Carolina Hurricanes: Why Brett Pesce is irreplaceable
Brett Pesce is a key contributor on defense for the Carolina Hurricanes – but why do people keep linking him with a trade away from Raleigh? In every category conceivable, he is simply untradeable.
There are some players in the NHL, mostly defensemen, whose trade value is nowhere near their on-ice value to their team. Examples are players such as Chris Tanev of the Vancouver Canucks – an offense-starved shutdown defenseman – as well as others like Niklas Hjalmarsson, Dmitry Orlov and Marc-Edouard Vlasic. For the Carolina Hurricanes, no player has a higher on-ice-value-to-trade-value differential than Brett Pesce.
Recent media talk surrounding the Carolina Hurricanes has GM Don Waddell hawking the wares of both Pesce and Dougie Hamilton in an attempt to bolster the team’s forward ranks. Thing is, the team’s offense has been electric over the last 25 or so games, and has only gotten better with the arrival of Swiss sniper Nino Niederreiter.
So why on earth would the Carolina Hurricanes even consider trading a player so patently valuable to the cause?
Brett Pesce is the Canes’ best RHD
On a team featuring fellow righties Hamilton, Justin Faulk and Trevor van Riemsdyk, it’s amazing that Pesce is one of the names being bandied about in trade talks. Make no mistake – Pesce is this team’s best right-handed defenseman, despite having two flashy offensive dynamos in Faulk and Hamilton.
We know this because Pesce has proven many times that he’s capable of playing quality top pairing minutes, which you simply don’t get to du unless your coach sees you as being the best option. You also don’t lead your team in short-handed ice time unless you’re considered the best on the team defensively.
Pesce’s stats also back up our hypothesis.
While not renowned as an offensive contributor, only Dougie Hamilton has more goals from the blueline for the Carolina Hurricanes this season. Pesce is level with both Jaccob Slavin and Justin Faulk with five goals – a career high – and has done so in nine less games, and all at even-strength. Considering that Slavin and Faulk are expected to score, and receive considerable power play time, it’s mightily impressive that Pesce has taken this step.
Dear #Leafs fans,
— Cory Fogg (@coryfogg) February 12, 2019
You can have your love affair with Brett Pesce, but don't delude yourself into thinking you can steal him. We love and cherish our Pesce. So unless your trying to offer us Nylander, just accept that you won't get him. Because he is ours. That is all.
Pesce blows his fellow Canes defensemen out of the water with his plus/minus record – he is +18 on the season, with his closest rival on the Canes’ blueline having just a +3 record. Say what you want about how flawed the plus/minus stat is, but that’s quite the achievement. Another crucial stat in which Pesce excels is blocked shots; he sits just one behind Jaccob Slavin for the team lead, and would lead were it not for those nine missed games. Our under-rated big-money UFA signing from last summer, Calvin de Haan, is a renowned shot stopper, but even he has less blocks to his name than Pesce.
Brett Pesce brings under-rated offense, outstanding penalty-killing, and puts his body on the line for the team. He brings more to the team than any other RHD on the team.
He can play with anyone, and on his off-side
Every team in the NHL has a defensive pairing it wheels out late in games to protect a close lead, or to shut down a crucial opposition power play. That pairing for the Carolina Hurricanes is Jaccob Slavin and Brett Pesce. Over recent years they have developed a proven chemistry, and the two lead the Canes in short-handed ice time this season. You want to protect a lead, or keep your team in the game? Send out Slavin and Pesce.
However, the acquisition of Dougie Hamilton last summer upset the apple cart somewhat. Suddenly the Carolina Hurricanes had four RHD, and only two LHD; Pesce has now settled into playing on the second pairing, on his off-side, and now sees Justin Faulk as his partner in crime at even strength while Slavin enjoys the company of the team’s main offensive threat from the blueline, Dougie Hamilton.
.@McElhinney_C30 is back between the pipes. #TakeWarning pic.twitter.com/nI1GE8zzOO
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) February 13, 2019
That’s the beauty of Brett Pesce. He can play top pairing minutes alongside Slavin. He can play on the second pair and protect the Canes from Justin Faulk’s decision-making. He could, I am sure, play with either Calvin de Haan or Trevor van Riemsdyk and build a formidable partnership with either. In time, I want to see Pesce play with young Jake Bean, and mentor him while be becomes a full-time NHL defenseman.
Carolina so loaded with RH defense that they are playing Justin Faulk and Brett Pesce on the same pairing. #Leafs
— Michael Augello (@MikeInBuffalo) February 8, 2019
The only thing Brett Pesce is missing is a letter on his chest – but make no mistake, he is a leader on the blueline, and that rare breed of defenseman who can literally play anywhere on any pairing and still play good hockey.
The fact that Brett Pesce been ‘reduced’ to being Justin Faulk’s babysitter should be seen as a badge of honor – who else would you entrust with covering for Faulk’s offensive mistakes? That’s not saying that Faulk is a bad player – far from it – but if there’s one guy on this Carolina Hurricanes who would benefit most from an elite shutdown defenseman, it’s Faulk. Perhaps that’s why the Canes are playing so well recently?
His contract is exceptional value
In a league where elite defensemen regularly sign contracts of $5.5m AAV and above, Brett Pesce has an AAV of just $4.025m, and does so until the summer of 2024. The only other Carolina Hurricanes players signed that long are the recently-extended Teuvo Teravainen, and the aforementioned Slavin.
Pesce is a foundation on this team and, in an era where the salary cap climbs ever-upward, his contract gets better and better with each passing year. When Pesce signed that deal, it represented 5.37% of the Canes’ total salary cap. If the cap rises to $83m next season, as it is rumored it will, that cap hit will have already shrunk to just 4.85% of the cap – and will continue to decrease each year with each subsequent cap rise.
In terms of defensemen, the league’s best contract is arguably the $3.75m AAV the Nashville Predators somehow convinced Mattias Ekholm to agree to. When Ekholm signed that extension, he had 32 points in 155 career games – Pesce had 36 in 151 games, and was three years younger than Ekholm, when he signed his deal.
Other comparables for Pesce’s contract are Josh Manson ($4.1m AAV, 35pts in 181GP, 4 years older than Pesce); Brian Dumoulin ($4.1m, 33pts in 166GP, 3 years older) and Damon Severson ($4.167m, 69pts in 203GP, same age). Considering how highly-touted both Manson and Severson are, it’s amazing how little media coverage Pesce gets. His contract is better value for the Canes than any of those three deals.
Brett Pesce cannot be traded
Bearing in mind his leadership value, his ability to build a partnership with whomever he plays alongside, and his bang-for-buck compared to those other NHL defensemen, it’s hard to fathom why the Carolina Hurricanes would ever contemplate trading Pesce. He brings so much to the team on and off the ice, and any return via trade would inevitably fail to properly value his importance to the future of the franchise.
Next. 3 potential trades with the Ducks. dark
Brett Pesce is simply irreplaceable for the Carolina Hurricanes. He is without doubt the team’s best RHD, forms a formidable partnership with whomever he plays, and his contract is simply unbeatable in terms of value. Hockey media needs to stop linking the Canes with a Pesce trade – he’s more important to the future of this team than either Dougie Hamilton or Justin Faulk, and we hope he stays with the Carolina Hurricanes for many, many years.