RALEIGH — if the Hurricanes win a Stanley Cup, Friday’s trade deadline won’t matter. But if they don’t, critics will certainly look at Carolina mostly standing pat at the NHL’s annual swap meet.
“At this deadline,” Hurricanes GM Eric Tulsky said Friday afternoon, “what we showed is sometimes the deal we want isn’t there, and we’re going to have the discipline to not do it.”
The Hurricanes did make one move ahead of the 3 p.m. deadline, acquiring veteran enforcer Nicolas Deslauriers from Philadelphia for a seventh round pick.
Deslauriers has one assist in 24 games this season and 105 points in 701 career games, but he’s best known for his pugilism. In the 35-year-old’s 13-season NHL career with five different teams, he has 90 major penalties — the third most since he entered the league in 2013-14.
The 6-foot-1, 218-pound winger also ranks 11th in hits in that time with 2,201, and his 18.43 hits per 60 is fifth among players with at least 250 games played since 2013-14. He’s in the final season of a four-year contract with a $1.75 million cap hit.
“Nic’s a veteran,” Tulsky said. “He’s a physical presence. He’s someone who is great character, does things the right way, makes the team harder to play against and, generally, just sort of adds the kind of character and toughness that we want to bring to the group.”
What the deadline will likely best be remembered for were the moves Carolina didn’t make. The Hurricanes were linked to several players, including centers Robert Thomas and Vincent Trocheck, but most of the big names with term left on their contract were not moved, and Tulsky said the asking prices didn’t warrant working out a deal.
“In the end, a lot of the players that got moved were guys who were in the sort of range of the roster where we feel like we’re pretty deep and solid,” Tulsky said, “and it wasn’t the high-end guys that we’re really after when we try to make the team better.”
The Eastern Conference teams in the playoff hunt worked around the edges of their rosters: the Lightning added Corey Perry; Buffalo picked up defensemen Logan Stanley and Luke Schenn; the Red Wings traded for former Carolina defenseman Justin Faulk and veteran forward David Perron; the Islanders picked up Brayden Schenn; the Blue Jackets took a gamble on Connor Garland; Boston, Montreal and Pittsburgh were mostly or totally quiet.
Colorado was the all-in team this deadline, first acquiring center Nicolas Roy and then bringing back Nazem Kadri, who helped the Avalanche win a Stanley Cup in 2022.
Carolina will now play out the regular season with the group it has had much of the season.
There’s nothing wrong with that — the Hurricanes entered Friday’s game in Edmonton atop the Eastern Conference at 39-16-6 with 84 points, poised to hold home ice in at least the first three rounds of the postseason if they can hold off Tampa Bay and Buffalo for the top spot.
While Carolina will certainly look to finish near the top of the standings, the final 20-plus games will also give coach Rod Brind’Amour the chance to rest any nicked-up players and take another look at the Hurricanes’ best prospects. That should also afford Deslauriers the chance to adapt to his new team and make sure no opposing players trying to make an end-of-season impression take advantage of his new teammates.
“It’s easier to have that toughness when you’ve got a guy like Deslauriers out there with you,” Tulsky said.
