Hurricanes GM talks Burns, Panthers ties in Q&A with NHL.com

The Carolina Hurricanes have had to navigate around some speed bumps on their road back to the Eastern Conference Final, where they will host the Florida Panthers in Game 1 at PNC Arena on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; TNT, CBC, SN, TVAS).

The Hurricanes have talked about taking the next step in the Stanley Cup Playoffs since being swept by the Boston Bruins in the 2019 conference final but could not win more than one series each of the past four postseasons. So what's been different this season?

"I think the biggest thing is we're getting contributions from everybody on our roster," general manager Don Waddell told NHL.com on Tuesday. "Everybody talks about the goal-scoring, and we lost some key guys, but we're finding a way to put the puck in the back of the net, and I think that's probably surprised a lot of people where the scoring is coming from."

Carolina is scoring 3.64 goals per game in the playoffs, which is up nearly half a goal from its regular-season average of 3.20, despite missing forwards Andrei Svechnikov (torn ACL), Max Pacioretty (torn Achilles tendon) and Teuvo Teravainen (broken hand). Those are three of Carolina's top six forwards.

RELATED: [Complete Hurricanes vs. Panthers series coverage]

Teravainen might return this round after being injured in Game 2 for the first round against the New York Islanders, but Svechnikov and Pacioretty haven't played in the playoffs and won't return until next season. So the Hurricanes will need more of what they've been getting from depth forwards such as Jordan Martinook, who had 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in five games in the second round against the New Jersey Devils, and Jesper Fast, who has eight points (five goals, three assists) in 11 playoff games, including two overtime goals.

"You can't rely on one, two, three guys to do it," Waddell said. "Our best players in our league play a third of the game. The other two thirds, you've got to find other people to be able to contribute. That's definitely been the reason."

In a Q&A with NHL.com, Waddell discussed Tervainen's potential return, moves he did and didn't make last offseason and before the 2023 NHL Trade Deadline, connections between the Hurricanes and Panthers and more.

Teravainen was cleared to practice with contact Monday. Could he be an option for Game 1 or some point later in the conference final?

"For sure. We're going to see how it goes in the next couple days and then make a decision on Thursday on how he's doing and if he's ready to go or needs a little more time. He's close, though. … When he had the surgery (April 20), they said it was going to be four weeks or so, which is now."

What does it say about coach Rod Brind'Amour and his staff to get complete buy-in from the players the way they have, considering the players you lost to injury?

"Since Rod took over, we built that culture in the locker room where, I think we were feeling sorry for ourselves for a couple of days when we lost Svechnikov, but then it's a proud locker room. There are 20 guys who want to go out and do the best they can every night and try to put us in position to win and that's what they've been doing."

Martinook said he was even surprised by his production after he had no points in the first round. Have you been surprised you got that kind of contribution from him and others throughout the first two rounds?

"You're happy for those guys because all these guys work so hard and maybe they're not natural scorers. So when the puck goes in for them, you feel good for them because you know what they put into it from effort and their work habits. So it's nice to see those kind of guys get rewarded."

The Hurricanes and the Panthers were not among the many teams in the Eastern Conference that made the big, splashy moves before the 2023 NHL Trade Deadline. You made depth moves by adding defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere from the Arizona Coyotes and forward Jesse Puljujarvi from the Edmonton Oilers. Was that by design?

"Every organization has different needs and different thoughts of how they're going to approach the trade deadline. Ours has always been that we try to build our team in the summers, so they can play together all year. There's no secret that we did try to do a few things that didn't work out. That's just the way things happen.

"We liked our team. We ended up with the second-best record in the NHL for a reason because we had pretty good depth and were consistent through the year. So we felt at the deadline, if we got one of the players that we wanted, great, but otherwise we were happy where we were."

Did not being able to pull off some of the trades you tried to make maybe turn out to be a good thing? Is there something to be said for not messing with chemistry so late in the season?

"That's the way Roddy is, too. He liked our team. We didn't want to give up anybody off our team, that's for sure, and that was probably one of the things that went against us in getting certain players. But you just never know how things are going to work out, and I've said all along, sometime the best trades you make are the ones that never happen."

Your big moves last offseason were to acquire defenseman Brent Burns in a trade with the San Jose Sharks and Pacioretty in a trade with the Vegas Golden Knights. Unfortunately, Pacioretty was injured, but has Burns given you what you hoped for?

"Yeah, [Burns] has done more than what any of us could ever expect him to do at 38. When we traded for him, he was here three days later buying a house, moved his family here and lived out of a motor home for six weeks while his house was getting ready. He was in the gym every day. When we did our testing, he was our second-best conditioned athlete at 37 years of age. So you knew he was all-in and committed and certainly he's done more than any of us could have expected on the ice and [been] a big part of our success for sure."

It was reported that the Hurricanes were in on Matthew Tkachuk before the Calgary Flames traded him to the Panthers last summer. How close did you get to making that trade?

"I don't like to name names, but we were involved in a couple of big trades last summer. I always tell people as much as you want to trade for players, you've got the other side that is going to do what they think is in the best interest of their franchise, which happened. That was a little bit more high profile, but every summer we probably try to make 10 trades that never happen, and you don't hear about those. My job as the general manager is always to try to make our team better and we try to do that in the summertime."

Frederik Andersen missed the playoffs last season with an injury, but is this how you envisioned your goalie tandem would work when signed Andersen and Antti Raanta in 2021?

"For sure. Freddie wasn't ready (in the first round because of illness and a minor injury) and Raanta grabbed it and won three of the first five games before Freddie came in in Game 6. Now, Freddie is running with it, but it doesn't matter. Whatever guy we have to go to or make the decision to play, we're very comfortable that the two we have can lead us where we want to get."

There are a lot of connections between the Hurricanes and Panthers, with former players in Florida (Eric Staal, Eetu Luostarinen, Gustav Forsling, Zac Dalpe), coach Paul Maurice and assistant Tuomo Ruutu, some members of management (assistant GM Paul Krepelka, senior adviser to GM Rick Dudley). Does that make the series interesting for you?

"I've got lots of good friends there, starting with (general manager) Billy Zito, but once the puck drops, we all know what our goals are. They're going to try to beat us and we're going to try to beat them You forget about those relationships while the game is going on, for sure, but there are a lot of ties between the two organizations."

And it's two teams from the old Southeast Division?

"Yeah, the old Southeast. Who would've ever thought that?"