The Carolina Hurricanes made one of the biggest trades of the season in January. They sent Martin Necas and Jack Drury to the Colorado Avalanche for Mikko Rantanen. A previous 50-goal scorer, they hoped to extend Rantanen for eight years. But the Hurricanes could not reach and agreement and traded him at the NHL trade deadline. Despite landing Logan Stankoven in the deal, Carolina fans should be concerned.
Last year, the Hurricanes landed the biggest rental of the trade deadline in Jake Guentzel. After they were swept in the Eastern Conference Final, they tried to bring Guentzel back. But the former Penguin was not interested in any of their deals and left. He is now on the Tampa Bay Lightning. Two years in a row, two different general managers made the big move the Hurricanes needed. But they could not land the plane.
Rod Brind’amour has made the playoffs in each of his six seasons as the Hurricanes head coach. Their biggest issue in his tenure has been goal-scoring which Rantanen was brought in to solve. Outside of his contract issues, he was also struggling on the ice. He had two goals and four assists in 13 games and already has two goals in two games for the Stars.
Stankoven could be the player to help the Hurricanes break through offensively. In 24 games during his rookie year last season, he scored only six goals, and his 59 games with Dallas this year only ended with nine. But he has one goal in one game for the Hurricanes, so maybe the change of scenery will help.
The Hurricanes also picked up two first-round picks in the Rantanen trade. While the deal was finalized too late to trade them, a big deal could happen this offseason.
How could the Hurricanes quell this concern?
The only way for the Hurricanes to stop the narrative about them not attracting free agents is to attract a free agent. Brock Boeser is the perfect fit for Carolina and may have been the deal they were looking to make with the extra picks. He is a free agent after this season and likely is not returning to the Vancouver Canucks.
If the Hurricanes land Boeser this offseason, this narrative will likely die. But if they do not, they need to make a trade with their extra first-rounders to land that elite scorer. This is assuming that they do not win the Stanley Cup, which is unlikely without Necas or Rantanen on the team.
When looking for an offseason trade candidate, we’re going to start with 2026 free agents. Connor McDavid, Cale Makar, and Jack Eichel all fall into that category, but we’re going to assume they are unavailable. If the Winnipeg Jets re-sign Nikolaj Ehlers this offseason, they may not be able to afford Kyle Connor. That is a player that would cost at least one of the first-rounders that the Hurricanes could target.
The Hurricanes play great team defense and have the best defender in the world on their team. Jaccob Slavin made a name for himself in the 4 Nations Face-Off and is the reason they can have players like Brent Burns on their team. Burns is an offense-first player at this point but that is fine when Slavin plays with him.
The same thought process can be applied to a goal-scorer as well. A bona fide top-line winger slides Stankoven and Jackson Blake into better spots for their development. The Hurricanes can fix their problem and end this concern this offseason.
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