Carolina Hurricanes: The Second Ron Francis Trade Tree

Kicking the Can Down the Road

Carolina traded that 2005 4th rounder to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for defenseman Derrick Walser and a 2006 4th round pick. Not a blockbuster trade, and you’re probably thinking “What is the point in all of this?”, so please just bare with me. We will get there when we reach the end of this trade tree.

Walser never played in Carolina. He’d only play 91 NHL games in which he recorded 8 goals and 21 assists for 29 points. In just 4 years on some mediocre Columbus Blue Jackets teams, not a bad NHL career at all. Certainly better than mine will ever be. But, as I said, he never played in Carolina. So, he was traded again.

Walser was traded for Mark Flood. Flood only played for 2 NHL teams, neither of which was Carolina. In 2009-10 he had 6 NHL games for the New York Islanders, recording 1 assist for his first NHL point. In 2011-12, he would play for the new Winnipeg Jets; in 33 games, he had 3 goals and 4 assists for 7 points. 8 points in 39 games for a right-handed defenseman isn’t shabby at all.

Nothing would happen with Flood in Carolina. He just walked away in free agency. So, we move onto the 2006 4th round pick. We’ll get to that because it is someone on the active roster. It was traded along with Danny Richmond to Chicago in exchange for Anton Babchuk and a 4th round pick in 2007.

Danny Richmond played 49 career NHL games, 10 of which were with the Carolina Hurricanes. He would only amass 3 points, all of them assists. Yet, his first NHL point was with the Carolina Hurricanes. Not a hall of fame career by any means.

Anton Babchuk, though, was a beast of a man. 6’5″, 200lbs and had a slapshot that could force a goalie into the net, he was a mammoth of a player. He was acquired at the 2006 NHL deadline, meaning he was with the Carolina Hurricanes when they hoisted Lord Stanley’s Cup. However, he didn’t play a particularly big part in that playoff run.

He played a much bigger role in the 2009 playoff run, including scoring the overtime winner from a point slapshot in overtime to clinch a playoff spot. For 10 years, he was the last Cane to score a playoff clinching goal. A sad fact, but he really was a weapon when he was used correctly. Back in the 2009 3rd Round run, he would record just 1 assist, but he would play 13 games out of the 18 the Canes played; these would be his only career playoff appearances.

So, Babchuck’s time in Carolina was drawing to an end. After the 2009 season, it was looking very likely he would be moved out of town, and indeed he was, but where his new home would be and what the trade value would look like were the questions on the minds of every Canes fan.