Carolina Hurricanes: Could the Hurricanes Get Duchene or Bobrovsky?
The Carolina Hurricanes could potentially look to possibly sign two stars as meetings are set between them and both Sergei Bobrovsky and Matt Duchene.
The Hurricanes offseason so far has been relatively eventful. The Canes have been far from quiet the past few weeks. The team made a splash in the draft getting praise from several draft analyst. Scott Wheeler from the Athletic stated that “In six years of doing this, I have never been impressed with a team’s performance at the draft as I am by Carolina’s this weekend”.
The praise was echoed by the team about how excited they were regarding what they were able to pull from the draft. Experts raved about first round pick Ryan Suzuki claiming that he has “Elite hockey sense, Elite hands, Elite playmaking ability”. Now does that type of player sound like anybody to you?
Perhaps Canes star Sebastian Aho comes to mind? Both players are 6’0″, 176 and shoot left handed. Suzuki is shifty and has tremendous playmaking ability, reminding me a lot of Sebastian Aho’s game. If our first rounder is a Sebastian Aho clone, then this offseason is already a success.
However the Hurricanes power moves didn’t stop with just Ryan Suzuki. The Canes grabbed what many ranked the second best goalie in the draft with prospect Pyotr Kochetkov. The Canes also grabbed more studs in Jamison Rees, Patrik Puistola, Anttoni Honka, and Domenick Fensore who were all picked ahead of when they were projected.
The Canes draft was phenomenal but Don Waddell wasn’t done yet for the weekend. Waddell traded prospect Aleksi Saarela and Calvin De Haan to Chicago for Goalie Anton Forsberg and Gustav Forsling. The move was likely to clear Calvin De Haan’s cap space to potentially land the Canes a sizable contacted free agent.
The Canes have yet to sign this past seasons goalie tandem in Mrazek and McElhinney. The Canes are likely going to look for a goalie in free agency as well as another top tier forward. Sergei Bobrovsky and Matt Duchene are rumored to have meetings set up with the Canes.
Sergei Bobrovsky
The Hurricanes have reportedly been rumored to land a meeting with Blue Jackets star goalie Sergei Bobrovsky. While Bobrovsky is very likely headed to Florida, I think the canes still stand a chance to land the goalie and here’s why:
The Canes are an up and coming team with a loaded farm system of prospects. The Canes need more elite players to stay in competition with the leagues elite. Bobrovsky could see a big pay day from Carolina as well as potentially be a contender for the Stanley Cup. Are you telling me that is something that would be unattractive to a player?
A player of Sergei’s caliber would almost make the Canes automatic contenders. This past season Bobrovsky put up numbers of .913 save %, 9 shutouts, 2.58 GAA, and 37 wins in 62 games. The thing is, last year may have been considered a “down” year for him.
The Goalkeeper has career tremendous talent and could potentially become even better with an outstanding defensive core that the Canes have.
The question remains if the Canes would offer enough money for Bobrovsky. Personally I think the Canes should offer whatever Bobrovsky needs as a player of his caliber could take the Canes even deeper in the playoffs than this past seasons tandem did.
Matt Duchene
Acquiring Matt Duchene could be huge for the Hurricanes. Getting him would mean adding a player capable of putting up in between 60-70 points and 30+ goals in a season. Duchene could easily slide into the role of second center. Getting Duchene would make the Hurricanes absolutely dangerous and immediate Stanley Cup Contenders.
As far as Matt Duchene, I’m hearing per source that the #Preds , #Habs and #Canes will have a meeting. There may be a couple other of teams as well and #CBJ are not out of it yet
— InsideSource (@InsideSource22) June 23, 2019
Duchene has been rumored to be a “bad locker room guy” however I think that just like Canes defenseman Dougie Hamilton, Duchene may be just misunderstood. While Duchene would likely cost a lot of money to sign, the Canes just cleared cap space with their decision to move Calvin De Haan.
If the Canes can keep Sebastian Aho’s signing under 8.5 million a season, they should be able to go after Bobrovsky and Duchene as they have a projected 21 million in cap space. That may fluctuate based off of the Marleau trade with the Toronto Maple leafs but the Canes should be able to afford both as long as they don’t make anymore big moves after.
In summary, adding two studs in Matt Duchene and Sergei Bobrovsky could make the Canes exponentially better and immediate Stanley Cup Contenders. It seems to me that Don Waddell knows what he is doing with getting rid of De Haan’s contract, and perhaps had a player or two in mind when thinking about the space he has now.
Related Story. Top 3 UFA Goalies The Hurricanes Should Pursue. light
Cardiac Cane Readers: Could the Canes realistically obtain both Bobrovsky and Duchene?