RALEIGH, N.C. — The word came down on the afternoon of July 1, while NHL teams were busy splashing out millions on new players and free agents were signing deals in great haste before cap space and roster spots went to other players.

Nik Ehlers would not be moved.

The free-agent forward, late of the Winnipeg Jets and the top winger available once Mitch Marner was off the market, let teams know he would not be making his decision that day. Nor would it come the next day. Not until the afternoon of July 3 did he announce his decision to sign a six-year contract worth $51 million with the Carolina Hurricanes, yet another high-skill player for a team full of them and a one-two offseason punch along with the trade for defenseman K’Andre Miller.

This was a rare thing. Especially in the salary-cap era, since the summer of 2005, players and teams have so often moved quickly to find each other once the free-agent window opens. The scarcity on both sides, of roles and money, pushes the pace, the price and the potential for precipitous decisions. (Not to mention a little wink-wink tampering in the days leading up.) It’s not out of sheer hyperbole that Canada’s TSN network has branded it as “Free Agent Frenzy” for a generation. It’s only slightly less consumerist a mood than the parking lot of a Wal-Mart at 6 a.m. the morning after Thanksgiving.

Ehlers quickly realized his situation was different. There were no viable alternatives to him left out there; he had his pick of suitors and they weren’t abandoning him. And he didn’t have to worry about teams running out of financial room, either. With the cap rocketing up after being artificially depressed to get through COVID, it seemed like everybody had deep pockets this summer.

It wasn’t what Ehlers imagined on the night of June 30, because few of his predecessors had ever found themselves in this position. But he quickly recognized he wanted to take full advantage of the situation to fully sort through his options, at his pace.

Ehlers’ exhaustive process

That was in keeping with his life and career. Ehlers was born in Denmark, but also spent time as a child in Germany and Switzerland where his father was coaching, and then came over to North America as a teenager to play junior hockey. There’s a diversity of experience and thought there that may lend itself to taking a big move like this more seriously than others.

“It was definitely not something I planned, OK?” Ehlers said this week, after his first official practice as a member of the Hurricanes. “But at the same time I was also, I’m at a point where I’m 29 years old. You want to get it right. This is most likely my last contract, right? And it wasn’t for the money part. It wasn’t for any other part than me figuring out the best solution for myself. And you know, as selfish as that sounds, you want to make the right decision for that team as well, that you choose.”

Ehlers’ process was exhaustive, speaking not only to team officials like Hurricanes general manager Eric Tulsky and coach Rod Brind’Amour, who made their pitches, but former teammates and friends around the league. In the case of the Hurricanes, he could grill Jets teammate Nino Niederreiter for info — the two share an agent — and already had open lines of communication with countryman Frederik Andersen, who not long ago had joked that he’d probably never have the chance to share a locker room with another Danish speaker.

“Once I knew we were interested, I reached out and made sure he knew I was an open book,” Andersen said. “If he had any questions about the team and about the fans and Raleigh in general. So just not a huge sales job, but to be available for him and answer whatever he wanted. Obviously I wasn’t going to be the only one he talked to. To me, he didn’t seem like a guy worried about where he was going to play or who he was going to play with. He just wanted to play on a good team.”

Brind’Amour has had a million of those calls with potential players, especially important on a team like the Hurricanes where the head coach is a huge part of the entire franchise’s identity. The context is often the same: We need you, here’s how we see you fitting, here’s why we want you, here’s how you can make us better and how we can make you better.

With Ehlers, it was different. This was a player driving the conversation, pumping the coach for information, asking questions Brind’Amour had never been asked before.

“He was probably, of all the guys that I’ve ever talked to doing this stuff, was definitely asking way more questions than most do,” Brind’Amour said. ”I think most guys, they understand what this team’s about, and the players. Generally it ends up being who pays the most right? If you’re being real. But that wasn’t what it was for him, so that was kind of refreshing too. To be like, OK, there’s other motivations here. It paid off, obviously.”

There were other familiarities as well. Andre Rufener, Ehlers’ Switzerland-based agent, not only represented Niederreiter during his time with the Hurricanes but played alongside Brind’Amour in Switzerland during the 2004-05 lockout, was very comfortable with both the organization and the market. None of that hurt the Hurricanes.

“I met with Rod at the draft in 2014, in Nik’s draft year, because they were interviewing Nik,” Rufener said. “He wanted him then and all these years he always wanted him. Of course Nikolaj knew this also for a long time. You know that you’re going to play for a coach who literally wanted to have you on his team for 11 years.”

Patience pays off

The Hurricanes, meanwhile, were willing to wait and do things on Ehlers’ timetable. They had already addressed their biggest need, trading for Miller to upgrade the blue line as Brent Burns and Dmitry Orlov exited. They picked up veteran defenseman Mike Reilly to add depth at that position. And as much as they wanted Ehlers, and believed he would make them better, they didn’t need him. They didn’t have a Plan B they needed to act upon. There was only Ehlers. It was him or nothing.

The timetable was agonizing. But it wasn’t a dealbreaker, not for the Hurricanes anyway. They could wait.

“We were fortunate enough to be in a position where we had a very deep team,” Tulsky said. “Obviously we wanted to add him. We felt like it would make us better. But it was not going to leave a hole for us if he didn’t come. We did not have the pressure that we need a decision right now, because we need to get this other guy signed. It was sort of either him or the status quo.”

The Hurricanes’ arguments proved as persuasive as Ehlers’ own research, but not as persuasive as the reality on the ice. The chance to play for a team that had every opportunity to be a Stanley Cup contender for the length of Ehlers’ contract was the deciding factor.

“Of course we all know, you never know,” Rufener said. “You never have a guarantee. But when you look at the core of the Hurricanes the next couple years, with the age and the ability, they have the players, the talent, how the team was put together, I feel the Hurricanes have a really good chance to compete for winning the Stanley Cup this year and the years to come. That was a very important thing for Nik.”

By the time it was over, and he made the decision to sign with the Hurricanes, Ehlers decided the time he spent was worth it, if not easy.

“I was pretty tired of being on my phone after the three days, let me put it that way,” Ehlers said. “I talked to a lot of people. I wanted to get all the information to put myself in the best position to make the right decision and I believe I’ve done that. I’m glad I took the time.

“I know a lot of people were kind of mixed, what people thought about it, but at the same time, it’s what I needed. Some guys don’t, which is great, but I’ve seen it go the other way as well, where people make the decision right away without getting all the facts, and it doesn’t work out. And you do it as much for the team as for yourself.”

The Hurricanes were willing to wait for the right answer. Ehlers opened camp Thursday on the top line with Sebastian Aho and Seth Jarvis. It’ll still take months to find out just what those three days in July really meant, to Ehlers and the Hurricanes.

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