Carolina Hurricanes: Why To Be Keen On Joey Keane
By Alex Ohari
Why?
Why. “Why” is the question that flooded through my mentions on Twitter in the moments following the announcement of the trade. Why? Why would they trade a 22-year old forward who they’ve developed since 2016, who’s looking like he’s about to blossom?
Why exactly, we’ll never know. But there is some valuable explanations that clear things up. First off, according to Hurricanes reporter Cory Lavalette, the Carolina Hurricanes had questions about Gauthier’s hockey sense, and his ability “to process the game at NHL speeds”.
In a situation like this, I think it’s also fairly important to note that Gauthier was a Ron Francis-regime pick, so it’s safe to assume that the new committee didn’t rate him as highly.
It’s also quite an eye-opening fact that Carolina, who’s been long thought of to need a big, goal-scoring power forward type of player in their lineup, went out and traded the one guy in their prospect system who best fit that description. Obviously, Canes management saw something that we as fans didn’t.
And yes, the Hurricanes are definitely deep on defense and their prospect pool in that regard looks good as well, but the narrative that they don’t need to be adding any more defensemen is false.
The right-side of their D prospect group is led by Anttoni Honka, who is years away from the NHL. Chase Priskie is there, but he has questionable foot speed and sense. Roland McKeown has been in the organization since early 2015 and, while he looks to deserve a chance, has yet to distinguish himself and seems like a soon-to-be cast-off.
Their two top guys – Jake Bean and Jesper Sellgren – play on the left-side, so Keane definitely fills a huge hole at the top of the right-side list.
As far as the deal goes, Gauthier will just about turn 23 when the 2020-21 season gets underway, and he looked to have an uphill battle to find a spot in Carolina’s top-9. Keane, who’s much younger at 20, has a potentially clearer path to the roster with Trevor van Riemsdyk likely on his way out and a (let’s be honest) uncertain future regarding Dougie Hamilton. Keane gives the team insurance in both situations.
Gauthier was a formidable prospect, but the argument can be made that he’d fallen down the rankings in the Canes’ organization, and with no real role or direction set in stone for him, the Canes made the wise move to trade him while his value was at his highest.
It’s a tough pill to swallow for Canes fans, but the team added depth to a position where they really did lack it, and it gives Gauthier a chance in another organization where he might have an easier path to top-9 ice-time than he did in the future for Carolina.