The Carolina Hurricanes have signed Nikolaj Ehlers to a six-year, $51 million deal, the team announced Thursday.

The 29-year-old winger was TSN's No. 1 ranked free agent to hit the market on Tuesday and received interest from multiple clubs over the past three days.

Ehlers is coming off of a 2024-25 campaign that saw him record 24 goals and 53 points in 69 games with the Winnipeg Jets, en route to winning the Presidents’ Trophy. He added five goals and seven points in eight playoff games before his team was eliminated by the Dallas Stars in the second round. 

Hurricanes general manager Eric Tulsky confirmed Tuesday that he'd been in touch in Ehlers’ agent. The Hurricanes had a whopping $18.26 million in cap space with 23 players already under contract for next season before signing Ehlers. 

“We’ve had talks with his agent," Tulsky said. “He’s taking his time to field offers. He’s obviously a very popular person right now, and we’re waiting to see where that goes.”

The 6-foot winger is coming off a seven-year, $42 million contract that carried a cap hit of $6 million.

Drafted ninth overall by the Jets in 2014, Ehlers has 225 goals and 520 points in 674 career games. 

Adding Ehlers comes after the Hurricanes locked up a key piece of their future on Tuesday, signing Logan Stankoven to an eight-year, $48 million contract extension. Carolina also acquired K'Andre Miller from the New York Rangers, signing him to an eight-year deal worth $7.5 million per year. The Rangers received blueliner Scott Morrow, a 2026 first-round pick, and a 2026 second-round pick in return for Miller.

The signing also comes after the Hurricanes failed to land long-term deals with star wingers Jake Guentzel and Mikko Rantanen after in-season trades the past two years.