The NHL Trade Deadline is fast approaching and now that the Olympic trade freeze is over, look for all kinds of rumors and inuendo to explode around hockey social media for the next several days. Yes, even more so than usual.
If NHL General Managers want to try to improve their respective teams, they have until 3 P.M. on March 6 to do so. But they should be careful, there are no guarantees that a trade will actually improve your team.
In Carolina, GM Eric Tulsky and his crew have the responsibility
to make that decision.
After seven consecutive playoffs and eventual disappointments, many media“experts” feel that the Hurricanes need to upgrade in order to make it to the Stanley Cup Finals.
Some upgrades were made over the offseason. The addition of Nikolaj Ehlers certainly is an improvement from last season.
The Canes also signed K’Andre Miller and while he is still acclimating to the Carolina system, he is mostly an improvement over Dmitri Orlov from last year.
Is Alexander Nikishin an upgrade over Brent Burns?
Rod Brind’Amour would say no but the eye test doesn’t look that bad as well as some stats. Nikishin certainly has more points on the powerplay (two goals and four assists so far) than Burns did last year (zero goals and three assists) and has more hits, (Burns 11, Niki 100 so far) and he is still learning.
That should also be counted as a position that was upgraded for the playoffs.
Last postseason, the injury to Jalen Chatfield hurt the team. They were forced to play Scott Morrow and a brand new Nikishin in some high pressure situations. The signing of an experienced Mike Reilly should be adequate insurance for this possibility, this time around. (At least better than last year).
Last but not least, newly signed goalie Brandon Bussi is setting NHL records seemingly every time he takes the ice. That position looks like it has been upgraded, at this point. But we all know goaltending can be fickle.
So the argument could be made that the team has improved enough to be successful in the postseason just by the changes they have made so far.
But, are those changes enough to get over the hump in the rough and tumble playoffs?
One position many are looking at is the center position.
Logan Stankoven was moved to center this season and there have been mixed results. He still needs work on his faceoffs, for sure. (44.4%) But let’s take a look at some of his other stats.
So far this season in 57 games, he has 10 goals and 15 assists for 25 points. (.44 points per game)
Previous to this season in 78 games he scored 14 goals and had 24 assists. (.49 points per game).
For his first NHL season playing the center position, his production has not dropped off too much and should improve. Stankoven did play center often in the Juniors so it is not totally a foreign concept to him.
Still, there is a valid argument to be made that the Canes could improve there, if they really wanted to.
Experienced centers like, Vincent Trochek, Ryan O’Reilly, Nazem Kadri, Elias Pettersson, Robert Thomas, and Mika Zibanejad are all rumored to be available. But at what cost?
There are other forwards that could also help the team.
Carolina officials do not seem excited about the chance to make adjustments at this point. Of course the front office is always looking to improve the team and they could fool everyone with a big move at any time. The Rantanen deal from last season came out of nowhere.
The team seems involved in almost every major trade rumor out there.
But Tulsky himself noted that (he was happy with this group) in a recent interview.
And why not?
The Hurricanes are tied for first in the East with the Lightning with 78 points. (The Bolts have two games in hand). They have an eight point lead in their division. They are 8-0-2 in their last 10 games.
The team has been fighting adversity much of the season primarily as Slavin has been out more than he has been in.
There is also an argument to be made that the players who have have gotten you to this point, deserve the chance to take it to the next level.
That is why I think that if there is a deal to be made, it will not include any of the top nine or ten forwards.
There is also an argument to be made that the coaching staff’s system needs to be changed to be more successful in the playoffs, more so than the players. But that is a discussion for another day!
