Players Who May Not Finish 2019-20 with the Carolina Hurricanes

With Don Waddell re-signed, Jason Muzzatti in as the new goalie coach, and the roster largely set for training camp next month, let’s take a look at a few players who could find themselves dangled as trade bait by the Carolina Hurricanes.

Aside from training camp performances and the unknown future of Justin Williams, there’s not much going on for Hurricanes fans to chew on.  Yes, the team unveiled a new road jersey on August 20th, but it’s safe to assume that most of the big roster moves have been completed.

Most of us are okay with that.  The forward depth looks good and, even with the loss of Calvin de Haan to Chicago and Trevor van Riemsdyk recovering from offseason shoulder surgery, the defense remains a strength.

The biggest question mark, from a positional standpoint, is goaltending. Can Petr Mrazek replicate last year’s performance?  Can either James Reimer or Alex Nedeljkovic (or a combination of both) provide adequate backup performances?

The combination of training camp and the preseason will provide some clarity to the roster we’ll see on opening night; however, what if players underachieve during the season?  What if new additions like Erik Haula or Ryan Dzingel fail to find chemistry with their new teammates?  What if the goaltending folds?

Should any of those undesirable situations come to fruition and the Hurricanes struggle to tread water, GM Don Waddell will have moveable assets to trade.  Bear in mind that I am not advocating for any of these players to be traded.  Some choices might make sense to you while others may not, but we’re here to have fun, so put on your speculation goggles and let’s go.

Trevor van Riemsdyk

I’m a fan of Trevor van Riemsdyk.  While he doesn’t bring much in the way of offense from the back end, he does bring effort and solid, positional defense.  While his second season with the Hurricanes saw a bit of a step back defensively (his plus-minus dipped by 13 and his ratio of giveaways to takeaways dropped by 33), van Riemsdyk still has a lot to offer in the right situation.

There are two things that make van Riemsdyk expendable for the Carolina Hurricanes: defensive depth and his contract status.  We’ll get more into defensive depth later on, so for now, we’ll focus on his contract.  2019-20 marks the final season under his current pact and, with young players vying for an NHL job, van Riemsdyk could be the odd man out.

As with all of the players listed, everything rides on a combination of how the individual performs and how the team performs.  A caveat with van Riemsdyk is that he is currently recovering from shoulder surgery.  How well that recovery goes will have a large impact on the course that his season takes.

Erik Haula

Yeah, I went there.

I’m excited to have Erik Haula in Raleigh, make no mistake.  Hopefully, he’s 100% and ready to go, as his skillset and versatility could prove vital to the Carolina Hurricanes returning to the playoffs.  So, why list him here?

The optimist in me believes that Haula will be healthy and ready to go, can return to his 2017-18 output, and will help the Hurricanes’ dreadful power play.  The pessimist that owns most of my cranial real estate wonders how much his injury will affect him moving forward.  While he should mesh well with the makeup of this team, what if he doesn’t?  What if his recovery slows or leaves nagging remnants that hinder his play?

Okay, that’s a lot of “what-ifs”, I’ll grant you that, but this is summer speculation so let me have my moment.  If Haula underperforms and fails to mesh as well as anticipated, even if he looks fair but not great, it could create a ripple effect throughout the lineup.  No, Haula wasn’t brought in to be “the guy”, but we’re all hoping he adds solid scoring depth.  I believe he will, but the calendar shows August, so we just don’t know.

The real key is that Haula is entering the last year of his contract.  If the Hurricanes are struggling to gain ground in the playoff race, he could become an interesting trade target.  Teams gearing up for a deep run could show interest, especially since his $2.75 million salary is palatable.  The most realistic situation that I can see (albeit from a negative perspective) is inconsistent goaltending holding the Hurricanes back, leading to Haula being sacrificed as a rental.

Okay, I’m going to let the optimist take over again and say Haula fits in nicely, puts up 50+ points, and gets a reasonable new contract.

But, he might not.

Justin Faulk

Now, we get to the name that most people would expect to see.  In recent years, Justin Faulk has drawn a lot of criticism, some of which was well-earned.  In 2018-19, Faulk improved his defensive play and posted the best plus-minus rating of his career.

Faulk’s offensive acumen has counted on for years, but last year’s acquisition of Dougie Hamilton helps ease that reliance.  Add to that the point-producing strides that both Jaccob Slavin and Brett Pesce have made, and the likelihood that Jake Bean sees ice time this season, and the thought of not having Faulk don’t hurt as much as in years past.

And, with an eye to the future, there’s this:

Oddly enough, it was reported back in June that there was a potential deal in place that would see Faulk shipped to the Washington Capitals in exchange for the rights to Chase Priskie, a 2016 Capitals draft pick who never signed with the organization.  Washington GM Brian MacLellan denied these rumors when asked by NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti.

Around that time, word leaked that negotiations with Faulk had taken a less than favorable turn.  Should this continue into the season, Faulk could be a very interesting trade chip.  Once the season is in full swing and we get a better picture of what this team needs (along with Faulk’s remaining salary becoming more appetizing to opposing teams), the likelihood of a move increases.

There is, however, a snag that could limit the return of any potential trades.  It’s no secret that former Hurricanes GM Jim Rutherford is a fan of no-movement clauses when handing out contracts.  While Faulk’s current deal doesn’t include a full no-trade clause, it does include a modified one that kicked in last season.  This stipulates that Faulk is allowed to submit a list of 15 teams that he would accept a trade to.

Granted, this doesn’t mean that Faulk can’t agree to waive that clause but he has a certain amount of control in where he moves if he moves at all.

At the end of the day, none of these players may change teams this season.  It’s August, and speculation is the name of the game.

Who do you think has the highest likelihood of being shipped out?