Hurricanes Re-Acquiring DeAngelo Means Something Big Yet To Come

The Philadelphia Flyers are very busy right now working on a number of trades to move some of their better players. One of those trades being discussed that appears to be close is Tony DeAngelo back to the Carolina Hurricanes. He was originally dealt last summer to the Flyers from the Hurricanes along with a seventh round pick in exchange for a 2022 fourth round pick, 2023 third round pick, and 2024 second round pick. It doesn't seem like the trade back will involve nearly as much value.

It has been reported that up to 50% of DeAngelo's $5 million AAV contract could be retained and he has just one year left on his deal before becoming a UFA. So the real question is, what does this mean for the Hurricanes? If and likely when they acquire DeAngelo, the team will have four very capable right-shot defensemen - Brent Burns, Brett Pesce, DeAngelo, and Jalen Chatfield. Burns isn't going anywhere and Chatfield has established himself as a solid and cheap third-pairing defender. So that means contract talks have not gone the way Carolina would have hoped with Pesce.

There has been talk that if the Hurricanes couldn't come to an agreement on a new contract with Pesce as he is eligible to re-sign on July 1, they will investigate options to trade him. This of course has sparked the interest of many teams as the Hurricanes' defender is on a great contract and very good defensively. Even if the DeAngelo trade doesn't go through or takes a while, it seems like we have our answer to whether or not the Hurricanes will be keeping Pesce around.