Born Aug. 2, 2002, in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, the left-shot defenseman spent most of his development time in the AHL before getting his first NHL look last season.

That cameo came in the regular-season finale against the New York Islanders, where he logged 15:12 of ice time. It was a brief debut, but it confirmed he is already on Carolina’s recall map if the blue line gets thinned out by injuries, uneven camp play or a setback from a veteran ahead of him. The two-way structure reinforces that balance: Seeley can anchor a top role in Chicago while remaining a practical call-up option for Raleigh, North Carolina.

For Carolina, the extension keeps a familiar piece in the pipeline at a moment when the franchise is sorting its offseason defense picture before training camp in September. Cap and transaction trackers marked the move as a one-year extension after a Group 2 arbitration filing, another sign the Hurricanes view Seeley as more than a pass-through depth body. He is still most likely to open in the AHL, but his combination of age, production and organizational trust gives him a real lane toward NHL minutes if the Hurricanes need help on the left side.