A Look At Potential Trade Targets Linked to the Carolina Hurricanes

D Sami Vatanen (New Jersey Devils)

Not like my opinion really means anything, but Sami Vatanen is currently my number one choice in terms of Canes trade targets; so forgive me if this breakdown might sound like a sale.

If you aren’t familiar with Vatanen, the 28-year old defender seems like a seamless fit for what the Hurricanes are looking for. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic wrote on the weekend that Carolina had shifted their focus away from Kings defenseman Alec Martinez and are honing in on Vatanen, as well as Sharks D Brenden Dillion who we’ll get to later.

Vatanen was originally drafted and started his career with the Anaheim Ducks, and made his way to Jersey in the Adam Henrique trade back in November of 2017. He’s in the last year of his deal – a pending UFA this summer – and the re-building Devils have a lot of money already tied up on their blue line with P.K. Subban, Damon Severson and Will Butcher.

That likely makes Vatanen expendable, and he’ll have suitors on the trade market. He’s one of the Devils’ top possession players, and he’s a very good puck-mover exiting the defensive zone. He leads all Devils D with 23 points in 47 games, and has a ton of skill for a defenseman:

Where Vatanen would really be useful to Carolina is on the powerplay, as he quarterbacks the PP1 in New Jersey. He’s got 9 powerplay assists and averages over 3 minutes of powerplay time per game, and has the best GF/60 rating of any Devil defender on the man advantage.

Vatanen also plays almost 2 minutes per game on the penalty kill. He’s a guy that the Devils coaching staff trusts in all situations, and he regularly plays well over 20 minutes a night.

Maybe the best part about Vatanen is that he’s a right-handed shot, so he could easily slot right alongside Jaccob Slavin on the Canes first pairing. With Gardiner-Pesce and Fleury-Edmundson enjoying solid success as D pairings, a top-pair of Slavin-Vatanen could really steady the Canes defense, while Vatanen and Gardiner man the 2 powerplay units.

Vatanen, who’s likely due for a raise on his current 4.875 AAV contract, would *likely* be purely a rental for the Canes. Regardless, that’s how teams inquiring on him would view him, and as such, LeBrun has speculated a 2020 second-round would likely seal the deal on a Vatanen trade.

Carolina could dangle their own 2nd rounder, or the one that they acquired from the Rangers (for Adam Fox) for Sami, and have a boatload of prospects they could sweeten the deal with if need be. For me, Vatanen seems like a no-brainer – all an-situations player who can run the PP1 and slot right into the top-4 on defense.

D Brenden Dillon (San Jose Sharks)

Another defenseman linked to the Hurricanes by Pierre LeBrun, Brenden Dillon is an extremely large fellow. A 6’4″, 225lb, strong, tough, stay-at-home D is exactly what the Canes have been in need of, seemingly forever.

A lot of NHL teams have been linked to this guy, and it’s not hard to see why. He’s got great playoff experience – 60 playoff games in the last 4 years – and is a very steadying presence on D – he’s second amongst Sharks D in Corsi% at 51.7, and is statistically one of their best penalty killers at 3.7 GA/60.

Dillon, who’s also a UFA at the end of the season, could be just what the doctor ordered for Carolina. He leads the Sharks with 167 hits (Jordan Staal leads the Canes with 116) and he’s fourth on the Sharks with 61 blocked shots. He also leads San Jose with 2.9 defensive point shares, which would only put him behind Slavin, Hamilton and Pesce with CAR.

He’s an absolute rock on defense, but Dillon can’t necessarily contribute to the Canes in ways that Vatanen can. He offers virtually nothing offensively (has never played PP in his career) and, as a left shot, would join an already-deep left side in a Canes D group that’s thin on the right side.

Here’s a look at what you’re getting with Dillon:

In terms of compensation, it would be pretty realistic for San Jose to ask for a 2nd rounder for Dillon, and based on his defensive acumen and experience it seems likely that they could get that, and maybe more. He’s definitely a name to keep in mind moving forward, as he seems like the type of guy Dundon and Waddell would covet.

F Jason Zucker (Minnesota Wild)

Remarkably, despite fleecing Minnesota last year in the Victor Rask for Nino Niederreiter deal, the Canes have been linked to multiple Wild players over the last couple months.

First they were linked to Jonas Brodin, but those rumors have kind of tapered off over the last few weeks. They were also mentioned to have inquired on Matt Dumba, but the talks were “too large” to happen in-season. Canes fans have mentioned Eric Staal. But now, we move on to Jason Zucker.

Michael Russo, the Wild writer for The Athletic (who’s a very trusted source) mentioned on his podcast on Saturday that the Hurricanes were one of “a few teams” that are inquiring on Jason Zucker. Hilariously, he also implied that Wild owner Craig Leipold may “block the trade”.

