{"id":462479,"date":"2025-02-18T08:42:55","date_gmt":"2025-02-18T13:42:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=462479"},"modified":"2025-02-18T06:58:43","modified_gmt":"2025-02-18T11:58:43","slug":"carolina-hurricanes-trade-deadline-needs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/02\/18\/carolina-hurricanes-trade-deadline-needs\/","title":{"rendered":"The Carolina Hurricanes Trade Deadline Needs"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2024-25 NHL trade deadline is rapidly approaching and the Carolina Hurricanes may, or may not, be a big player in the near future. Considering they already shook the league with a blockbuster move to bring in Mikko Rantanen<\/a>, it would not be that surprising to see them stand put. But as Hurricanes general manager Eric Tulsky has previously indicated, they are always looking to improve. So, what will this trade deadline look like for Carolina?<\/p>\n

The Hurricanes Trade Deadline Given the Circumstances<\/h2>\n

Every teams\u2019 trade deadline approach is steered by a combination of the team’s place in the league big-picture (contender, rebuilding, re-tooling, etc.) and their current season success or failure. The teams in the murky middle have the hardest time deciding whether to sell, buy, or do some hybrid of the two. If you had asked us what the Hurricanes would likely do at this season’s trade deadline coming into the year, we would have guessed they would have been looking to buy a minor piece or two. With all of the turnover in the offseason<\/a>, this was seen by most as a transition year. Playoffs? Yes. But the same Stanley Cup expectations? Not a no, but not as much as the previous seasons. However, this has changed.<\/p>\n

The team currently sits second in the Metropolitan Division and seventh in the league in terms of points percentage. Even though anyone could list the number of complaints about the team from many Hurricanes fans that would turn this article into a full dissertation, the team actually has been pretty solid this year. With a few exceptions like the early season winning streak, the team has not gone on many long streaks in either direction. Whether that’s good or bad you may could argue each way, but the reality is here they are, likely gearing up for a serious attempt at another Stanley Cup. Oh yeah, and they already made one of the biggest trades<\/a> in franchise history. So what is left to do?<\/p>\n

Depth Down the Middle a Focus<\/h3>\n

The biggest need for Carolina is likely depth down the middle. This was somewhat of a need prior to losing Jack Drury<\/a> via trade. But now it’s even more of a need. The most likely order of centres as they currently stand are Sebastian Aho<\/a>, Jesperi Kotkaniemi<\/a>, Jordan Staal, <\/a>and then Jack Roslovic<\/a>. Roslovic at 4C is the most fluid as they also could use Juha Jaaska<\/a>, Tyson Jost<\/a> and Ryan Suzuki<\/a> in that spot. However, only Roslovic is right-handed out of the first four. And while Roslovic has exceeded expectations this season, using him on the wing and bringing in another centre would almost certainly be an upgrade.<\/p>\n

This seems like a strong possibility of a move if a deal can be figured out. The bigger question, however, is what kind of centre comes in. Does Carolina look for a true 2C? Or are they looking for more of a Drury replacement? Had they made the move for Elias Pettersson<\/a> or J.T. Miller<\/a> from the Vancouver Canucks, it would have been the former for sure. But now with Rantanen being the big acquisition and Kotkaniemi showing a little more promise of late, this is a hard question. Some options that may be available include Ryan Donato<\/a>, Morgan Geekie<\/a>, Trent Frederic<\/a>, Jake Evans<\/a> and Ryan O’Reilly<\/a>. A bigger fish might be Jared McCann<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Each of these offers something a little different but none (except McCann) really fit into that true 2C role at this point. Doesn’t mean the cost won’t be high with many teams looking for help down the middle. But at the end of the day, Carolina seems more likely to bring in a true depth centre rather than a top one. Sure, getting another big piece would be great. But trading for a big rental doesn’t seem to make much sense and making another core shakeup also seems like an offseason move at this point.<\/p>\n

Still Looking at Goaltending<\/h3>\n

For a lot of this season, and before, goaltending was an area the Hurricanes were reportedly looking<\/a> at improving. The biggest name tied to Carolina being John Gibson<\/a> of the Anaheim Ducks<\/a>. And his name stays in the news as a potential future Hurricane. But at this point, it seems unlikely that Carolina would make an in-season move to trade for a goaltender. With Frederik Andersen<\/a> back and sharing the net with Pyotr Kochetkov<\/a>, any move for a goaltender likely sees one of them going the other way. Maybe not, but likely.<\/p>\n

This then becomes a question of whether the acquired goalie is actually much of an upgrade, and worth the cost, over Carolina’s current setup. Last time we checked Connor Hellebuyck<\/a> isn’t an option. This seems most likely like an offseason move rather than a deadline one. But it’s still not out of the question as a possibility with some other names floating around.<\/p>\n

Never Too Much Depth<\/h3>\n

So much of successful playoff teams revolves around depth. A fourth liner coming out of nowhere to score a big goal, a depth defenceman making a key block, or, big picture, just simply having guys ready to step in when others get hurt. It’s not a guarantee, but given the physicality of the playoffs, it’s all but inevitable that injury is going to strike. And within reason, you cannot have too much depth.<\/p>\n

For Carolina, they have shown their depth with bottom-six forwards. There have been stints without many forwards unavailable and players like Jaaska, Suzuki, and Jost have stepped up really well. In addition to adding depth down the middle, Carolina could look at bringing in a low-cost defenceman. Riley Stillman<\/a> and Ty Smith<\/a> have stepped in when needed and did fine. Scott Morrow<\/a> has also seen some time. But here we are talking of needing more of a solid, well-rounded veteran defenceman who has experience, is solid in many areas but likely doesn’t stand out in any one, and has the ability to step into a game cold and hold his own.<\/p>\n

This is an underrated position to have on the team but one that can be very important. While Carolina could go out and seek a player like this individually, we\u2019d also see this type of player being part of a larger trade to bring in another piece.<\/p>\n

Anything is Possible<\/h3>\n

At the end of the day, Carolina HAS<\/em> already made a monster move<\/a> this year. If they sit still the rest of the way, you can’t say they didn’t do anything. But they can always improve and tinkering is possible. It just doesn’t seem like they are going to do much to compromise the future at this point. The “transition year” mantra has died a bit in favour of a true shot at the Cup. But it’s still a little different than last year’s expectations. And next year may still be a bigger year.<\/p>\n

Main Photo Credit: James Guillory-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 2024-25 NHL trade deadline is rapidly approaching and the Carolina Hurricanes may, or may not, be a big player in the near future. Considering they already shook the league with a blockbuster move to bring in Mikko Rantanen, it would not be that surprising to see them stand put. But as Hurricanes general manager […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4428,"featured_media":462555,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10,2,4547,4548],"tags":[7297,3060,3339,1723,965,3059,218,2325],"class_list":["post-462479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hurricanes","category-featured","category-hockey","category-nhl","tag-carolina-hurricanes-analysis","tag-jake-evans","tag-jared-mccann","tag-morgan-geekie","tag-nhl-trade-deadline","tag-ryan-donato","tag-ryan-oreilly","tag-trent-frederic"],"modified_by":"Levi Pike, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4428"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462479"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462479\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":462570,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462479\/revisions\/462570"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/462555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}