Insider Names Hurricanes' DeAngelo As Trade Candidate

The Carolina Hurricanes appear to be searching for a trade partner to get rid of one of their defensemen. On Hockey Night in Canada, Elliotte Friedman reported that the team is looking to move Tony DeAngelo in particular. He has been a third pairing defenseman all season and has a cheap cap hit if a team is looking for scoring from the back-end.

The Hurricanes signed DeAngelo in the offseason after he was bought out by the Philadelphia Flyers. He is also a UFA at the end of this season and the cap hit is just $1.675 million AAV. The offensive defenseman has five assists in 12 games and is a -7 plus/minus.

While Brett Pesce has missed seven games this season, Jalen Chatfield has taken over that spot on the second pairing over DeAngelo and done well. This shows the confidence and level of play from Chatfield and allows the Hurricanes to look for a trade for when Pesce returns to the lineup. The Hurricanes have a strong defensive core and it makes sense to try to trade DeAngelo out of the defensemen. Brent Burns and Dmitry Orlov can easily handle first and second units power play duties and the Hurricanes can focus more on strong defense.