Carolina Hurricanes make a splash at the NHL trade deadline, add two top forwards

After mostly minor deals in previous years at the NHL trade deadline, the Carolina Hurricanes made a big splash in 2024.

Fewer than 12 hours after announcing the acquisition of Jake Guentzel from the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Hurricanes added a second new forward to their arsenal, announcing Friday morning they traded a third-round draft pick in 2025 to the Washington Capitals for forward Evgeny Kuznetsov.

“I’ll start out by saying I really like our group,” Canes president and general manager Don Waddell said Friday. “But I like it even better today.

“Obviously, with picking up Guentzel and Kuznetsov, we went into the trade deadline, as every deadline, talking about how to make our team better. We haven’t been a ‘rental’ type team. ... Guentzel, we felt, with the price we were paying was worth the return. We felt if we could add more goal-scoring to our hockey club, that made the most sense.”

The Capitals will retain 50% of Kuznetsov’s $7.8 million salary. He is signed through the 2024-25 season. His salary cap hit to the Canes will be about $3.9 million.

Guentzel is in the final year of his contract with the Pens and will be an unrestricted free agent after the season. Pittsburgh retained 25% of his contract, and Waddell said there have been no preliminary discussions on the new contract.

“I’m just taking it as it goes and seeing how it goes,” Guentzel said Friday.

Kuznetsov arrived at Invisalign Area in time to take part in part of the team practice Friday. Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said Kuznetsov would play his first game Saturday against the New Jersey Devils.

“Normally it’s not our move to go get these guys, but give the organization credit for stepping up,” Brind’Amour said. “Now, we’ve got to fit these guys in and get them up to speed.”

Kuznetzov, 31, has only played for the Capitals in his NHL career, which began in 2013. He’s been durable, skating in at least 63 games in each full NHL season since his second season in the league. His best year, statistically, came in 2017-18, when he had 27 goals and 56 assists for 83 points in the regular season, and 12 goals and 32 points in the playoffs as the Caps won the Stanley Cup.

“Every team is special, every team is different,” Kuznetsov said Friday. “I hope we can do something special here. It’s a high expectation.”

The past two years have been a struggle, both for Kuznetsov and the Capitals, who failed to make the Stanley Cup playoffs a year ago, and could miss the postseason again this season.

Kuznetsov has also had some personal struggles. He entered the NHL player assistance program on Feb. 5 this year after a mediocre run to begin the season (17 points in 43 games). The program is available to help NHLers dealing with mental health, substance abuse or other issues.

According to a news release from the NHL, he was cleared to resume practicing with the Capitals on March 2, and has entered the follow-up phase of the program. He was placed on NHL waivers by the Caps on March 2, cleared and was sent to Hershey of the AHL.

Waddell said the Canes did their “due diligence” in vetting Kuznetsov, talking to doctors as well as gaining permission to talk to Kuznetsov. Former Canes captain Justin Williams, now an advisor to Waddell, played with Kuznetsov in Washington and weighed in.

“I’m not sure there isn’t anything we didn’t do to make sure we all the facts to make an educated decision on if we wanted to move forward,” he said. “Once we had all that information we made the decision to go..

“Every trade you make, any move you make, there’s always some risk, and we felt this was a good risk to take.”

The Bears were scheduled to play the Charlotte Checkers in Charlotte on Friday and Saturday. It was an easy hop on a private plane for him to fly to Raleigh on Friday and join his new team.

When he was at his best, Kuznetsov was among the best setup men in the NHL, often feeding superstar Alexander Ovechkin for goal after goal during the Caps’ run to the Stanley Cup.

In 2019, he was suspended without pay for three regular-season games by the NHL for “inappropriate conduct.” That came less than a month after he was banned from playing for Russia for four years because of a positive test for cocaine.

He returned to form in 2021-22, with 24 goals and 78 points in the 2021-22 season, but his production dropped off as the Caps’ playoff streak ended after eight years.

“I have high standards and I haven’t been playing the way I have to play, lately,” Kuznetsov said. “I accept that, I’m working on that. That’s not something I’m happy about, and I know how this team plays and how I have to play.

“I need to get back to hockey. I haven’t played in a long time. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my live before, and the best way to say ‘’Sorry’ to the people is to play the game and make a big impact in the game. This is my last chance and I know the guys will be supportive and helpful but I need to perform on the ice.”

The Hurricanes gave up only one roster player — forward Michael Bunting — in making their moves. They brought in Bunting in free agency last summer, signing him to a three-year contract worth $4.5 million a year.

“We play a different style and it took him a while to get used to that.” Waddell said. “I’m not sure he ever got real comfortable with the style we play. He put up a lot of points here for the minutes he was playing. He’s a great offensive thinker. He can pass the puck, he can shoot the puck, he can score in the dirty areas. All those things were good.

“Defensively, the system we play, the man on man, he struggled with that a little bit. We weren’t looking to trade him. But when you’re trying to get a player like Guentzel or Kuznetsov ...”