Waddell loves to play around at the deadline. He’s also pretty good at it. Haula needed to go, he is injury prone, didn’t really jive with RBD, his wife hated it in Raleigh, and he’s due for a pretty big contract next year. I loved Wally but I agree with you guys, we took advantage of his hot stretch and sold him high.
Luckily it sounds like Mrazek is going to be back sooner than we thought so no need to overpay for another mid level goalie. If Nedeljkovic isn’t ready for the big stage by now then he never will be.
I’ve seen almost every one of the prospects that we traded play NHL games and they did not impress. In fact most of them have been outshined in Charlotte this year as well. So we got good return on those guys. Kuokkanen could end up being good as well as Luostorinen. But both of those guys are still years from sniffing an NHL roster.
Both Vatenen and Skjei bring experience, skill, and potential. They both should easily fit in with our play. They don’t come without risks though, as Vatanen is still injured and Skjei’s trajectory has bottomed our in recent seasons. Trochek can be an absolute stud, and is exactly what we need right now as a righty to finally take some face offs for us.
Very well thought out and executed deadline day for the Canes.
including four back-to-backs.
