The Carolina Hurricanes acquired defenseman Joey Keane from the New York Rangers today, in exchange for forward Julien Gauthier. It’s Carolina’s first trade of 2020 and it comes nearing the trade deadline, so let’s break it down.
Gauthier has taken a major step this year and seemed to be on his way to finding himself a roster spot next season. The 2016 first-round pick had 26 goals and 37 points in 44 AHL games this season.
In return, the Hurricanes get a promising right-handed defenseman in Keane. Selected by the Rangers in the third round of the 2018 NHL draft, Keane is just 20 years old and already leads all defenders on the Hartford Wolf Pack in scoring this season, with 30 points in 49 games.
It seems to be a somewhat fair trade in the sense of a one-for-one. What doesn't make sense is when you start considering Carolina’s organizational depth and where the strengths and weaknesses are– then this becomes puzzling to say the least.
Gauthier is one of Carolina’s top forward prospects, had the ability to score and again, was really showing promise this year. Adding Keane, on the other hand, creates a logjam of defensive depth for the Hurricanes. Jaccob Slavin isn’t going anywhere and Jake Gardiner is under contract for three more years. Dougie Hamilton and Brett Pesce will be back next year on the right side and you have to imagine the Hurricanes do everything they possibly can to extend Hamilton long-term. If that happens, Carolina has four defensmen under contract for a while.
Then you can add Haydn Fleury to the mix, as well as prospects Jake Bean, Chase Priskie, Gustav Forsling, Roland McKeown and Oliwer Kaski. That’s also assuming Joel Edmundson and Trevor van Riemsdyk aren’t re-signed.
I don’t know, maybe there’s some sort of larger plan here. But on the surface, while the Hurricanes get back a solid defensive prospect, they didn’t really need one and also paid a very high price to do it.
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OTHER ARTICLES FROM FEBRUARY
Hurricanes need more secondary scoring
Gardiner is taking advantage of increased role 
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