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.