The 2020 trade deadline is one of the biggest in franchise history, so I'm planning on covering each of the three deals they made on deadline day over the next three days. Fighting to secure a playoff spot in late February, the Hurricanes used the 2020 deadline to not only bolster their lineup immediately, but also for the future.
Heading into deadline day, the Canes were still coming to terms with what had happened two nights prior. In the aftermath of the David Ayres game, the Hurricanes were losing bodies left and right. They'd already lost Dougie Hamilton in mid-January. After beating Toronto, Brett Pesce suffered a season-ending injury, and both goalies exited the game with injuries.
The team focused on adding to their defensive group, especially with two of its stalwarts on the right side going down. To address it, the team made two defensive trades. One of those saw the Canes trade for Rangers defenseman Brady Skjei. In return, they sent New York a conditional 1st-round pick in 2020, the lower of either theirs or Toronto's picks in the opening round.
Skjei was in the second year of a six-year deal that he'd signed with the Rangers, making the move an interesting decision for the team at the time. It was even weirder considering New York was in the hunt, despite sitting in 7th in the division on deadline day. He'd been a solid producer during his short time, including eight goals and 23 points in 60 games before the trade.
Skjei set the tone against his former team when the NHL returned to play
The pandemic cut the remainder of the regular season short. Skjei played seven games with his new team before the pause, and the plan to return complicated matters a little. Without a definitive standing to determine the playoff field, the league added a qualifying round. This set Skjei and the Hurricanes on a collision course with the Rangers in the best-of-five series.
Skjei immediately proved there was no time for friends with playoff hockey upon us. It took 32 seconds for him to impact the series, laying a booming hit on former teammate Jesper Fast and knocking him out of the series. Skjei finished the series with one assist in three games and added another helper against Boston as the Canes were eliminated in the 1st round.
Skjei became one of the team's most prolific offensive defensemen
His first "full" season in Raleigh was pedestrian, scoring just 10 points in 52 games. It didn't help that he didn't record a point in 11 postseason games either. However, Skjei made a major turnaround in 2021-22, putting together the best season of his career, to that point. He set a career high with nine goals and tied his personal best of 39 points in a full 82 games.
Skjei took another major step forward the following year. Heading into 2023, Skjei only had six goals and 15 points through 35 games. Very quickly, 2023 bent to Skjei's will. By the end of the campaign, Skjei finished with 18 goals, tying him with teammate Brent Burns, who also scored 18 times that season, and Hamilton for the most goals in a season by a defenseman in Hurricanes history.
He followed up that effort with another double-digit season in 2023-24, his final with the Hurricanes. Skjei scored 13 goals, becoming the fifth Hurricanes defenseman with multiple seasons with at least 10 goals. He also set a new career high with 47 points, the 4th-most by a defender in team history. He added nine points during the postseason before signing a deal with Nashville in the offseason.
The 1st-round pick was traded twice on draft night
The Hurricanes' pick in the 1st round went on a fun journey after the trade in February. Per the condition of the trade, the Canes held Toronto's selection at 13th, while New York landed 22nd after the Canes' elimination. The Rangers traded it to move up on Night 1, advancing three spots in a deal with Calgary. At 19th overall, the Rangers selected defenseman Braden Schneider.
The Flames didn't use the pick either, trading back two spots in a swap with the Capitals. Washington selected forward Hendrix Lapierre with the 22nd pick, while Calgary drafted Connor Zary 24th overall. While the Canes' selection of Seth Jarvis with the 13th pick is easily the best of the four, each team in this situation landed valuable pieces.
Of the three trades the Hurricanes made at the 2020 deadline, this was arguably their best, though there's one other that comes close. The Canes needed to do something big on defense in the aftermath of the Toronto game. Brady Skjei was a valuable piece to the defense for four and a half seasons, making a little history in the process.