Carolina Hurricanes: Best Trades of the First Ten Years
By Jeb Bohn
The First-Ever Trade
While the next trade on this list is often misremembered as being the first trade in Hurricanes history, that honor actually goes to this move. While garnering little attention at the time, this trade ended up having huge implications for the Carolina Hurricanes.
With the 1st round pick, San José selected Scott Hannan, a serviceable NHL defenseman who played 626 of his 1055 career games with the Sharks.
For the Hurricanes, that 2nd round pick became Brad DeFauw, who managed all of nine games in the NHL. The real prize of this trade was that 3rd round pick which was used to select rugged winger and fan-favorite Erik Cole.
Cole played 557 games over two stints with the Hurricanes, putting up 168 goals and 195 assists. Cole joined Rod Brind’Amour and Bates Battaglia on the BBC Line, a trio which put up 15 goals and 20 assists as the Hurricanes made a surprise run to the 2002 Stanley Cup Finals.
The 2005-06 season was a defining point in Cole’s career. Sixty games into that campaign, Cole sat at 30 goals and 29 assists heading into a March 4th matchup with the Pittsburgh Penguins. The eventual 7-5 Hurricanes victory was marred when Pittsburgh defenseman Brooks Orpik hit Cole from behind, sending the winger violently into the boards.
Orpik received a game misconduct while Cole received a compression fracture to a vertebra in his neck, an injury that kept him out of the lineup until Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Orpik, who never apologized for the hit, was met with resounding boos anytime he touched the ice in Raleigh until his retirement earlier this summer.
Cole played for four other NHL teams during his career, last playing with the Detroit Red Wings in the 2014-15 season. On September 20th, 2017, Cole signed a one-day contract which allowed him to retire as a Carolina Hurricane.