For the last nine seasons, the Carolina Hurricanes have been on the outside looking in when it came to the trade deadline. They seemed to always be adding pieces for the future, not bolstering its roster for a playoff push.
In 2017, the Carolina Hurricanes traded veteran defenseman Ron Hainsey to Pittsburgh. In 2016, Eric Staal was sent to the New York Rangers (in a move that eventually brought Tuevo Teravainen to Carolina). In 2015, they somehow wrangled a first-round pick from Los Angeles for Andrej Sekera.
With the Carolina Hurricane hovering at the cutline on deadline day this year, and in a stretch of outstanding hockey, General Manager Don Waddell faced a tough decision–acquire a piece or two to boost the team’s playoff chances while sacrificing the future, or ride with the team as it existed.