Carolina Hurricanes: Is it Time to Trade Away Some Defensive Talent?

With a stacked defensive pipeline, should the Carolina Hurricanes move young defensemen for young NHL ready forwards?

The Hurricanes entered the 2015 season with a wealth of capable defensemen. Carolina’s returning defensive core is headed by Justin Faulk, including Ron Hainsey, John Michael-Liles, and young Ryan Murphy. Management added to the pool of NHL-ready defensemen, acquiring James Wisniewski in a trade from the Anaheim Ducks and Noah Hanifin 5th overall in the 2015 NHL entry draft.

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Also knocking on the door during pre-season training camp was captain of the AHL Charlotte Checkers, Michal Jordán, as well as former college hockey players Brett Pesce and Jaccob Slavin. Beyond this relatively young group of NHL ready defensemen, the Canes have plenty of high quality defensive prospects in the pipeline.

The former 7th overall pick and highly touted prospect Haydn Fleury, the promising two-way Roland McKeown, as well as the Checkers’ Trevor Carrick, Rasmus Rissanen, and Danny Biega.

"“In a few years we will have the best defensive core in the entire National Hockey League” -Franchise owner Peter Karmanos during an interview on Peter Karmanos Night, November 14th."

Carolina has not only a deep pool of defensive prospects, but many of those prospects have developed well and shown their capability to play with the big club.

Both Jaccob Slavin and Brett Pesce have proven to be capable NHL defensemen in their NHL call ups this season. While the young defensive pool is one of the deepest in the NHL, the Hurricanes lack of forward prospects in the pipeline is troubling, especially considering the teams well established scoring problems. So what does this mean for the ongoing rebuild?  Is it time for Ron Francis to make moves to stack the forward prospects? To put it simply, yes.

GM Ron Francis has made it known that he is willing to engage in negotiations regarding just about anyone in the system, which can yield some pretty interesting speculation.  Solid defensive talent is so hard to come by in today’s NHL, and the Canes’ abundance of capable D-men give them a lot of leverage when looking to build their slim offensive prospect pool. So who would the Hurricanes ideally want to turn loose for offensive firepower?

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Obviously, players like 23 year old Justin Faulk and 18 year old Noah Hanifin look to be franchise building blocks and are considered indispensable pieces of this teams future, so they are most likely off limits. Rookie NHL defensemen Brett Pesce and Jaccob Slavin certainly show promise, which would make them enticing trade targets for teams like Edmonton or Colorado in need of fresh defensive talent.

Former 2011 first round pick, Ryan Murphy, is also an interesting player that the Hurricanes could benefit from moving sooner rather than later.  The 22 year old has had troubling concussion problems from a young age, and a mild concussion in late November of this season means one more head injury could jeopardize his career. Despite these concerns, Murphy is a capable NHL defensemen with a big offensive upside, making him a valuable trade asset at his young age.  But what about the younger prospects who have not yet established themselves on an NHL roster? This is where things get interesting.

Haydn Fleury is spending his second year with the Red Deer Rebels of the WHL, where he is slowly but surely developing into a major defensive talent.

Many speculated that he would make the jump to the NHL in his draft year and again so this year, but it wasn’t to be.  With the bounty of young defensemen stepping in successfully for Carolina, maybe its time for Francis to consider shopping Fleury’s rights for offensive prospects.  Some combination of Fleury, Murphy, and a promising AHL player such as Trevor Carrick or Danny Biega would be a very alluring offer for an NHL team willing to sacrifice young offensive talent to strengthen their defensive core for the future.

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The Carolina Hurricanes are undoubtedly in the midst of an extended rebuild, but if Ron Francis is willing to give up some young defenders for much needed offensive talent, the process could be significantly shortened.