{"id":374252,"date":"2025-12-25T22:05:59","date_gmt":"2025-12-25T22:05:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/374252\/"},"modified":"2025-12-25T22:05:59","modified_gmt":"2025-12-25T22:05:59","slug":"hurricanes-nearly-pulled-off-surprise-center-trade-before-roster-freeze","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/374252\/","title":{"rendered":"Hurricanes Nearly Pulled Off Surprise Center Trade Before Roster Freeze"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Carolina Hurricanes were closer than expected to landing a major upgrade down the middle earlier this season \u2014 and it came at the expense of a familiar name.<\/p>\n<p>On a recent <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/DailyFaceoff\/status\/2003578341652082913?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">episode of The DFO Rundown<\/a>, The Fourth Period\u2019s David Pagnotta revealed that the Los Angeles Kings and Hurricanes held trade discussions involving <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/d\/danauph01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=nhltradetalk.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-12-24_hr\">Phillip Danault<\/a> before he was ultimately dealt to the Montreal Canadiens. Carolina\u2019s pitch reportedly included former third-overall pick <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/k\/kotkaje01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=nhltradetalk.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-12-24_hr\">Jesperi Kotkaniemi<\/a>. Pagnotta says he doesn\u2019t know the full parameters of the deal, but that Kotkaniemi would have been the centerpiece of the trade. <\/p>\n<p>While Kotkaniemi\u2019s $4.82 million cap hit wasn\u2019t a deal-breaker for the Kings, the remaining years on his contract were. They didn\u2019t feel comfortable making the trade with some uncertainty as to how he would fit into their lineup. The Kings ultimately decided to take the draft pick from Montreal. <\/p>\n<p>On the ice, the difference between the two centers isn\u2019t dramatic. This would have been seen as more of a change-of-scenery type trade. Neither has been producing much offensively, and Danault was ready to move on. <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ChrisHabs360\/status\/2003592141524574651?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">He noted,<\/a>\u00a0\u201cI felt like I had no purpose and that I couldn\u2019t bring anything to the team with what I had. I felt helpless and not important. That\u2019s how I felt at the end.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"500\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Jesperi-Kotkaniemi-trade-Hurricanes.jpg\" alt=\"Jesperi Kotkaniemi trade Hurricanes\" class=\"wp-image-103091\"  \/>Jesperi Kotkaniemi trade Hurricanes<\/p>\n<p>Will The Hurricanes Still Try to Trade Kotkaniemi?<\/p>\n<p>The bigger takeaway is Carolina\u2019s willingness to move Kotkaniemi and the fact they might continue to test the waters on a deal that includes him. With <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/j\/jarvise01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=nhltradetalk.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-12-24_hr\">Seth Jarvis<\/a> sidelined week-to-week and the Hurricanes never shy about swinging big, they might include him in some sort of package deal for a bigger name. <\/p>\n<p>If Kotkaniemi\u2019s name is out there, they might be looking to do business as soon as the roster freeze lifts. <\/p>\n<p>Next: <a href=\"https:\/\/nhltradetalk.com\/edmonton-oilers-quick-hits-mcdavid-draisaitl-standings-jump\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Edmonton Oilers Quick Hits: McDavid, Draisaitl &amp; Standings Jump<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/NHLTradeTalkweblogo4.png\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Carolina Hurricanes were closer than expected to landing a major upgrade down the middle earlier this season&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":374253,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[5,1743,4,1808,2175],"class_list":{"0":"post-374252","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-jesperi-kotkaniemi","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-phillip-danault","12":"tag-top-story"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115782483302789222","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=374252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374252\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/374253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=374252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=374252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=374252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}