RecchiWeight

Mark Recchi (center) and Doug Weight (right) celebrate Carolina's 2006 Stanley Cup Championship in the locker room.

RALEIGH, N.C. - The Carolina Hurricanes sent a shockwave through the hockey world late last week, acquiring perennial top-5 scorer Mikko Rantanen from Colorado and 2018 Hart Trophy winner Taylor Hall from Chicago, while sending high-quality pieces in Martin Necas, Jack Drury and multiple draft picks the other way(s).

To say a trade involving multiple point-per-game players swapping colors and in which a former league MVP is considered a secondary piece is rare would be an understatement. Deals of this magnitude, if they happen, usually occur in the offseason or around the trade deadline, let alone in the middle of the season, and almost never involve teams that BOTH sit near the top of the standings.

For Carolina, it's a show of confidence and a sign of how the franchise views itself within the NHL ecosystem. And while swinging for the fences to this degree is something of an unfamiliar step for the Canes, it's far from the first time the club has made headlines in pursuit of adding new talent to its lineup.

Looking back chronologically, a handful of trades stand out as particularly impactful for the club, on and/or off the ice.

Rantanen, Hall Add 'Offensive Punch' To Canes

New forwards bring postseason production and MVP pedigree to Carolina's lineup

January 23, 2000

The Trade:

  • CAR acquires Rod Brind'Amour, Jean-Marc Pelletier and a 2nd-round pick
  • PHI acquires Keith Primeau and a 5th-round pick

The phrase "franchise-altering" can sometimes be overused, but it's safe to say the deal that brought current Canes Head Coach Rod Brind'Amour to Raleigh was key to the club finding its footing in the early 2000s and beyond.

With all due respect to Jean-Marc Pelletier, who appeared in 281 professional games but none with the Hurricanes, the outcome of this deal hinged on Brind'Amour's success in the City of Oaks. Keith Primeau had recorded 176 points in 234 games with Carolina but had reached a contract impasse with the club, putting the Canes in a situation where they needed to deal a star with less leverage than they would have liked.

The somewhat public trade process yielded Brind'Amour, who had enjoyed eight seasons and part of a ninth as a budding leader on a stacked Flyers team. He, alongside Mark Recchi (remember that name for later...) and Eric Lindros, was a key part of what would eventually be 11 straight playoff appearances for Philadelphia, and brought postseason pedigree and a track record of success to Carolina.

The following season, Brind'Amour wore an "A" for the Canes. One season after that, he helped guide the club to its first Stanley Cup Final appearance. And four years later, he brought Carolina all the way to the top of the mountain, captaining the club to the championship in 2006.

Brind'Amour retired in 2010 with 473 points in 694 regular-season games in a Carolina sweater - good for fifth in franchise history, but he wasn't done there. Brind'Amour became the team's head coach in 2018 and has led it to six straight playoff appearances since then. Earlier this year, he reached his 300th career victory faster than any head coach in NHL history, doing so in 488 games - eight fewer than previous record-holder Bruce Boudreau.

Suffice to say - if there are people who have had a greater impact on the Hurricanes in their 27-year history than Rod Brind'Amour, it's a very short list.

January 16, 2002

The Trade:

  • CAR acquires Kevin Adams, Bret Hedican, Tomas Malec and a 2nd-round pick
  • FLA acquires Sandis Ozolinsh and Byron Ritchie

When the Hurricanes traded for Sandis Ozolinsh six months and one day after acquiring Brind'Amour, they believed they were bringing in a premier offensive defenseman who could change a game from the blue line.

The 2000 draft-day deal came at a stiff cost, with fourth-year blueliner Nolan Pratt, a first-round pick and two second-round selections going to the Avalanche, but it was supposedly worth it to pick up a player whose 257 points across the five prior seasons ranked fifth among all NHL defensemen.

Flash forward to the 2001-02 campaign - Ozolinsh's impact had begun to dwindle in his first season with Carolina, and midway through his second, he was flipped to the Florida Panthers alongside depth forward Byron Ritchie in a bold move for the Canes.

Seeking more balance in the roster as the club cruised toward its second division title since relocation, Carolina's return was headlined by 11-year veteran Bret Hedican and former first-round pick Kevyn Adams.

The move paid immediate dividends as the Canes climbed all the way to the Stanley Cup Final later that season, with Hedican and Adams beginning to cement themselves as key members of the locker room on and off the ice.

In 2006, as Carolina again charged up the standings and through the postseason, Hedican - then in his 14th year in the NHL and logging massive minutes on the blue line - and Adams - often sporting an "A" on his chest as one of the team's designated leaders alongside Brind'Amour, Cory Stillman, Glen Wesley and Ray Whitney - were once again centerpieces for a team that took a huge gamble in acquiring them as they finally lifted the Cup.

Ozolinsh was meant to be a crown jewel in the Canes' lineup, but rather than forcing the improper fit in hopes of a turnaround, Carolina took the harder, riskier road, trading the beleaguered blueliner for a pair of players who lacked his high ceiling.

