Exploring a trade between the Devils and Canes for Jesper Bratt

Continuing the series of looking at any option the Canes could add to address their lack of goal scoring, one player who had rumors surface today about his availability was New Jersey Devils forward Jesper Bratt. I will be the first to admit that I am not too sure about this as a Hurricanes-style move given the risk of this being a career year for the Swedish winger, but he’s apparently someone who could be on the block.

Bratt has joined Frank Seravalli’s trade bait list and has been mentioned to be a possible player on the move ahead of the draft on July 7th. While this might not be the smoothest fit for the Hurricanes moving forward, it does feel like I would be doing a disservice if I omitted Bratt from this conversation. Anyway, what does Bratt do well that the Canes would be after?

Jesper Bratt had 26 goals and 47 assists for 73 points in just 76 games for a New Jersey Devils team that just struggled throughout the year. Their offense was their silver lining and a big part of that was the breakout year that Jesper Bratt underwent. What makes this concerning is that there are no signs of the Stockholm, Sweden native being able to repeat this performance in future seasons.

Bratt could slide into a top-six winger spot and could be helpful enough to the depth to allow the team to load up with the SAT line again. If nothing else, he could potentially be a nice addition to the powerplay and a good puck-moving forward, but that feels like something the Hurricanes have in spades. Trying to get Bratt to fit into this system to me kind of feels like shoving a square peg into a round hole. If you brute force it hard enough, it might work, but it’s not a natural fit.

If Carolina started with prospects like Ryan Suzuki, you might get somewhere. Obviously, Carolina would need to keep adding. In a summer where the Hurricanes will either look to bulk up the forwards or strengthen the roster some more to get back to the level of Stanley Cup contenders, maybe Bratt is an option. I do not think it is a fantastic fit for the team, but I do think that if he is the last option, he could be worth it.

Question for Cardiac Cane readers: Do you think the Canes should try to move for Jesper Bratt?