It’s getting to be that time of year again on the NHL schedule. The season is winding down, with roughly a month and a half left to play. Teams’ directions in terms of the playoff hunt are starting to take form, and one of the most important days on the schedule is rapidly approaching: trade deadline day.
This year’s trade deadline is next Tuesday, Feb. 28 at 3 p.m., and unfortunately for the Carolina Hurricanes, their trade deadline prerogative is looking like the same of the two preceding years. Following Sunday night’s 4-0 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs at PNC Arena, the team is nine points out of a playoff spot and sits dead last in the Eastern Conference.
This will likely lead to general manager Ron Francis going back to the trade deadline strategy he has used the past two years, selling off pending unrestricted free agents on expiring contracts for assets as he continues to build the team for the long haul.
This year will likely lack the drama of last year’s deadline that saw long-time captain and face of the franchise Eric Staal shipped out to the New York Rangers for multiple draft picks and a prospect, along with forward Kris Versteeg and defenseman John-Michael Liles being traded away. There are, however, a few useful pieces that should fetch the Canes some additional draft picks.
Veteran defenseman Ron Hainsey will likely be the top target from the Canes’ roster. While this has not exactly been a banner year for Hainsey, as he has been prone to a few mistakes in terms of bad positioning and turnovers that lead to goals against, he has still shown the ability to log top four minutes both at even strength and on the Hurricanes’ top-ranked penalty kill. Defensive depth is always in demand at the trade deadline, and this one should be no different. Hainsey would be useful in a depth role, playing some third-pairing minutes and on the penalty kill for a contending team.
One thing that might hurt the return for Hainsey is the fact that the 35-year-old has never played in a Stanley Cup Playoff game. However, sometimes teams like to pick up a veteran that has never enjoyed postseason success in hopes they become a rallying point for their players. The Canes will likely look to last year’s deadline that saw them obtain a third-round pick for Liles, and the Buffalo Sabres get the same for defenseman Mike Weber. Hainsey’s situation is comparable to those two, and Francis’ asking price likely starts with another third rounder, with the possibility of the return sliding down to a fourth or fifth depending on the market for defensemen. Playoff contenders that could look for a veteran defenseman include the Pittsburgh Penguins, Edmonton Oilers, New York Islanders and Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Canes’ other two trade chips come from their league-best penalty kill as well. Teams are always looking for depth forwards that can step into a bottom six role if necessary and help on the penalty kill. The Canes have two such pieces in forwards Jay McClement and Viktor Stalberg.
McClement is first among Canes forwards in shorthanded time on ice per game, which will be attractive to contenders looking to bolster their penalty kill given that Carolina is first in the NHL in penalty-kill percentage. While McClement is somewhat of a black hole offensively with four goals and two assists in 54 games played, he is decent in the faceoff circle at 48.5 percent on the season, and his penalty-kill prowess should spark a team’s interest. Francis would likely be looking at anywhere from a fourth to sixth round draft pick for McClement, again, depending on the market for depth at center. Among teams in the playoffs or fighting for a spot, the Penguins, Islanders, Montreal Canadiens and Chicago Blackhawks all sit bottom-10 in the league in terms of penalty kill percentage and could take interest in McClement’s services to give that part of their special teams a boost.
The same applies to Stalberg, who sits third among Canes forwards in penalty-killing ice time per game. All of the above in terms of the penalty kill applies to Stalberg as well (minus faceoffs, as he is a winger, not a center), but he has a bit more going for him than McClement. Stalberg adds a solid combination of size, speed and physicality to a bottom-six forward spot, and would be useful in that role on any team. With eight goals on the season, including two shorthanded, Stalberg provides a little bit of depth scoring and is good for a few goals from the third or fourth line.
Alone among the Canes’ trade chips, Stalberg also has ample playoff experience (McClement has a few games but has not been part of a lengthy run). The veteran Swede has appeared in 43 playoff games in his career, including 19 with the Blackhawks during their 2013 Stanley Cup run. Adding a veteran with a ring on his finger, who has won before and knows what it takes, is something playoff teams often look to do. Stalberg probably nets the Canes yet another mid-round pick, and a young team without a lot of recent playoff appearances such as the Maple Leafs or Oilers might look to pick him up and add some veteran leadership and playoff know-how to its roster.
Forward Derek Ryan has an expiring contract as well, but given that this year is his first lengthy stay in the NHL after a long stint in Europe, he’s more of an unknown commodity for other teams and the Canes may look to keep him around.
With its abundance of young defensemen, Carolina has been linked in trade rumors to big-name forwards around the league, Colorado Avalanche center Matt Duchene chief among them. Those types of trades happening in-season is rare, however, and tends to be more of an off-season type of move. It seems unlikely Francis would look to make that type of big splash at the deadline and more likely that he would wait until the draft for such a transaction.
While it is never a fun experience for an NHL team to break itself apart, in the case of a likely non-playoff team, it’s the smart move. Selling off players on expiring contracts for picks or prospects is good asset management. Getting value for players that will likely move on in the offseason is something Francis has shown a knack for so far as Canes general manager. Those picks can then be used in future trades or to continue to add to the team’s growing prospect pool. With another long summer likely in the cards for the Hurricanes, Francis will likely be sending three more pending free agents on their way to continue to build the future Hurricanes.
Hurricanes forward Jay McClement takes a faceoff during the Canes' 2-1 victory over the Oilers on Feb. 3 in PNC Arena. McClement recorded one shot on goal and won only 17% of his faceoffs.
