Behind the scenes for the Hurricanes trade deadline, and why theyre not worried about the East

June 18, 2024

TEMPE, Ariz. — The Hurricanes came into Friday’s NHL trade deadline as one of the teams to watch. They have the cap space. They are one of this season’s most realistic Stanley Cup contenders. They are part of a pack at the top of the Eastern Conference that had seen an arms race in the weeks leading up to deadline day.

But, if anything, in the hours ahead of the 3 p.m. ET last call for trades, Carolina general manager Don Waddell — known as one of the league’s boldest execs — was calm. Confident in his team as it stands. Unfazed by the moves elsewhere.

On Friday, inside the war room, he made his calls, checking in with teams around the league and considering options. There were some big possibilities, and some that didn’t make it to the rumor mill. Trades that could have been headliners.

But Waddell resisted.

The Hurricanes had already tinkered in the days leading up to the deadline, adding power-play quarterback Shayne Gostisbehere and reclamation project Jesse Puljujarvi. Yes, there was room to do more after losing Max Pacioretty to a recurrence of his Achilles tendon tear. But in the end, the right move wasn’t there. And Waddell, never one to hold back, this time was OK with that.

“We talked with a lot of people. We have these last two weeks,” Waddell said. “But we have a different approach, obviously, than some teams, and we don’t get caught up in what anybody else is doing.”

Waddell and the Canes weren’t intimidated one iota by the Devils snatching Timo Meier a week earlier, although there’s no doubt that’s the guy the Hurricanes made their biggest pitch for. They didn’t care about the Rangers getting Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko, the Maple Leafs grabbing Ryan O’Reilly and overhauling their blue line, the Bruins nabbing Tyler Bertuzzi and Dmitry Orlov or the Lightning paying a bunch of draft picks and a prospect for Tanner Jeannot.

The Hurricanes tried to make things happen with other teams. It looked like Calgary could be a possibility at one point, maybe even for a deal to reacquire Elias Lindholm — a name that wasn’t discussed much in trade speculation leading up to the deadline.

But that didn’t come to fruition.

Instead, the Canes held to their philosophy of building their team in the summer and tweaking along the way. They don’t like to pay big prices for rentals. If a good player on the trading block has term remaining, they’ll usually take a long look and are willing to pay, like in February of 2020 when they parted with a first-round pick to get defenseman Brady Skjei, who had four years left on his six-year contract, from the Rangers.

The Hurricanes did take a big swing at Meier this year and were deeply disappointed not to land him. Whether they agree or not that their package was less worthy than New Jersey’s doesn’t matter. Sharks GM Mike Grier chose the Devils, and the Canes were left to pivot.

“We all judge prospects differently,” Waddell said. “How we view their prospects or what they got versus ours is personal opinion. You won’t know until the next three or four years when all these prospects turn pro whose deal was better. So it’s hard to say. We were disappointed, obviously, but at the end of the day, we had offered what we felt very comfortable with giving up, and it wasn’t enough.

“So you’ve got to turn the page and move on.”

Two days later, the Hurricanes added Puljujarvi for prospect Patrik Puistola, a 2019 third-round pick. Waddell had been talking to Ken Holland for a couple of weeks and the Oilers GM told him they weren’t planning to trade Puljujarvi unless they needed the cap space. Then, suddenly, the Oilers were going hard after Nashville’s Mattias Ekholm and needed wiggle room.

Holland called, offered Puljujarvi and told Waddell he couldn’t take a penny back. Waddell gave Holland a list of prospects he’d part with, and a couple of hours later, Holland called back and the deal was done.

Puljujarvi, 24, was drafted fourth in 2016 and needed a change of scenery like few others as the pressure kept mounting in Alberta’s capital. The move reunites him with young Canes star Sebastian Aho. In 2016, Puljujarvi and Aho were on one of the best world junior championships lines in history with Patrik Laine, the trio combining for 44 points to lead Finland to gold.

Jesse Puljujarvi, Sebastian Aho and Patrik Laine (Markku Ulander / AFP via Getty Images)

Puljujarvi led the tournament with 17 points in seven games.

“Jesse will bring speed — lots of speed,” Aho said of his pal, who has 51 goals and 112 points in 317 NHL games and is expected to meet his new teammates late Monday or Tuesday in Montreal, provided he can get his work visa from the U.S. consulate in Ottawa on Monday. “He’s got a very good shot, too, so I bet he scores some goals for us.