And yet, after 765 combined games in Carolina and a Stanley Cup for Hedican and Adams, it's safe to say they went exactly in the direction they needed to.

January 30, 2006 & March 9, 2006

The Trades:

  • CAR acquires Doug Weight and the rights to Erkki Rajamaki
  • STL acquires Jesse Boulerice, Mike Zigomanis, a 1st-round pick, two 4th-round picks and the rights to Magnus Kahnberg

And...

  • CAR acquires Mark Recchi
  • PIT acquires Krystofer Kolanos, Niklas Nordgren and a 2nd-round pick

The Hurricanes weren't "supposed" to be a good team during the 2005-06 season, with bookkeepers giving them the second-longest odds to win the Stanley Cup ahead of that campaign. But with Peter Laviolette at the helm, Brind'Amour wearing the captain's "C" and Eric Staal in the midst of the team's only 100-point season to date, the Canes were cooking up something special.

Looking to catch more lightning in a bottle, GM Jim Rutherford swung a pair of key trades to bring in a pair of widely respected veterans to bolster his lineup. His first statement maneuver arrived in January of that year, swooping to acquire St. Louis' leading scorer and then-four-time All-Star Doug Weight while Carolina cruised atop the NHL standings.

Just over five weeks later, Carolina was again the talk of the hockey town as Mark Recchi waived his no-trade clause to join the team just before the 2006 trade deadline. The loss of Erik Cole had left the team with a hole in its forward corps, and Recchi - who won the Stanley Cup with Pittsburgh in 1991 - was Rutherford's choice to help fill the gap.

The duo didn't light up the scoreboard as they adjusted to their new surroundings during the regular season but ranked tied for fifth in team scoring during that fateful playoff run, each posting 16 points en route to the only championship in franchise history. More importantly, they were key figures in establishing a championship standard that guided the team through the playoff gauntlet.

Weight was barely able to hold the Cup after sustaining a shoulder injury in Game 5 of the series with Edmonton, but as Kevyn Adams handed him the only Stanley Cup he would win in his decorated career, nothing was keeping him from relishing the moment he had long dreamt of. The trophy then found its way to Recchi by way of Cory Stillman - two of just four players on the roster not lifting the trophy for the first time. (Skip to 3:43 in the video below)

Both players were unrestricted free agents in 2006 and, oddly enough, returned to sign with the teams they had left to join Carolina. But both left Raleigh as champions, their lasting images as Hurricanes some of the happiest of their career.

June 22, 2012

The Trade:

  • CAR acquires Jordan Staal
  • PIT acquires Brandon Sutter, Brian Dumoulin and a 1st-round pick

Like the one that brought his head coach to town in 2000, the deal to acquire Jordan Staal from the Pittsburgh Penguins was a franchise-defining move.

In the summer of 2012, Staal was at a crossroads in the Keystone State. Set to be an unrestricted free agent after the following season, he held off on putting pen to paper on an extension with the Penguins, leaving them a choice as to whether they would try to continue negotiating or recoup assets for their 2006 first-round pick.

As fate would have it, June's NHL Draft took place in Pittsburgh, where Carolina - captained by Jordan's older brother Eric - stepped up to acquire the 23-year-old in front of what was his home crowd, dealing three significant assets to the Penguins in return.

Staal, meanwhile, was otherwise occupied when the trade went down, celebrating his wedding to his wife Heather as the news broke. What was surely a whirlwind summer for the Staals was a thrilling one in Raleigh, where Caniacs eagerly anticipated the debut of their new brotherly duo.

And while Carolina struggled through many of the years the Staal brothers spent together, they each established themselves as franchise icons in their own way. As Eric's No. 12 was raised to the Lenovo Center rafters earlier this month, Jordan continues to captain the club through its longest period of sustained success, inching closer and closer to the ultimate goal.

"It's a huge, huge deal to get a player who I think is a franchise player," said Brind'Amour in 2021 as Jordan approached his 1,000th career contest. "You want to keep these guys forever. The reason is they help build your culture. You build around these players, and they're hard to find. When you get them, you want to keep them. I think it's great that we were able to get him at a young age, and he had already had an experience of winning and being around people that won."

In the 13 years since the trade, Jordan has celebrated his 1,000th NHL game in a Hurricanes sweater, recorded more than 450 points with Carolina - ranking fifth in franchise history - and has now been captain for seven seasons, as his brother was before him.

January 17, 2019

The Trade:

  • CAR acquires Nino Niederreiter
  • MIN acquires Victor Rask

Hurricanes Color Analyst Tripp Tracy had a front-row seat to Nino Niederreiter's heroics during the 2019 campaign that saw the team snap a 10-year playoff drought in Raleigh.

Acquired in January of that year from the Minnesota Wild, the former fifth-overall selection had previously struggled in the State of Hockey with 23 points in 46 games to start the 2018-19 campaign. The change of scenery worked wonders - Niederreiter quickly endeared himself to the Caniacs with five goals in his first five games, finding instant chemistry alongside Sebastian Aho.

