Carolina Hurricanes: Top 3 Trade Deadline Targets

Juuse Saros

First on my list is none other than 25-year old Finnish netminder Jusse Saros.

Now, before I get into why I’d like Saros on the Carolina Hurricanes, I need to preface it by saying that the Nashville Predators have fully committed to a retool/rebuild going forward. Three players have emerged over the course of the past few days as being ‘untouchable’ on their roster going forward: Ryan Ellis, Roman Josi, and Pekka Rinne. The rest of the roster is fair game.

Now, Saros has been struggling a bit this season, but that’s the case for the entire Nashville Predators roster, so this isn’t too much cause for alarm. He currently sports a win-loss record of 3-5-0 in 10 games played, a .882 SV%, and a 3.47 GAA. Up until last season, when things really starting going sideways for the Preds, Saros was showing legitimate NHL-level starting goaltender potential.

With Alex Nedeljkovic showing he’s more than ready to take the backup position, this leaves the Carolina Hurricanes with a bit of a predicament on their hands. Both Petr Mrazek and James Reimer are UFA’s at the end of this season, and Ned goes into his final year of RFA status eligibility.

The Carolina Hurricanes should, in my opinion, move James Reimer (25% salary retained), and a 2nd round pick to acquire Juuse Saros. This would give both teams some wiggle room as far as cap space is concerned, and would grant Nashville a solid pick to help with their rebuild, alongside a veteran presence to backup Rinne for the remainder of the season.

Admittedly, it might take a bit more to acquire Saros given that he’s set to hit RFA status at the conclusion of this season; however, I think the Preds will be willing to play ball in that arena to acquire high-end draft picks going forward, especially if the Canes retain more than 25% of Reimer’s salary for the rest of the season.