After a rough start to life as a Carolina Hurricane, it appears as though Jesperi Kotkaniemi is on his way out this summer. The Carolina Hurricanes pushed hard in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but even after all the moves they made at the trade deadline and over the summer, they fell short in the semi-finals against the division rival New York Rangers. Now, the team have plenty of questions to answer this summer, and it appears as though NHL insider Elliotte Friedman has answered one of them already. <q>EF thinks #CauseChaos will buyout Kotkaniemi EF mentions #Canucks won't double down to bring back Hronek just because they gave a 1st to get him, should be price himself out of VAN Marek wonders about Silovs, an RFA. EF thinks he backup Demko next year</q> <div align='center'><blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'><a href='https://twitter.com/LeafsFan3488/status/1793289989091971301'> </a></blockquote></div> According to Friedman, it's likely that the team will buy out Jesperi Kotkaniemi, after tallying just 27 points this season in a year that the Hurricanes expected him to take the next big step in his career. A buyout for Carolina would cost them $835k per year until 2035-36, but it would ultimately save them over $20 million if this is the route they choose to take. When asked about his performance this year, Kotkaniemi was blunt in saying that it wasn't up to his standard, clearly showing frustration with how the year went. <div align='center'><blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'><a href='https://twitter.com/WaltRuff/status/1792227794849575111'> </a></blockquote></div> Ultimately, something will need to change for the Hurricanes and Kotkaniemi this summer, whether that's a contract restructure, a buyout or a potential trade, but at this point, all signs are pointing towards the buyout option for the Hurricanes.