Desperation makes the Leafs and Hurricanes perfect trade partners this summer; is a blockbuster deal possible?

Rod Brind'Amour took over in 2018-19 after the Hurricanes had missed the playoffs in 9 consecutive seasons and 11 of their previous 12 after winning the Stanley Cup in 2005-06. In fact, dating back to 2001-02, they had only made the playoffs 3 times but lost in the Finals once, won the whole thing, or lost in the Conference Finals.

Brind'Amour took the Hurricanes to the Conference Finals in 2018-19 where they got swept by the Boston Bruins, they lost in 5 games to the Bruins in 2019-20 in the first round, lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the second round in 5 games in 2020-21, lost to the New York Rangers last year in the second round in 7 games, and now they just got swept by the Florida Panthers in the third round. They have won three consecutive division titles, possess really good players in the likes of Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov, and Jaccob Slavin, yet can't get over the hump.

Every year, Carolina is in the mix for the Cup, everyone lauds them for their complete game, they are always looked at as being one of the most complete teams from top-to-bottom, and Brind'Amour gets praised for being one of the best head coaches in the league. They have complementary pieces in Brent Burns, Teuvo Teravainen, Jordan Staal, Shayne Gostisbehere, Seth Jarvis, and Jesperi Kotkaniemi but this time around were missing Svechnikov and Max Pacioretty to long-term injuries.

The Hurricanes are a fun team but as Matt Larkin of Daily Faceoff points out, they don't have a superstar to push them over edge. In fact they haven't had a 40-goal scorer, 90-point scorer, or a single player in the top-15 in scoring in the past five season - which is pretty strange for a top team. He goes even further to point out that they haven't had a top-10 scorer since Eric Staal in 2012-13 and he's the only player to crack 100 points this century for them. It's a team game, they embody a team-concept, and it's the "Carolina way".

Aho led the team in points with 12 during the post-season in 15 games, followed by Jordan Martinook - who had 10 points in the second round alone - Seth Jarvis with 10, Jesper Fast and Brent Burns with 9, and Stefan Noesen with 8. It's great when complementary pieces chip in like that but they need so much more from their top guns - unfortunately this season some of them were hurt.

This is why Larkin suggest the Hurricanes make a big splash and he believes the Toronto Maple Leafs would be a good trade partner. Considering how much heat the core-4 have taken over the last few seasons and how it started to boil at the end of their post-season run, could Mitch Marner be had for a package surrounding Seth Jarvis, Brett Pesce, and/or Andrei Svechnikov? An interesting question posed by Larkin here. Also, could William Nylander be acquired for a package slightly less taxing on the Canes?

Svechnikov has 6 years left on his contract, is only 23-years-old, and has a cap hit of $7.75 million. He has 112 goals and 264 points in 347 games but has yet to reach his peak and part of that is the lack of star talent around him. Both teams need a desperate shake-up and this is one way to go about it. Marner would be the best pick-up they could get and ponying him up with Aho would make for a formidable line. It would cost an egregious amount but the Canes have several quality pieces to make it work.

With Aho, Teravainen, Pesce, Martinook, Necas, and Jarvis in need of new deals in the summer of 2024 and Jordan Staal, Frederik Andersen, Antti Raanta, Shayne Gostisbehere, Paul Stastny, and Max Pacioretty set to become free agents this summer, the Canes have a lot of work to do. Making a splash with the Leafs could help both teams shake off their playoff demons as both look to finally get over the hump.