You know when you have a stuffy nose and start thinking about all the times in your life you’ve been walking around without a stuffy nose, not knowing how good you had it?
Bear with me, but that’s sort of how I’d describe the hype — or lack thereof — leading up to the Hurricanes’ trade deadline of 2021.
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The sense around the league is that the “deadline” will be more of a slow burn this season due to factors like potential quarantine, extra frugality, etc. We’ve seen a few bigger trades, like Patrik Laine to Columbus, already. The Canes sent Ryan Dzingel to Ottawa for Cedric Paquette earlier this month, and barring an emergency or a setback on Petr Mrazek’s return, I’d be shocked if they took part in anything much bigger than that deal. This is partially due to the aforementioned soft deadline, but also the theory of stuffy-nose relativity.
For once, we who follow the Canes aren’t approaching a trade deadline oscillating between excitement about what they could do and fear about what they probably won’t do. I don’t know about you, but when everyone on the Hurricanes roster is healthy, I see the makings of a Stanley Cup contender. Small tweaks to add experience and sandpaper are always encouraged, but the Paquette trade has paid off in that aspect so far. A big tweak like a goaltending change would make sense if the Canes really wanted to do something crazy, but money remains an obstacle, with contract negotiations looming and salary-cap issues.
Rod Brind’Amour and Don Waddell have also made it clear these past few months that they generally want to work with the group that they have. And they finalized the group they have via savvy trade deadline moves over the past few seasons. So let’s take a few moments to remember the not-so-distant past when “we like our group” became a sarcastic meme among Canes fans, aka the stuffy nose era. And let’s take another moment to appreciate the essentially complete team that’s now assembled — snot-free living.
2018-19: Give me fuel, give me fire, give me Nino Niederreiter
• I always felt kinda bad about how the Victor Rask-for-Nino Niederreiter trade became a meme. Rask is an incredibly nice human being, and I’m happy to see him succeeding with the Wild, with five goals and eight points through Thursday. Both players were, perhaps, underplayed and/or misused by their original teams for whatever reason. But Niederreiter has always been an objectively better player, and the moment the trade happened, you knew the Canes were serious about a playoff push. They’d make it to the Eastern Conference finals that season, largely thanks to Niederreiter’s production, which began the second he got to Carolina.
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That tapered off a bit, as we all knew it would, given how streaky Niederreiter tends to be. But Brind’Amour kept believing in him and — for the most part — putting him in positions to succeed. His nine goals in 19 games are tied for the team lead with someone else we’ll get to shortly. You don’t need to say much more than that when talking about trade deadline success.
• The Niederreiter acquisition happened Jan. 17, a few months before the deadline, then the Canes stood pat. But you’ll remember they elected not to trade Michael Ferland, which I still think was a good decision at the time. It’s easy to wonder in retrospect what they would’ve received in return, knowing he was scoring so many goals and adding such a punch to the team before he sustained what would be a string of injuries that have him on LTIR to this day. But remember how, before Ferland, the Canes used to trade valuable players for any pinch of perceived value if they were pending free agents? I think it was important to the team that management kept him and showed trust in this situation.
2019-20: The most eventful trade deadline in Hurricanes history
Before we get to the bullet points, please reflect on this article I wrote while it was all happening and take a moment to feel as bittersweet as I do about those funny, real-life moments with the Canes.
• The Hurricanes somehow finessed Vincent Trocheck, who is currently tied with Niederreiter as their leading goal-scorer (nine) and is No. 2 in overall points (16 in 18 games) for someone they were looking to trade as it is (Erik Haula) and a fan-favorite-but-still-fourth-line center (Lucas Wallmark). The Predators have since signed Haula out of free agency, and he’s got a goal and four assists in 18 games.
• The Canes also got Brady Skjei for a 2020 first-rounder at this deadline. It was puzzling then with so much talent on the Canes’ blue line, and sort of puzzling to this day, but he’s had some pretty strong games for the Canes this season. It also makes sense in the context of the expansion draft. One defenseman has gotta go. Regardless, the book isn’t closed on this situation.
• The acquisition of Sami Vatanen for Janne Kuokkanen-plus might be something to look back on with some regret, as Kuokkanen has a goal and five assists for the Devils this season, and Vatanen is … back with the Devils.
📽️ I'm formally filing an HR complaint against #NJDevils Sami Vatanen for being a workplace hazard. ⚠️
(Wait for it!) pic.twitter.com/ciIQFETqKr
— Amanda Stein (@amandacstein) February 26, 2021
The takeaway
Nino Niederreiter voice: “At the end of the day,” the Canes have acquired their two top goal-scorers over the past two trade deadlines.
They’ve given up Rask, who felt too much pressure to be a game-changer in their once-barren forward lineup, and Kuokkanen, who is still a question mark but won’t make or break the Hurricanes’ Cup dreams.
Not bad. But don’t look for a repeat in 2020-21.
(Photo of Nino Niederreiter, Vincent Trocheck and Charlie McAvoy: Mark Blinch / Getty Images)