One of the keystones on which the Carolina Hurricanes have built their team is that they have a lot of young guys who are signed for a very, very long time.

But one of the shortcomings of such a philosophy, which isn’t really that much of an issue because of the groundwork they lay when guys are in their early and mid-20s, is that once guys start hitting unrestricted free agency, you have to start making difficult decisions about how long you’re going to keep them.

The Hurricanes have six pending UFAs, and five more restricted free agents, all but one of whom have arbitration rights. Already, they have 14 players signed for next season and about $19.4-million in cap space. And, if Jake Gardiner is indeed done playing hockey, there’s another $4.05-million they can spend once he’s put on LTIR again.

So it quickly becomes a numbers game: Which of those players do you keep, and how much do you pay them?