Trade Targets: Hurricanes make a play for Connor Hellebuyck

The Carolina Hurricanes cruised to a Stanley Cup in dominant fashion with a tandem in goal. What do they have in store for an encore in their crease?

Frederik Andersen is a pending free agent. Brandon Bussi and Pyotr Kochetkov are locked in for next season for a total of $3.9 million. And that tracks.

For the test of Eric Tulsky’s tenure, even dating back before Tom Dundon’s stewardship, the prevailing wisdom around Carolina’s goaltending philosophy is that the Hurricanes are not willing to pay big money for a position so fickle from year-to-year.

Or that they don’t see value in the position, hoping that paying two or three goaltenders a backup’s wage will allow them to smash together some modicum of league average save percentage - a value proposition to allocate those dollars to other positions on the cap.

That prevailing wisdom appears to be incorrect.

It may just be that the Hurricanes were unable to get their hands on a big name, big game goaltender - and haven’t wanted to get into a bidding war for a netminder they view as average.

They may have found the guy to buck that trend.

Sources indicate the Carolina Hurricanes made a pitch this week for United States Olympic gold medalist and three-time Vezina Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck. The offer was believed to include a first-round pick along with pending RFA defenseman Alexander Nikishin, a player swirling in trade winds this week. Nikishin, 24, scored 11 goals in his freshman season as a blue liner and was selected to the All-Rookie team alongside Matthew Schaefer. 

Carolina also has an extra future first-round pick still to play with - four over the next three drafts - from the Mikko Rantanen trade that yielded Logan Stankoven last year. They used the other first-round pick acquired in that deal to bring in K’Andre Miller last summer.

There is still so much to sort out for the Jets as they consider what’s next for their franchise icon goaltender. Is the toothpaste out of the tube? Is it possible to bring Hellebuyck back for another season? How strong has the market been for the 33-year-old with five seasons left on his deal? Where exactly would Hellebuyck approve a trade?

The Florida Panthers have also been connected to Hellebuyck to potentially join Brady and Matthew Tkachuk, but Florida does not have the assets to move compared to Carolina, better positioned that most to pounce. Utah, Detroit, Buffalo and San Jose were among the other teams properly positioned to take a run at Hellebuyck. Goaltenders typically do not transact for significant returns on the trade market; the last time a goalie went for a first-round pick was Ryan Miller in 2018. But Hellebuyck is in a different universe, a future first-ballot Hall of Famer who could go down as one of the most decorated goaltenders of all-time.

The Cats have gotten better, maybe the team to beat again in the East after a one-year hiatus. Your move, Canes.

Here’s the latest Top 40 players in play, whose ranking always seeks to blend a player’s prominence with his likelihood of a trade:

Trade Targets 🎯

Traded This Week: No. 3 Jordan Kyrou; No. 7 Bowen Byram; No. 19 Ross Colton; No. 28 Jack Drury; No. 36 Jordan Greenway; No. 38 Hendrix Lapierre.