Hurricanes, with cap space and prospects to dangle, can’t sit tight at trade deadline
The Carolina Hurricanes have cap space to spare, prospects to dangle and figure their first-round pick will essentially be an early second if everything goes as planned. They’ve never been in a better position to make a move at next week’s trade deadline.
But five years of the new regime has made it clear the Hurricanes under Tom Dundon and Don Waddell aren’t the kind of team that jumps at trade-deadline rentals at inflated prices. They’re more likely to move for core players on longer-term contracts, like the 2020 swoops for Vincent Trocheck and Brady Skjei.
For a contending team, and one that needs some upgrading, as the Hurricanes do after Max Pacioretty went from late addition to late subtraction, that creates a bit of a quandary a week before the trade deadline. The one pure rental that made the most sense for the Hurricanes given the value for the price, winger Vladimir Tarasenko, already went from the Blues to the New York Rangers.
The one sort-of rental that makes the most sense, San Jose forward Timo Meier and his 31 goals, won’t go cheap. His contract — he’s due a $10 million qualifying offer next season, but the Hurricanes could sign him to a long-term deal for less if they acquired him — isn’t the obstacle for the Hurricanes it is for some teams, with the Pacioretty contract coming off the books this summer. The price may be more of an obstacle.
The Hurricanes would be willing to move top prospects Jack Drury or Scott Morrow in the right deal, but probably not both — and Alexander Nikishin, who’s under contract in Russia through 2025, is untouchable after the big, mean, stay-at-home defenseman they thought they drafted in the third round in 2020 turned into a big, mean, two-way point producer in the KHL. They’re willing to wait on Nikishin. Jackson Blake, who’s had an explosive freshman year at North Dakota, might also have some value.
Their first-round pick is expendable, but that’s still just the beginning of a package for Meier, who would essentially be a like-for-like replacement for Pacioretty.
Patrick Kane gets to pick his spot and his underlying analytics this season have been terrible, but he’s an unquestioned star. Would he be worth it as a pure rental?
The player who makes the most sense is Detroit center Dylan Larkin, but the Red Wings haven’t given up on re-signing him and he has a no-trade clause and even as a rental the price would be astronomical. But if there’s a deal to be made there, Larkin is only 26 and — again, signed to a long term deal here — would give the Hurricanes an elite 1-2-3 punch at center for years to come.
More likely, as with Trocheck and Skjei, the best deal is the one that nobody’s talking about, a player with years left on his contract who’s not publicly available but fits the Hurricanes needs both now and down the road. (Impending restricted free agent Pierre-Luc Dubois, who apparently wants out of Winnipeg?) But those are tricky to pull off in the offseason, let alone at the deadline. The Hurricanes have cap space and trade assets, though, so it’s not impossible.
There’s also the need for a left-shot depth defenseman with some offensive pop as a change of pace from Calvin de Haan, but that’s an easier deal to make and a rental isn’t out of the question there. Still, it needs doing.
Meier and Larkin would both represent instant improvement not just now but potentially for the next few years, extending the Hurricanes’ window to contend. But whoever it is — one of the top public targets or a mystery man — standing idle isn’t an option. It would have been fine if Pacioretty were healthy, but he’s not, and the Hurricanes have as good a chance to win the Stanley Cup this season as anyone.
They stood pat in 2021, doing nothing, and it nearly burned them in the first round when they almost didn’t have the defensive depth to get past Nashville, let alone Tampa Bay, before goaltending let them down. They added Max Domi in 2022, a minor move that paid off in one big game but had little impact beyond that in what turned out to be a disappointing playoff campaign, when their offense let them down.
Despite stellar regular-season results against the Bruins, they’re still going to have to find a way past Boston (again) to reach the heights this team can attain. Leaving all this cap space unused when they have a chance to add someone isn’t going to help with that.
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