What's better than having one Slavin in the organization? What if they had two Slavins? On Sunday, July 7, the Carolina Hurricanes signed Josiah Slavin to a two-year, two-way contract that will keep him with the organization through the 2025-26 season. He joins his older brother, Jacob Slavin, a two-time Lady Byng Memorial Trophy winner, within the Hurricanes organization. The 25-year-old Erie, Colorado native is looking for some stability for the first time since the 2021-22 season, when he was with the Chicago Blackhawks organization. What will the younger Slavin bring to the Hurricanes as the pair's forward brothers?
Josiah joined the Hurricanes after playing for the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League (AHL) in the 2023-24 season, where he recorded 10 goals and 24 points in 70 games. It was his first time playing a full season with one team since playing for Colorado College, where his older brother Jakob played collegiately, in the 2019-20 season. Slavin has followed in his brother's skating footsteps since their days with the Colorado Thunderbirds in Colorado's T1EHL 18U/16U. Both Slavins played for the Chicago Steel of the United States Hockey League (USHL) at one point in their careers, and also played for Colorado College in the NCAA for various stints. Time has passed, and now they are back together again in a way.
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Slavin's new two-year, two-way contract will pay him $775,000 in the NHL and $150,000 in the AHL. Additionally, part of the contract includes $450,000 guaranteed. His best season was with the Blackhawks' AHL affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs, in 2021-22, where he recorded 18 goals, 32 points and a plus-18 rating in 49 games. His 2023-24 season with the Marlies was his first full season with one team in a long time, after bouncing back and forth between the IceHogs and Blackhawks two seasons prior. Slavin was traded to the Anaheim Ducks organization midway through the 2022-23 season, before finishing the year with the San Diego Gulls.
Slavin will not be a great shooter or a great scorer, but he can provide two-way play that can contribute to the Chicago Wolves in the AHL in 2024-25. He is a quick scorer who can score on rebounds and when he gets a shot opportunity. The expectation is that he will find stability and comfort in his game after playing for three different AHL teams in the past two seasons. Additionally, his experience in the AHL, especially in the Central Division, will help the Wolves make it to the Calder Cup Playoffs after missing the past two seasons. Unless there are a lot of injuries at the center position, it is unlikely that the young Slavin will play in an NHL game this season. However, there may be a chance to see the Slavin brothers together in a preseason game as a family memento, like the famous Staal family photo of Jordan, Eric, and Jarret playing in a game together.
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When asked about new addition Slavin, general manager Eric Tulski said, “Josiah is a smart, athletic two-way forward. He competes hard, has high character and has NHL experience. We are excited to have him join our team.”
The 201 games of AHL experience he will bring to the Wolves sees him rack up 38 goals and 81 points with Toronto, Rockford and San Diego. Slavin will likely play in the Wolves' top six but will also see time on special teams, where time on the penalty kill may be more important than the power play for head coach Cam Abbott's squad unless he's PP2.
Final thoughts
Ultimately, this is just a reinforcement option to strengthen the Timberwolves lineup. Additionally, this two-year deal will provide stability for Slavin, who has bounced around the AHL for the past two seasons. He will be trying to bring a Calder Cup title home to the five-time champion Timberwolves. Could we see the two Slavin brothers together in the preseason for some memories like the Staal brothers? For now, we can only hope so, for the Colorado brothers who played for the same organization at different times throughout their careers. As for the 2024-25 season, expect the younger Slavin to try to get a shot at a Calder Cup in the AHL and the older Slavin to try to bring another Stanley Cup home to Carolina.