Zucker has scored 14 goals and 29 points in 45 games this season, and is just 2 years removed from a 33-goal campaign in 2017-18. He’s signed through 2023 at a 5.5 million dollar cap hit, so a trade for Zucker would be a trade for a guy in his prime years who’s under contract until he’s 31.

He’s a former teammate and a former linemate of both Erik Haula and Nino Niederreiter, so he seems like a possible fit and could re-kindle his chemistry with those guys. However, he’d be another left-shot in a Canes forward group that’s devoid of righties.

As a player, Zucker is a speedster who’s scored 20+ goals in 4 of his 5 full years in the NHL thus far, and is on pace for his 5th 20-goal campaign this year. As mentioned, he scored 33 in 2018, but that seems like an outlier and he’s probably more of a 20-25 goal guy. Just look at his speed:

At a 5.5 million cap hit, that’s a decent return on value – he seems to be a 20-goal, 40-45 point guy at this stage of his career. Maybe playing alongside guys like Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen could accelerate his point totals, but Zucker’s overall hockey sense has been questioned repeatedly and he’s been relegated to the Wild’s 4th line as of late.

I could potentially see him having success with the Canes, but I’m not sure it’s a risk worth taking considering his 5.5 AAV over the next 3 seasons. With Carolina free to extend Andrei Svechnikov and Dougie Hamilton after July 1st 2020, as well a long list of impending free agents, it doesn’t make a ton of sense for them to take on Zucker’s contract.

It could be possible that Carolina would look to move out money from their books to alleviate for Zucker, but I just can’t personally envision a scenario that makes sense. It’s also rather doubtful that Minnesota would move him for cheap, and it’s been speculated they’d covet a first-round pick in return.

It’s good to hear about the Canes brass doing their due diligence on all available options, but I wouldn’t hold my breath on a Zucker deal coming to fruition. Personally, I don’t feel the risk is worth the reward here, although he could be a nice fit in this Canes group.

G Robin Lehner (Chicago Blackhawks)

Did you really think that a Hurricanes trade rumor article wouldn’t include a goaltender!?

Whether or not the team needs to add a goaltender at this point is up for debate. Both Petr Mrazek and James Reimer have had moments of brilliance marred by inconsistency. And regardless of Reimer’s recent run of form, I’m not sure anyone could say their confident in the current goaltending situation.

I personally do think that the duo of Mrazek and Reimer is adequate enough if need be. The Canes’ in-zone coverage on defense has been horrific recently, and it’s hard to imagine many goalies having better results than either of those two, given their recent situations.

If there *is* a guy that makes sense, it’s Chicago goaltender Robin Lehner. A reigning Vezina Trophy finalist, Lehner was linked to Carolina via free agency in the off-season but ultimately ended up in Chicago. This season, he’s 15-8-5 with a 2.83 GAA and a .923 save percentage, and has been a far superior option to Corey Crawford in the Blackhawks crease.

Carolina has been linked to Lehner for months, though the rumors have died out recently with Chicago unexpectedly climbing their way back into the playoff mix. However, they’ve lost 3 straight games and currently sit 4 points back of a playoff spot. If they can’t gain any ground in the next week or two, they could look to move Lehner if they don’t plan to re-sign him.

An impending UFA, Lehner is obviously in line for a huge contract on the open market this summer, given his success in recent years. Though his numbers are rather similar to James Reimer’s, Lehner would be a sizeable upgrade in goal. I mean, just look at this:

https://twitter.com/nhl/status/1225239456938123264?s=21

Let’s not forget that despite Carolina getting the better of the Islanders in the playoffs last season (SWEEEEEP!), Lehner was a brick wall for them, posting a .936 save percentage in his 8 playoff starts. In comparison, Mrazek had a .894 in his 11 games.

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The whole Lehner situation is a tough one overall, as arguments could be made for or against the move. The Reimer/Mrazek has been solid with all things considered, but could Lehner upgrade it – and by how much? You also have to factor in that Chicago would likely want a real haul for him, and other teams would likely be in the mix.

This is likely a position that Canes brass will monitor closely over the next 10-14 days. If Reimer and Mrazek continue to hold up, they may choose to stand pat. But with the regime’s previous linkage to Lehner, it should not be a shock at all if the Canes jump in the mix should Chicago make Lehner available. Definitely keep a close eye on this one.

To summarize, for now, these are the 4 guys that have been linked to Carolina most recently – but that doesn’t mean they won’t circle back to other guys they’ve previously been linked to such as Dylan DeMelo (OTT) and Alec Martinez (LAK).

Regardless, whether the team makes a move or not, it’s intriguing that Carolina is viewed as a buyer for the first time in over a decade, and it’ll definitely make for a very interesting 2 weeks leading up to the trade deadline.

Question for CC Readers: Should the Canes make a move before the deadline?