The New Jersey Devils are trying to make their NHL team better. The rebuild has been going on for years, and they came up with a lot of good prospects. Meanwhile, the Carolina Hurricanes went through their own rebuild, and it helped them become a true Stanley Cup contender. The only reason they didn’t make it further is they faced the buzzsaw that was the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Hurricanes just re-upped their head coach Rod Brind’Amour and his entire staff. That was the offseason’s biggest priority. They also have to deal with some very important contracts before free agency starts. Andrei Svechnikov is the huge one. He’s a restricted free agent, and rumors say he already turned down an eight-year deal that would pay him $7 million per season. So, it’s going to cost more.
They also have Warren Foegele, Jordan Martinook, Dougie Hamilton, and Jake Bean on different expiring contracts. On top of all that, they don’t have a goalie signed. Their veterans Petr Mrazek and James Reimer are both unrestricted free agents. Alex Nedeljkovic is a Calder Trophy finalist and needs a new contract already. $29 million sounds like a lot until all those new contracts start to rear their ugly heads.
The Devils can absolutely help the Hurricanes with their situation. This, while the Hurricanes help the Devils out as well. It might be a little harder to do after the Devils and Hurricanes disagreed over the Sami Vatanen-Janne Kuokkanen trade deadline deal in 2020. The Hurricanes figured since the regular season ended, they didn’t have to give up a draft pick. The Devils took it up the NHL chain, and they ended up getting a 3rd-round pick in the deal.
Teams have overcome worse, and if the deal helps all parties out, both teams will make it work. Here are three trades that could end with everyone coming out happy.