As the team inched closer to its return to the dance, the newest member of the Canes continued to deliver, and as Niederreiter wired a wrister past Cory Schneider to give the Canes a two-goal lead in a game that would put them in the postseason with a victory, Tracy had seen enough.

"The trade of the year!"

Hyperbole? Depends on your perspective. But even so, who could blame Tracy for getting caught up in the moment?

That moment - the one the Carolina community had waited for was finally there, arriving off the stick of a player who perhaps didn't yet understand what his goal would mean. But after a decade of waiting, Niederreiter and his new club were off to the playoffs.

Finishing the regular season with 30 points in 36 games - good for third on the team since his acquisition - Niederreiter proved to be the player Carolina needed to get over the hump and kick off a run of six straight playoff runs.

The Swiss sniper went to net 69 goals, 68 assists and 137 points in 234 games with the Canes - but perhaps none bigger than the one on April 5, 2019.

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      NJD@CAR: Niederreiter roofs puck over Schneider

      June 22, 2019

      The Trade:

      • CAR acquires Patrick Marleau, a conditional 1st-round pick and a 7th-round pick
      • TOR acquires a 6th-round pick

      Patrick Marleau is a hockey legend. His resume speaks for itself, with 1,197 points in an NHL-record 1,779 games - but, despite being dealt to Carolina five years ago, none were played as a Hurricane.

      No, this trade is surprisingly not about the only named player involved. Instead, it's about Seth Jarvis, who Caniacs may know as another in a long line of homegrown talents, a drafted-and-developed Hurricane who became a fan-favorite in the same way as players like Sebastian Aho, Jaccob Slavin, Eric Staal and more.

      But he wouldn't be here without some shrewd salary cap management and, yes, a trade.

      Toronto, in need of cap relief with star winger Mitch Marner and others due for new deals that summer, asked Marleau to waive his no-trade clause during the 2019 NHL Draft in order to send him to a team that would, in all likelihood, buy out the remainder of his contract and allow him to sign where he pleased as a free agent. He obliged, and Carolina GM Don Waddell stepped up to the plate, offering to take on Marleau's salary - for a price.

      The Leafs attached first- and seventh-round selections with Marleau to Carolina in exchange for a sixth. The first-rounder would arrive in 2020, and given the talent Toronto featured on a nightly basis, would likely be in the last 10-15 picks of the round. Still - another opportunity to add a top-31 (at the time) player in a given draft class was a worthwhile add.

      Then, things got weird. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2019-20 regular season was cancelled in February, leading the playoffs to be contested in "bubble" facilities in Toronto and Edmonton later in the summer.

      In the interest of fairness, teams that were in the mushy middle and below of the wild-card standings at the time of cancellation were placed into a play-in round of sorts. Winners would move on to the official Stanley Cup Playoffs. Losers were placed in the 2020 NHL Draft lottery with teams that did not qualify.

      Carolina won its preliminary round against the New York Rangers, which indirectly led to them getting the first-overall selection, Alexis Lafreniere. Meanwhile, Toronto fell to the Columbus Blue Jackets, which meant their pick - the one previously shipped to Carolina - went into the lottery.

      Certain protections had been written into the trade, namely deferring the pick to 2021 if it landed in the top 10 of the 2020 draft. But the ping pong balls yielded pick #13 for the Hurricanes - a much higher pick than what would have been expected beforehand, and one that would, fortunately, stick with the Canes through the unique circumstances at play that season.

      Rather than picking in the late teens, 20s or even 30s, Carolina had a shot at a premier prospect, and the club settled on the 5-foot-10, 172-pound standout from the Portland Winterhawks of the Western Hockey League.

      Four seasons, 274 games and 184 points later, "Jarvy" is a key member of the Hurricanes' core after inking an eight-year deal in the summer of 2024 - all from a draft pick that wasn't even meant to belong to the team that drafted him.

      Honorable Mentions

      March 5, 2002

      • CAR acquires Kevin Weekes
      • TBL acquires Chris Dingman and Shane Willis

      January 20, 2004

      • CAR acquires Justin Williams
      • PHI acquires Danny Markov

      June 23, 2018

      • CAR acquires Dougie Hamilton, Micheal Ferland and the rights to Adam Fox
      • CGY acquires Noah Hanifin and Elias Lindholm

      February 24, 2020

      • CAR acquires Brady Skjei
      • NYR acquires a 1st-round pick
      • CAR acquires Vincent Trocheck
      • FLA acquires Erik Haula, Eetu Luostarinen, Lucas Wallmark and Chase Priskie

      July 13, 2022

      • CAR acquires Brent Burns and Lane Pederson
      • SJS acquires Steven Lorentz, Eetu Makiniemi and a 3rd-round pick

      March 7, 2024

      • CAR acquires Jake Guentzel and Ty Smith
      • PIT acquires Michael Bunting, Vasily Ponomarev, Ville Koivunen, Cruz Lucius and a 2nd-round pick