NHL Trade Deadline Grades: Carolina Hurricanes

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Well, that didn’t go as planned.

Mikko Rantanen as a member of the Carolina Hurricanes © Ellen Schmidt/Getty Images

The Carolina Hurricanes entered the 2025 trade deadline swinging for the fences, but instead of a home run, they ended up with a blooper single and some serious buyer’s remorse. What started as an ambitious push for Mikko Rantanen turned into an awkward breakup, leaving the Canes scrambling for Plan B. The result? A trade deadline that feels like a step backward rather than forward.

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What the Hurricanes Gave Up:

  • Martin Necas & Jack Drury (to Colorado for Taylor Hall and draft picks)
  • Mikko Rantanen (rented for two months, then flipped to Dallas for Logan Stankoven and four draft picks)

What the Hurricanes Acquired:

  • Taylor Hall – A former MVP with a high ceiling, but also an injury history and no long-term guarantee.
  • Logan Stankoven – A solid young forward, but not the impact player Necas was.
  • Two first-round picks & two third-round picks – Future assets, but nothing that helps right now.

The Verdict:

Let’s be clear: trading for Rantanen, failing to extend him, and then flipping him away is a bad look. Carolina has a habit of bringing in high-end talent but struggling to get them to stick around.

Losing Necas hurts, and while Stankoven has potential, he’s not replacing that offensive production right away. Hall brings some upside, but he’s far from a sure thing and doesn’t fix Carolina’s power-play woes. The only silver lining is if Carolina knew they weren’t going to be able to re-sign Necas, ending up with a couple first-rounders and Stankoven definitely helps ease the blow. Rantanen can be a real game-changer so for him to ultimately not work out and help the Canes contend now is a major disappointment, any way you slice it.

The Canes are still playoff-bound, but they’ve gone from dark horse Cup favorites to underdogs. Now, they’re looking ahead to a massive summer, armed with cap space and trade capital. General manager Eric Tulsky will need to nail his offseason moves to justify this deadline strategy.

Final Grade: D – Carolina swung big, whiffed, and now has to regroup. The future might be bright, but the present just got a whole lot murkier.

Alexander Nikishin, SKA Saint Petersburg (Photo credit: HC SKA)