With the Carolina Hurricanes falling further and further out of playoff contention and looking to the future once again as the NHL’s trade deadline approaches, the first domino has fallen. General manager Ron Francis announced on Thursday that the Canes have traded defenseman Ron Hainsey, a pending unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, to the Pittsburgh Penguins for forward Danny Kristo and a second-round draft pick in 2017.
The Hurricanes signed the now 35-year-old Hainsey as a free agent prior the the 2013-14 season. In 3.5 seasons with Carolina, the veteran blueliner has logged 300 games played, 15 goals and 58 points. He has logged significant minutes among the Hurricanes’ top-four group on defense, pairing mostly with defenseman Justin Faulk the past year and a half. Despite playing in 891 career regular season games for four different franchises, Hainsey has yet to make an appearance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. That is likely to change with Pittsburgh this year.
Kristo, a 2008 second-round draft pick of the Montreal Canadiens and University of North Dakota product comes to the Canes organization yet to play in an NHL game, but has 267 career games with various AHL teams. As an interesting side note, this is the first deal the Canes’ last general manager and current Penguins boss Jim Rutherford has made with his old team.
The extra second-round pick adds to the Canes’ already large haul for the 2017 Entry Draft as Francis continues to build the team for the long term. The Canes now have 10 picks in the upcoming draft, including three second rounders and six picks in the first three rounds.
