Carolina Hurricanes: Next 10 Games will Determine Future of Pending Free Agents

The Carolina Hurricanes have ten games remaining before the February 29th trade deadline, and those game could determine the direction of the team for years to come.

Carolina Hurricanes general manager Ron Francis has some big decisions to make about the remainder of the season and the future direction of the team. The deadline, and the teams’ performance between now and then, will prove to be a crossroads for the organization.

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There are two major paths that the Hurricanes front office can take. If they are within a handful of points of a playoff spot, Francis can choose to add a piece or two to make a stronger playoff run. If they are further back in the standings, he will most likely look to sell off assets and continue the team rebuild he’s been working on since taking the job.

If they finish the month as stronger postseason contenders, they can be cautious buyers. This route would lead them to conservatively look for additional pieces that could push them to a playoff spot.

Carolina Hurricanes

One of the biggest factors going into the deadline is the status of Eric Staal. The Carolina Hurricanes can’t afford to let Eric walk at the end of the year with nothing in return.

If the Hurricanes are contenders, we are much more likely to see a deal get done. If they are further out, they will have to shop Eric Staal out and make a deal happen. The absolute worst case would be not having a deal going into the deadline.

One of the main issues that is coming up is that the market for rental players is down. This is mainly due to the fact that there have been a lot of deals in recent years where teams signed players to larger deals, thus decreasing the remaining salary cap available for trades.

Now that the Canadian Dollar is weakening, the salary cap doesn’t look to be increasing as much as many thought. This means most teams are looking for value players and cheaper players through the draft. If you look at the Phaneuf deal, nine players were swapped and no one really came out as a clear winner. This trend is likely to continue with other trades going into this years deadline.

This adds to the complexity of the trade deadline for the Carolina Hurricanes’ front office. They can’t afford to give up their captain and a primary point scorer for a 2nd round pick or a handful of later picks. The Hurricanes have to be able to acquire good assets in return for Staal that can be realistically developed in the future.

Giving up someone of Staal’s caliber is already going to set the team back a couple of years, they can’t afford to not get assets that are usable in the near future in return. Without Staal, the Hurricanes likely cease to be potential contenders for the near future, and unfortunately for the fans, this may also lead to a greater divestment in current talent to get a better return.

This would lead to a longer rebuild that would take 2-4 more years before getting back to a point of contention. The Hurricanes also face another crossroads at the end of the season. Carolina also has the most free agents of any team going into the offseason with 11.

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If Carolina stumbles in the next 10 games, you will see the front office focus on retaining the young talent like Victor Rask, and could sell off the aging talent like Kris Versteeg, John-Michael Liles, Cam Ward, etc. at the deadline to avoid losing out on more returns.