Brock McGinn or Warren Foegele
Ruffling feathers right off the bat. There’s no argument that Brock McGinn and Warren Foegele are both solid, bottom-6 contributors for the Carolina Hurricanes. McGinn, 25, is coming off a season in which his goal-scoring dropped from 16 to 10. Granted, goals alone are not an accurate measurement of what the gritty winger brings to the ice.
More indicative of his value is his sixth-place rank on the team with 137 hits and his improved defensive play. The 2018-19 season marked the first time in his career that McGinn finished with a positive plus-minus rating (+10) and his ration of takeaways (54) to giveaways (30) showed significant improvement.
So, why consider trading him?
Well, the same reason you could consider moving Warren Foegele: redundancy. Both wingers play a similar style. McGinn has a slight advantage in points-per-game but has played in 161 more games. Foegele has a slight size advantage and is two years younger. Foegele ranked just below McGinn in hits (126), playing in five fewer games.
From a contractual standpoint, McGinn is signed through the 2020-21 season at an AAV of $2.1 million, while Foegele is entering the final year of his entry-level contract, which carries an AAV of $800k. The extra term on McGinn’s contract may make him an interesting pickup for a team in need of grit with some offensive ability but, if he struggles, his cap hit (and extra year) could hinder any interest.
While I don’t particularly want to see either of these guys moved, slow starts could lead to reduced ice time. With the depth that the Hurricanes have, it could render one of them expendable. No, neither player is likely to bring much in return directly, though they could wind up as part of a package.