Carolina Hurricanes: Reviewing the Patrick Marleau Trade 18 Months Later

The Carolina Hurricanes made a trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs last off-season that has certainly been paying dividends since then. Carolina took on the $6.25 million cap hit of Patrick Marleau in exchange for a 1st round pick (13th overall) in the 2020 NHL entry draft, and a 7th round pick in the NHL entry draft, giving up a 6th round pick in the same draft.

It must be said that it is still too early to realistically look at the development of the prospects gained by those picks. However, with the start of the new AHL season having passed us by, I wanted to talk about this so when one player does score for the Chicago Wolves this season, you will remember their path to the Carolina Hurricanes organisation, and it is this specific trade. Of course, I am talking about Seth Jarvis.

The Carolina Hurricanes would go on to draft Seth Jarvis at 13th overall, and Alexander Pashin at 199th overall; Toronto would select Axel Rindell at 177th overall with Carolina’s 6th round pick.

This trade was kind of harsh on Toronto, but they were pressed for cap space and it ended up playing right into the hands of the Carolina Hurricanes, who paid $6,250,000 to move down a round late in the draft and pick up a 1st round draft selection. It looks pretty bad before even breaking it down, so if you’re a Leafs fan, this piece may not be for you. I do not wish to twist the knife anymore.

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Let’s start with what happened with Marleau. Carolina’s management tried to get him to play in the City of Oaks, but Marleau and his family were homesick and missed the green pastures of the Bay Area in California. Hence, he was bought out. It cost the Hurricanes just 1 season at his full cap hit and as of now, he is only on the books in Carolina as a formality. He is receiving no money.

After Carolina bought Marleau out, he was re-signed by the San Jose Sharks. At last year’s trade deadline, he became a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins. He played 8 regular season games as a penguin, and 4 in the bubble in Toronto before they got bounced out by the Montreal Canadiens. If he’d have ordered a coffee when he arrived, it was still warm on the plane out of Pittsburgh. Since then, he has again re-signed in San Jose.

Moving onto the 1st round pick. Carolina possessed two at the deadline, and were in dire need of a defenseman due to injuries piling up. So, they traded one to acquire Brady Skjei, but that’s a different trade, I will not dive into that now. New York would receive whichever pick was lower down the draft, and that caused some confusion when the season was paused.

In the bubble, the Maple Leafs and their new head coach were knocked out in the play-in round, whereas Carolina ironically swept the Rangers. This resulted in Carolina’s original first round pick going to the Rangers. Simple! News swept that a team from the losers of the play-in round would be the winners of the draft lottery, so Carolina could potentially have not had a pick in the 1st round of this draft in the first place.

When the draw was made, and all eight play-in losers were in the running, Toronto’s ball started to surface. It was then knocked away by the ball of the Minnesota Wild, and the New York Rangers won the draft lottery. I am not making this up. I will put a tweet below with a video if you wish to see it with your own eyes.

At the end of the day, the Carolina Hurricanes end up keeping the pick they got from Toronto! At 13th overall, they selected Seth Jarvis. After 4 games, Jarvis has 4 goals and 6 points in 4 games with the Wolves. He’s 18 years old, and producing at a point per game pace in a professional league. He’s going to be a fun piece for Carolina down the line; Jarvis is a very Carolina-esque pick in that his underlying numbers are traditionally very strong.

After all the drama with the 1st, let’s move onto the 7th rounder. This one is pretty simple. Carolina picked Alexander Pashin, who most scouts had going in the 2nd round. Naturally, he fell to Carolina because of course he did. Personally, I love the pick of Alexander Pashin, but time will tell on whether he can transition into the NHL.

Toronto did get a 6th round pick that they’d use to draft Axel Rindell. Rindell was an overager, and is a Finnish D man. At 6’0, he’s a good play-driving defenseman, but there are questions with his development being drafted at the age of 20. This shouldn’t be a draft pick that should bite the Canes in the backside, but if it does you have to praise the Maple Leafs scouting.

So, who wins this trade? Carolina got a marvellous young talent in Jarvis, and a boom-or-bust shot with Pashin in exchange for taking on 1 year of a contract worth a little more than $6 million? I think it’s difficult to say that the Canes don’t do well in this trade. However, it was a cap dump and Toronto kept their core intact, so it had the desired affect for both teams.