“Sometimes it helps to get in a new environment and get kind of a fresh start, but it’s for sure gonna take a little time for him to adjust to the system and the guys in the room. A new country, too. A lot of new stuff. But when he adjusts, I bet it’ll be good.”

Following that move up, two days before the trade deadline, Waddell added to what was already one of the NHL’s best blue lines. As good as the Canes have been this season, their power play has sputtered on too many nights, even with Brent Burns running one of the units. They wanted a quarterback for the second power play, so Waddell called Coyotes GM Bill Armstrong and swung the Gostisbehere trade for a 2026 third-round pick.

Sure enough, Gostisbehere debuted against his former team and scored on his first power play in a Canes sweater in a 6-1 pounding at Mullett Arena on Friday night. Two days later, Gostisbehere scored another power-play goal and assisted on two other power-play goals in a 6-0 dismantling of the Lightning.

The ⁦⁦@Canes⁩ are a Cup contender but concerned about their power play. They got Shayne Gostisbehere to QB one unit. Magically, he scores on his first PP & they go 3 for 4.

On 👻‘s ‘weird’ debut vs his old #coyotes after switching locker rooms https://t.co/U85cgvtLJb

— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) March 4, 2023

Magic or not, since Ghost’s arrival, the Canes’ power play has gone 7-for-9 in two games and risen from 23rd in the NHL to 13th.

“Ghost is a real help,” Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “We needed that power-play guy — the guy that can move the puck — and he definitely fills a need. Puljujarvi, I don’t know yet how we’re going to use that. I think that’s more let’s see what we can get — hopefully, resurrect a once young, very promising player. So we’ll see where that goes.”

As it stands, deadline moves or no, the Hurricanes are one terrific hockey team.

They have the second-best record in the NHL (41-12-8), with 90 points and a plus-57 goal differential. They’re 16-3-1 in their past 20 games, averaging 3.43 goals per game (seventh in the NHL) and 2.51 goals against per game (second). Their penalty kill ranks third at 83.3 percent. They average the third-most shots per game at 35.2 and give up the fewest (26.0).

There was no temptation to force-feed things to keep up with the rest of the East arms race.

The NHL trade deadline came and went.

Which of these deals are important and which ones aren’t? Which ones matter now? Which ones will matter later?@seangentille's 21 most relevant trades of deadline season: https://t.co/2JXweZhE0W pic.twitter.com/PqIQxjrldY

— The Athletic NHL (@TheAthleticNHL) March 4, 2023

“If you look, obviously the Atlantic Division there, a lot of teams made a lot of moves there and, for sure, one good team’s going to lose in the first round and another good team’s going to lose in the second round,” Waddell said. “So as an organization, we don’t feel the pressure to just make moves because other teams have.

“For rentals, I was not willing to give up top prospects or just to give away picks when we’re going to need picks. We’re always a cap team. But we’ve got a lot of contracts coming up in a year from now, and we’re going to need young players coming in the lineup just because of the salary system. As an organization, we have a philosophy that we’re not going to get in the rental business and give up those types of picks.”

There was conjecture that the Canes were interested in Coyotes forward Nick Schmaltz, whose 10 goals since Jan. 26 are tied for ninth in the NHL.

There’s just no way it could have worked, though, without Arizona retaining a large chunk. That’s because Schmaltz has three years left on his contract with a $5.85 million cap hit and backloaded salary of $24.45 million remaining on his seven-year $40.95 million contract.

“If you look at our salary cap, next year, we’re in really good shape,” Waddell said. “The year after, I’ve got Skjei, (Brett) Pesce, (Seth) Jarvis, (Martin) Necas, Aho and (Teuvo) Teravainen all coming off their deals. The year after that, Burns and (Jaccob) Slavin. So to pick up a guy right now — regardless of who the player was — that had more than next year left, it was not something that we’re going to be able to do.

“We’re all great forecasters and all great planners for where the cap’s going, but nobody knows exactly how the cap’s going to get there. So we want to make sure that we don’t put ourselves in a bad spot where we can’t retain the players that we want to retain.”

