Waddell not looking to change Hurricanes before NHL Trade Deadline

The Carolina Hurricanes (39-12-5) lead the Metropolitan Division and the Eastern Conference with 83 points, they are first in the NHL in goals against per game (2.39), eighth in goals for per game (3.39), third on the power play (25.9 percent) and first on the penalty kill (88.9 percent).

So it's no surprise that the Hurricanes aren't looking to change much before the 2022 NHL Trade Deadline on March 21.
"We like our team," general manager Don Waddell said Monday. "We don't really want to trade anybody off our team. Saying that, if there was a deal that made a lot of sense, we'd have to talk about it. But we don't have a lot of cap space."
Waddell said he estimated the Hurricanes have about $1.8 million in salary cap space and noted they are already using long-term injured reserve to exceed the $81.5 million cap. Carolina also doesn't have a first-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft after giving it to the Montreal Canadiens as part of the compensation for signing restricted free agent forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi to a one-year, $6.1 million offer sheet last summer.
As a result, Waddell said he is limiting his pre-deadline shopping to depth defensemen.
"We think if we can supplement our defense with the amount of money we have and not give up crazy assets, that's something we'd look at. But for us, the deadline might come and go without anything happening. The deadline is one of the most dangerous days in hockey because a lot of draft picks and a lot of players get traded around and at the end of the day only one team wins."
Even if the Hurricanes don't add a defenseman, Waddell said he believes the defense is at least eight players deep with Tony DeAngelo (midsection) and Brendan Smith (upper body) each expected to return well before the start of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and rookie Jalen Chatfield playing well in their absence.
Waddell spoke to NHL.com about DeAngelo's and Smith's recoveries, goalie Frederik Andersen, the Hurricanes' center depth and expectations for the rest of the regular season and playoffs.
Coach Rod Brind'Amour said DeAngelo would probably miss around a month after he was injured against the Philadelphia Flyers on Feb. 21. Is that still the timetable?
"Yeah. I talked to him today. He was in the gym again today. He's progressing well. We're in a spot where we're going to make the playoffs. Whether we get Tony back in March or the beginning of April, we need him for the stretch and for the playoffs. We're not in a situation where we need to rush anybody back from an injury."
Smith participated in the morning skate before your game against the Seattle Kraken on Sunday. He was injured blocking a Danton Heinen shot off his head against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Feb. 20. How much longer will he be out?
"We'll get through this week. We'll see how he is toward the end of the week. He has a little fracture there where he got hit by the puck. It's more of a comfort thing right now, putting his helmet on and that. There's no risk. It was just a little hairline fracture, but you always have to be careful with these things."
Andersen didn't dress for the game against Seattle on Sunday. Were you playing it safe with him?
"Yeah. He was on the ice full today. A lot teams would call it maintenance. He got hit in the game (in the first period against the Washington Capitals on Thursday) and just didn't feel great. No concussion or anything like that. He just didn't feel great, so we gave him a few days off. We have a lot of hockey to play here. He backed up on Friday (against Pittsburgh). It was no problem. Then we decided to give him the weekend off and brought in [Alex Lyon] to back up."
Your tandem with Andersen (29-8-2, 2.08 goals-against average, .928 save percentage, three shutouts) and Antti Raanta (9-3-2, 2.47 GAA, .911 save percentage, one shutout) seems to have worked out pretty well?
"Yeah, it's been a good tandem, a real good tandem. They complement each other and work well together."
Andersen was unable to get past the first round of the playoffs during his four seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs before signing with Carolina last summer, but he helped the Anaheim Ducks reach the 2015 Western Conference Final. Do you think with the way your team plays in front of him, he might be in better situation to have postseason success?
"I think we defend very well in front of him and we're also a team that's capable of scoring goals. So right now, you don't want to compare with when he was anyplace else, but with our team, he knows he has to be, obviously, good, but we're not going to need to shut out teams every night. We're going to score. So I think that's a nice confidence boost for the goalie, knowing he's going to get goal support from the offense."
When you look at your center depth with Sebastian Aho, Vincent Trocheck, Jordan Staal, Kotkaniemi and Derek Stepan, that appears to be one of your biggest strengths. That allowed to you move Kotkaniemi to left wing again recently. Do you see him as a center or a wing?
"He's much better at center. At the beginning of the year, we played him on the wing, and he was totally lost playing wing in a new system. We moved him back to center and he really got going. So now when you get going and you know the system, you can play him [at wing] once in a while, but he's a true centerman."
But it's a pretty good luxury to have with him as your fourth center?
"Yeah, you've got Aho, Trocheck, Staal and Stepan that has played well for us. With Jesperi, if you look at his points per minutes (1.98 per 60 minutes 5-on-5), it's pretty impressive because he doesn't play a lot of minutes, but I think he's got 11 goals. So there's definitely offense there."
What's one thing you are hoping to see from your team down the stretch?
"I'd still like to see our young guys continue to grow. Marty Necas went through a real stretch (18 games without a goal) before he scored last game. Seth Jarvis has made good strides for a young player in the League. He hit a little wall maybe for a couple weeks there, but these games are starting to be like playoff games. We had a game against Pittsburgh on Friday that was outstanding. We got down 2-0 and came back to win the game (3-2 in overtime) and it was a playoff atmosphere game. So you'd like to see these guys continue to take that next step playing these hard games before you get to the playoffs."
After reaching 2019 Eastern Conference Final, you ran into some good teams in the playoffs (Boston Bruins in 2020 and Tampa Bay Lightning last season) and haven't been able to win more than one series in a postseason. Are the expectations raised to do more this postseason?
"We went through years where we didn't make the playoffs and now we've gotten in there the last three years. That's what we talked about at the beginning of the year. Our goal isn't to make the playoffs. Our goal is to go all the way, and you need a lot of things to happen. You need to stay healthy, you've got to play good hockey, and you need some luck. It's hard to do, obviously. There are 32 teams that are trying to do the same thing every year. So that's always the goal to make a deep run in the playoffs.
The NHL announced last week that the Hurricanes will host the Capitals in the 2023 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series game at Carter-Finley Stadium on the campus of North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Feb. 18. How exciting is it to know that the Hurricanes will play in their first outdoor game?
"It's a tremendous opportunity for us to continue to grow the game in this region because we're having our best year ever attendance-wise. Our fans have really responded. But now you have an opportunity to showcase not just the product and the NHL on the whole, but everything that goes on with an outdoor game through the whole region that we live in, you know, the triangle with Chapel Hill and Durham. So we're tremendously excited about it, very proud to be able to host it and looking forward to it, for sure."