Carolina Hurricanes Trade Rumors: Jonathan Drouin Should be on Carolina’s Trade Radar
By Brett Finger
As Jonathan Drouin trade rumors continue to spread, the Carolina Hurricanes should continue to keep a close eye on the situation.
The Carolina Hurricanes are in the midst of a limbo-type year. They sit just under NHL .500 at 16-18-7, and it appears that playoff hopes are mostly lost.
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A lot of things have contributed to this season’s struggles, but the two things that have stood out the most are the lack of strong goaltending through early December and the lack of consistent offense.
While the future remains bright for the Canes and their forwards with the likes of Jeff Skinner, Victor Rask, Elias Lindholm, Phil Di Giuseppe, and WJC standout Sebastian Aho among others set to be key pieces for the team’s future, the Hurricanes could stand to add young talent that could push them even further.
Enter Jonathan Drouin.
It has recently become public that 2013 3rd overall draft pick Jonathan Drouin has requested a trade to get out of Tampa Bay, and it looks like Lightning GM and NHL Hall of Famer Steve Yzerman will make it happen. Whether it’s sooner or later, however, has not been clarified.
Drouin could go before the the February 29 trade deadline, at the NHL Draft in June, or maybe after that, and the Carolina Hurricanes should be big players.
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The young forward’s struggles have been very well documented since he cracked the NHL lineup in Tampa a season ago. As a rookie, he tallied a measly 4 goals and 32 total points in 70 games then followed it up with 0 points and a -6 rating in 6 playoff games during Tamp Bay’s Stanley Cup run last June, one which ended with a Stanley Cup Finals appearance.
This season, Drouin’s point production has stayed roughly the same, and his playing time has been on the decline. In his 19 NHL games played this year, he has 2 goals, 8 points, and a +1 rating.
Drouin has been riding the bench a lot in a very limited role, averaging 14:07 of ice time per game, when on the ice, and he has been having a lot of dates with the press-box as a healthy scratch.
The move that ultimately sparked the big Drouin trade rumblings and the coming out party of the player’s displeasure with the organization was Yzerman’s decision to send him back to the AHL with the Syracuse Crunch. Obviously, Jonathan Drouin believes he is an NHL quality player, and he is, but the organization didn’t feel comfortable with the playing time he was getting when combined with his young age and inarguable talent.
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The Carolina Hurricanes should keep a long look at this situation. For Carolina, adding a guy like Jonathan Drouin makes a lot of sense for their future.
Since breaking into the league, this player hasn’t been a goal scorer, he has been a pure playmaker and a guy who hits his passes and makes things happen on the ice. There isn’t a player like this on Carolina’s roster. No player on the Hurricanes stands out as a legitimate, full fledged playmaker.
Looking down the road, guys like Elias Lindholm or Sebastian Aho could turn into that guy, but neither of them have the ceiling of a guy like Drouin. At the age of just 20, he seems like a player that could play a key role not only as a playmaking guy at 5-on-5, but even a powerplay juggernaut when he has the puck.
He’s quick, he’s talented, and he knows how to distribute the puck. Any team in the league would want to have him, despite his early struggles in the NHL.
That being said, the asking price will be high from the Lightning. This is a team that knows what they have, and the fact that they haven’t pulled the trigger on a deal yet makes that apparent. If they wanted to just deal him and get rid of the issue, they certainly could have by this point given all of the teams rumored to be involved in talks about Drouin.
If there’s a team that can afford a player like Drouin, it’s the Carolina Hurricanes.
The club has a stockpiled group of young blue liners and, eventually, one of them will need to be moved. This is especially true now that the Hurricanes have seen Brett Pesce and Jaccob Slavin, originally to believed mid-level prospects, emerge as NHL staples at the age of 21.
Removing guys like Faulk, Hanifin, Pesce, and Slavin still leaves a few guys who could go the other way in a trade with the Lightning.
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Haydn Fleury and his Canadian club are coming off of a disaster World Junior Championship tournament. The 19-year-old was a 7th overall pick in 2014, so it is far too soon to give up on him, especially given his impressive play with the Red Deer Rebels in the WHL this season, but could he be a player that Carolina thinks about moving?
Carolina Hurricanes
Fleury projects to be a top-4 stay at home blue liner down the line, and that is a valuable piece for any team, including the Hurricanes, but when you’re talking about a guy like Jonathan Drouin in return, it’s definitely something that has to be considered if your Canes GM Ron Francis.
Outside of Fleury, there are defensemen like Roland McKeown, Haydn Fleury’s defensive partner at the World Juniors, and Trevor Carrick who could be used as trade chips. Both McKeown and Carrick slot lower than Fleury on Carolina’s list of defensive prospects. They both project to be NHLers, however.
A defenseman alone wouldn’t do it for Drouin, which makes a draft pick likely necessary. In that department, Carolina is good. They have a pair of 1st round picks in June along with another two 3rd round picks, so they could afford to part ways with some of those assets.
Of those two 1st round picks, the preferable one to trade is Los Angeles’ pick, acquired by the Canes via the Andrej Sekera trade at the 2015 trade deadline. The Kings are going to be a playoff team in April, which means their selection will come in the second half of the 1st round. Carolina’s owned pick will come in the top-10, barring an unlikely charge up the standings in the 2nd half of the season. Don’t expect that potential top-10 picked to be moved unless something irresistible comes across the table. That is untouchable in all likelihood.
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Would a late 1st round pick and a defensive prospect be enough for Jonathan Drouin? It’s hard to judge just what his trade value is right now, but don’t expect the Hurricanes to go much further than a prospect and a pick or two in a potential deal involving the former 3rd overall pick.
Regardless of Drouin’s trade value, the Carolina Hurricanes need to keep a close eye on his status and any potential trades. This player could be an elite game changer for a long time in the NHL.