The first big domino of a big Carolina Hurricanes offseason fell early Thursday afternoon.
Shortly following the end of the NHL roster freeze, the Hurricanes announced that the team had traded restricted free agent goalie and Calder Trophy finalist Alex Nedeljkovic to the Detroit Red Wings in exchange for a third-round pick in this weekend’s NHL draft and pending unrestricted free agent goalie Jonathan Bernier.
There’s a lot going on here, and we will unpack it, but it’s important that we go back well before the 2021 season started.
Nedeljkovic was a 2014 draft pick of former Hurricanes general manager Ron Francis.