Trade for Cedric Paquette adds a ‘tough dude’ to the Carolina Hurricanes lineup
A year ago, Cedric Paquette did everything he could to help the Tampa Bay Lightning win a Stanley Cup.
This season, Paquette now will do everything he can to help the Lightning not win a Stanley Cup.
Such is the life of an NHL player. One day, you’re celebrating on the ice with teammates, proud, holding the Cup high, and later you enjoy your day with the Cup, immensely. Then you get traded to another team, trying to put that behind you, make a fresh start and beat your old friends and teammates.
In Paquette’s case, the center won the 2020 Cup in a bubble during a pandemic, celebrated, was traded in December to the Ottawa Senators, played a few games this season and then traded Saturday to the Carolina Hurricanes. He made the long drive from Canada to Raleigh with his dog, Moka, who apparently slept most of the way, and was at Monday’s morning skate at PNC Arena with his new team centering a line with Jordan Martinook and Jesper Fast.
Monday night, Paquette will line up against the Columbus Blue Jackets with the Hurricanes. It’s on again for a player Canes forward Andrei Svechnikov called a “tough dude.”
“I think anytime you get guys that know how to win, that have been there and done that, I think that helps,” Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said on the Monday media call. “He’s the kind of player that I think will fit in well here. He comes to the rink and he gives an honest effort. That’s all we ever ask.
“That grit and that grind and that hard-to-play-against ... that’s his resume to me.”
An hour or so after the trade, according to Paquette, there was the realization: The Canes are in the Central Division with the Tampa Bay Lightning. For Paquette, that now will mean seven games during the regular season against his former teammates and possibly more in the playoffs should the Canes advance and then face the Lightning.
In his six seasons with Tampa Bay, Paquette, had his battles with the Canes and many were intense.
“It’s a great team,” Paquette said Monday. “I never liked to play against them when I was in Tampa. They’re hard-working. They’re always on top of you. They reload and don’t give your space.”
Paquette, 27, got his first up-close look Monday at his new teammates, at a Sebastian Aho and Svechnikov and Jaccob Slavin.
“Looking at them on the ice today they’ve got some guys with a lot of skills,” he said. “It reminds me of Tampa a little bit with all the super power we had there. It feel the same here.”
Paquette was part of a two-for-one deal Saturday as the Senators sent Paquette and forward Alex Galchenyuk to Carolina for forward Ryan Dzingel. The Canes on Sunday placed Galchenyuk, a former first-round draft pick by the Montreal Canadiens, on NHL waivers.
Galchenyuk, 27, cleared waivers Monday and then later traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Canes have used rookie Morgan Geekie as a fourth-line center this season, but picking up Paquette bolsters the Canes’ center position. Aho, Vincent Trocheck, Jordan Staal, Paquette ... that’s a pretty formidable foursome down the middle.
“To me that’s more than likely the reasoning behind (the trade), that you’ can’t have enough depth at that position,” Brind’Amour said.
Brind’Amour made his message brief and basic to his new player.
“He told me to play the same way I was playing in Tampa, kind of the same role I have all these years,” Paquette said. “I helped them achieve the goal of winning the Cup last year, so I’m looking forward to doing the same thing here. I don’t want to change anything. Bring energy to the team and be a good teammate.”
This story was originally published February 15, 2021 at 1:11 PM.
