Deadline to Deadline: Every Carolina Hurricanes Trade Within the Past Calendar Year

With the 2020 NHL trade deadline in the rearview mirror, let’s take a look at every Carolina Hurricanes trade within the last calendar year.

The 2020 NHL deadline was one of the most active in the history of the Carolina Hurricanes. General Manager Don Waddell was working the phones until the last possible minute to bolster this Carolina Hurricanes lineup for both the stretch run and beyond. Now that the 3pm deadline has passed, let’s take a look at every transaction made over the last calendar year.

February 25th, 2019: Carolina Hurricanes trade Cliff Pu to the Florida Panthers for future considerations. The Florida Panthers trade Tomas Jurco to the Carolina Hurricanes for future considerations. 

Kicking off this list is the one and only deadline deal the Carolina Hurricanes made last season. While Carolina elected to stand pat at the NHL level, they made a move to help bolster the Charlotte Checkers’ roster for their eventual Calder Cup Championship run.

While technically two separate transactions, the Canes first shipped off short-lived prospect Cliff Pu to the Florida Panthers in exchange for “future considerations.” Simultaneously, the Panthers traded forward Tomas Jurco to Carolina, also for “future considerations.”  With Jurco on an AHL deal with Florida’s minor league affiliate at the time, the deal needed to be constructed this way to be league approved.

Although the move didn’t directly have an impact at the NHL level for the Hurricanes, Jurco was an important piece for Charlotte down the stretch. Producing at a point per game pace in the playoffs, and just a tad under during the regular season, the Slovakian forward was an excellent veteran presence in the room for guys like Martin Necas. Losing Pu was an extremely small price to pay, seeing as he has yet to even establish himself as an AHL-caliber player yet.

April 30th, 2019: Carolina Hurricanes trade Adam Fox to the New York Rangers for 2019 2nd round pick and conditional 2020 3rd rounder (turns into a 2020 2nd if Fox plays 30 or more games for NYR this season).

In what has been the first of series of trades between the New York Rangers and Carolina Hurricanes, the Canes traded away right-shot defenseman prospect Adam Fox for two draft picks. As a college player, Fox was likely to return for his senior season at Harvard before coming a free agent hadn’t the Hurricanes traded his rights away.

It was long rumored that he only had interest in signing with New York and a trade allowed him to  step into the NHL this season. In return, the Carolina Hurricanes received a 2019 second round pick and a 2020 conditional pick. If Fox played at least 30 NHL games this season, the 2020 pick would be a second rounder, otherwise it was going to be a third. So far, Fox has appeared in 61 games with New York, making the conditional pick a second rounder in this upcoming draft.

June 22nd, 2019: Carolina Hurricanes trade a 2020 6th round pick to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Patrick Marleau, a 2020 conditional 1st round pick (top ten protected) and a 2020 7th round pick. 

The first of three draft day trades this past summer, the Carolina Hurricanes took advantage of the cap-strapped Toronto Maple Leafs, turning a 2020 6th round pick into a conditional first rounder. Toronto had several key RFA’s to sign, and needed to free up some cap space to do so. Enter the Carolina Hurricanes.

Patrick Marleau had one more year on his three year, $6.25M AAV contract. The Hurricanes attempted to convince him to play in Raleigh this year, but he preferred a reunion with the San Jose Sharks. Carolina bought out Marleau, and since he was over 35 when he signed the deal, is on the hook for the full cap hit this season.

The first received in the deal is top ten protected, so in the event they fail to make the playoffs and win one of the lottery positions, it will become a 2021 unprotected 1st.

June 22nd, 2019: Carolina Hurricanes trade the 37th overall pick to the Ottawa Senators for picks 44 and 83. Carolina Hurricanes trade the 59th overall pick to the Minnesota Wild for picks 73 and 99.

Also on draft day, the Carolina Hurricanes traded down in the second round twice. First, moving the 2nd they received from New York in the Fox deal to Ottawa for picks 44 and 83 and then moving their 2nd to the Wild for picks 73 and 99.

In both of these deals, the Carolina Hurricanes still managed to get the guys they were targeting with their original picks, while picking up another high potential prospect. In the Ottawa deal, they moved down seven spots and still managed to pick up Jamison Rees (44) and Anttoni Honka (83). In the Minnesota deal, they moved down 14 spots, picking up Patrik Puistola (73) and Cade Webber (99).

While not all of these guys will pan out, they all have some NHL potential. In Puistola’s case, some insiders had the Carolina Hurricanes taking him with their first in mock drafts, so getting him in the third is a huge steal. Another notable pick is Rees, who has been performing like a first round pick this season (when he’s in the lineup).

June 24th, 2019: Carolina Hurricanes trade Calvin de Haan and Aleksi Saarela to the Chicago Blackhawks for Gustav Forsling and Anton Forsberg.

Shortly after the NHL draft, the Carolina Hurricanes sent defenseman Calvin de Haan and prospect Aleksi Saarela to the Chicago Blackhawks for Gustav Forsling and Anton Forsberg. In his short time with the Canes, de Haan quickly became a fan favorite and having just signed a four year deal not even a full year before the time of the trade, it seemed to have came out of nowhere.

Coming off another injury, the front office was concerned with his long term health, and after the Marleau buyout, felt it was best for them to rid themselves of his $4.55 million cap hit. To do so, they sent off a prospect many fans were high on in Saarela. Saarela’s time in Chicago was just as short as Pu’s time in Carolina, as he was traded again earlier this season, this time to the Florida Panthers.

The return for the duo was Forsling and Forsberg, who have both spent the entire year with the Charlotte Checkers so far, excluding Forsberg suiting up for the Carolina Hurricanes last night as Nedeljkovic’s backup. At this point, they’re solid depth options and likely don’t have much of a future with the organization come this upcoming offseason.

June 27th, 2019: Carolina Hurricanes trade Nic Roy and a 2021 conditional 5th (if Haula is re-signed or is traded) to the Vegas Golden Knights for Erik Haula.

Trading away de Haan and his cap hit paved the way for a deal with the Golden Knights. Another team in a bit of a cap crunch, Vegas decided to send Erik Haula to the Carolina Hurricanes for prospect Nicolas Roy and a conditional pick.

Roy was someone they had a chance to watch closely when their AHL team, the Chicago Wolves, faced off against the Charlotte Checkers in the Calder Cup Playoffs. As a guy who didn’t have much of an NHL future with the Canes, this deal was a no-brainer for Carolina.

Haula was off to a hot start with the Carolina Hurricanes before getting injured. When he eventually returned to the lineup, he wasn’t as effective as he was to start the year. About a month ago, there were some rumblings that he wasn’t happy with his role here, causing many to speculate that he could be on the move before this past deadline.