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.
 

Carolina Hurricanes general manager Jim Rutherford met with the agent of forward Ray Whitney at the NHL draft on Saturday, but Whitney is expected to test the free agency market, Rutherford said Monday.

The team hopes Whitney, 38, who's played in 18 NHL seasons and was third on the team in points (58) last season, still ends up with the Canes.

The NHL's free agency period begins Thursday, and Whitney is an unrestricted free agent.

"We're keeping the door open and hoping that he'll come back to us," Rutherford said

Alexandre Picard grew up in Gatineau, Quebec, just across the river from Ottawa, and was playing for his hometown team, the Ottawa Sentators.

The Sens are leading the Northeast Division after beating the Washington Capitals 6-5 Thursday. With a 35-22-4 record after a 9-1-0 run, they should be playoff-bound.

Given all that, one would think it would hard to leave. Not so, Picard said today after the trade to the Hurricanes that he said will give him a fresh start.

"I was pretty excited," Picard said. "It has been a rough couple of weeks here in Ottawa for me. Didn't get to play much. So obviously I was pretty happy to go to a team where they wanted me and I'll get a chance to play, too."