Canes still in playoff hunt despite flurry of trades

Surviving the storm



At the gates of change for the Carolina Hurricanes has come sooner rather than later for the team going into season 31. This included the departure of long time Hurricanes in Erik Karlsson and Carey Price.

"As two longtime players for our organization both Erik Karlsson and Carey Price guided our team to many playoff appearances and a finals berth in a few seasons ago, we wish them luck in both Toronto and Vancouver respectfully" said General Manager Mike McFarland.

"We were taking a look at our team overall both from a financial and future point of view, Carey has expressed interest getting a trade to his home province in the last few years and this year we were able to accommodate him this time around which saw a couple future draft picks and goaltender Brian Elliot come our way. Granted Brian didn't stay very long as he was flipped to LA for later picks" said McFarland.

"Erik Karlsson was our captain for the last few season and did a very excellent job guiding some of lesser experienced players and being the captain we asked him to be, for him it came down to a financial decision. Going into the future it was hard for us to carry a huge salary and we started to explore trade options, the lucky team that came calling was the Toronto Maple Leafs. We discussed different trade ideas settling on multiple futures and a few NHLers in Claude Giroux, Jason Spezza and Sean Walker for the services of Karlsson. Only keeping the futures and Walker, as we once again flipped Giroux to New Jersey and Spezza to San Jose in separate deals" said Mike McFarland

New Additions to the Carolina Hurricanes include: Tyson Barrie, Ryan Kesler, Tanner Pearson, Nikolaj Ehlers, Jake DeBrusk, Ryan Dzingel, Cam Fowler, Luca Sbisa, Sean Walker, Casey Mittlestadt, Shayne Gostisbehere, Tyson Jost and Michael Dal Colle.

Departures: Erik Karlsson, Claude Giroux, Jason Spezza, Brian Elliot, Stephen Johns, Martin Frk, Vladislav Namestnikov, Brendan Lemieux, Torey Krug, Jakob De la Rose.

With all of these trades we have done some how still have $10+ million in cap space, but that means were not going to spend that just means we will have a space in case some injuries come up.

"We have a solid, younger line up than we did last year and have a few picks in the upcoming draft. Overall I think we have a really good 4 lines of talent going into the playoffs and beyond" said head coach Dan Bylsma

As of right now the Hurricanes are holding onto barely 3rd place in the ultra competitive Metro division and 5th in the conference, 11th overall in the WCHL.

"Right now our goal as a team will be to make the post season with the ultimate goal making some waves and upsets in this years playoffs. I think with our team and maybe a addition or two we will achieve this, and make our fans proud to be a member of Hurricane Nation" said Bylsma

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