If you connect the dots of Waddell only being able to add players with a year left of term, one team that stands out as a potential trade partner is the Flames. And two players who fit Waddell’s criteria are Lindholm, the former Canes center, and veteran winger Tyler Toffoli. Both have a year left on their contracts at a hair under $5 million.

Toffoli could have been a good add as a finisher, and Lindholm could slot right into the middle of the Hurricanes’ second line with Teravainen and Necas.

In the end, Flames GM Brad Treliving, with his players fighting for their playoff lives, probably didn’t want to punt on this season or next by trading away either talented forward.

And maybe missing on Lindholm will turn out OK for Carolina anyway. In Sunday’s dissection of the Lightning, second-line center Jesperi Kotkaniemi had five points and Teravainen and Necas combined for six, with Teravainen getting a hat trick.

This is why Canes players don’t seem bothered that Waddell landscaped around the edges rather than landing the big fish.

For @TheAthletic: Did the Hurricanes miss an opportunity, or did they simply not panic? The rest of the regular season and playoffs will shape how the 2023 trade deadline is looked back on.https://t.co/kwYH7G3v6G

— Cory Lavalette (@corylav) March 4, 2023

“I’ve always believed in our group, so it doesn’t really change our mindset in what we do on a day-to-day business and what we believe in this room,” Canes captain Jordan Staal said. “Obviously, other teams can do what they want and fill their holes with whatever they think they need. We believe in this room, and the small pieces we’ve added I think will be huge additions.

“We didn’t need much, and the one thing I’ll add is our system is not easy to learn. It’s pretty tricky compared to most. I think it’s pretty hard to jump into, so I really think with our group and the way we play that we can do some damage.”

Waddell said Staal’s rationale is exactly why the Canes believe you build your team in the summer.

“Rod does play a different system,” Waddell said. “And we’ve seen it as guys have come in and out at different times. There is a big adjustment period because you have to trust the guys on the ice to do what the coaches ask them to do. And a lot of teams don’t play the man-on-man like we do. And all you need is one hiccup from one player, and, before you know it, the puck’s in your net.

“So we’ve talked about that to great length, that we weren’t going to make changes just for the sake of making changes or just add to say we added this. We wanted to make sure we addressed certain needs, which we felt we did, and continue to believe in this group of players.”

Skjei smiled wide when asked if the moves by other teams made him worry.

“It doesn’t make me nervous at all really,” the defenseman said. “What we’ve shown this year is we can play with anybody. We made moves that will help our team. With Ghost, he’ll definitely help on the power play. That’s something we definitely needed. Puljujarvi is a young, skilled guy.

“I love the chemistry we have on our team. We all know the way that we want to play, which is fast and on top of guys. I don’t think we needed to change really that much. We added pieces that will help us, and we’re excited for the long run ahead.”

Added Aho, “We’re a tight-knit team with a ton of talent. We made the moves we needed to make.”

In January, when the Canes lost Pacioretty on the final shift of a blowout win over Minnesota, Waddell was convinced he’d probably need to make another move for a finisher.

“It wasn’t as devastating for me as it was for our team and for him,” Waddell said, “because we watched him, what he went through after the first injury. He was in the workout room and training room for four or five months doing everything possible to get ready. That’s not an easy injury to come back from. And the night he went down, we won the game and it was the most somber I’ve seen our locker room.

“So it was disappointing from a hockey standpoint, but it was more devastating from a personal standpoint.”

But as Waddell continued to gauge his team, he reverted back to the Canes’ philosophy: No rentals for big prices, but he was willing to add players like Meier, in the last year of his deal before restricted free agency, or talents with one year of term.

The right trade just wasn’t out there.

But, again, he isn’t worried.

“Some people disagree with me that you largely build your team in the summer,” Waddell said. “But our philosophy is the guys that have been with you all year battling with you and that our coach believes in, these are the guys we’re going to go to battle with. Everybody’s got different pressures, everybody’s got different setups. So I can’t fault anybody for what they believe they need to do. Our goal is to worry about us and try to go deep in the playoffs, and our goal here is to win a Cup.

“So that’s what we’re going to focus on, and not worry too much about what other teams have done or how they got there.”

Added Brind’Amour, “Hey, listen, everybody got better players, that’s for sure. They went out and grabbed the top guys from every other team. But we’ll see. Only one team can win it, and I know we’re going to give it everything we can.”

(Top photo of Shayne Gostisbehere: Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images)

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