Carolina Hurricanes defensemen Brett Carson and Alexandre Picard are set to become unrestricted free agents on Thursday, general manager Jim Rutherford said Monday.
The Hurricanes had until 5 p.m. Monday to make qualifying offers to its three restricted free agents.
The Hurricanes did make a qualifying offer to goalie Justin Peters, who could still take the Hurricanes' two-way deal to arbitration.
Rutherford said the team decided not to qualify offers to the two defensemen.
Rutherford said he offered to make both one-way players, meaning they would have been guaranteed money regardless of if they played in the NHL or minor leagues, but the sides couldn't agree on salary.
"We couldn't come to an agreement," Rutherford said.
Carson played in 54 games last season and had two goals and 10 assists and was plus-5, while Picard also played in 54 (45 with the Ottawa Senators) games last season with four goals and 11 assists.
"This is part of the process," Rutherford said. "I like both of these players. I like the way they are coming along. But now we can take the money we budgeted and roll it into one player instead of two."
Rutherford said the team would look at other defensemen who will become unrestricted free agents on Thursday.
"If they agreed to the contracts, we would have been fine with that," he said. "That they didn't actually gives us more flexibility."
Javier Serna has covered sports for The News & Observer since 2007. He previously covered growth for the North Raleigh News, and sports at The Truth in Elkhart, Ind. E-mail 
Comments
Carson
Tue, 06/29/2010 - 12:36 — hockey101Hopefully we can resign Carson. Hate to see him go. Their are rumors going around that JR is interested in Marc Staal. It has been said that the Rangers are far apart as far as salary goes. If the Rangers can't sign him wonder if JR will go after him.
I predict that
Mon, 06/28/2010 - 22:39 — esteban1949Carson will be signed...but that is an "educated" guess...hehehe
The Canes are Good,My Grandkids are Better, and Life is Great !! Go Canes !!
CARSON
Mon, 06/28/2010 - 22:58 — abramsdougI agree. Unless something really big is going on, I suspect Carson will be re-signed.
Seidenberg
Mon, 06/28/2010 - 21:25 — CaniacG4We need to get Seidenberg back. That was the biggest mistake we have made on our D to let him go
seidenberg
Mon, 06/28/2010 - 22:15 — louis12580Unfortunately the only way is to make a deal with the Bruins for him. He just signed a new deal with them so he's off the market.
Great
Mon, 06/28/2010 - 19:48 — CharlotteCaniacGreat, now we can sign Pothier.
Please Mr. Rutherford,
Mon, 06/28/2010 - 19:07 — TheReaper49Please Mr. Rutherford, please go out and sign a player who actually plays defense and maybe who understands that one of the best ways to keep a guy from scoring is by knocking him on his ...
We have enough 'puck-moving defensemen' who don't hit and who let opposing forwards set up shop in front our goalie. We need another Tim Gleason clone...