Making an Omelette and Other Crazy Analogies to Describe The Recent Trade

It has been said in order to make an omelette you have to break a few eggs, and that is exactly what the Carolina Hurricanes did this Saturday with a Blockbuster trade during the NHL Draft. The Canes shocked the draft floor by sending Defenseman Noah Hanifin and Forward Elias Lindholm to the Calgary Flames for Defenseman Dougie Hamilton, Forward Michael Ferland, and Defensive  Prospect Adam Fox. Almost Immediately Caniac Nation was on fire with a barrage of opinions from totally positive, to fans threatening to cancel their season tickets. So I have taken it upon myself to point out the pros and cons of the trade.

Pros:

Dougie Hamilton's Career Numbers are significantly better than what Noah Hanifin's are. It is often said that stats don't lie and since 2015( Hanifin's rookie season) to 2018  Hamilton has scored 137 points(42 goals,95 assists) compared to Hanifin's 83 points( 18 goals, 65 assists) Now while supporters of Hanifin may fairly argue those numbers were during Hanifin's first three years, while Hamilton's numbers were in career years 4-6. My rebuttal would be that while that may be true if Hanifin was the better of the two there would be a far smaller discrepancy in numbers than the 54 point gap displayed.

Elias Lindholm was not going to come to terms on his contract. Reports out of Raleigh say that Lindholm was asking for 5 years and 25 million dollars. This is a financial reach for a man who went 28 games without scoring a goal in 2017-2018 and never seemed to reach his 5th pick overall potential. If you refer to my previous blog post titled "Losing is a Disease As Contagious as Polio" You will recall one of my wishes was for the Canes to make a decision on fringe players such as Lindholm. At this point in his career Lindholm peaks at a second line at best player and it was better for Carolina to trade him and receive something in return than to let him walk for nothing.

Michael Ferland Brings the sandpaper this team lacks: Excluding Brock Mcginn the team definitely lacked the gritty sandpaper guy who could bring the physicality as well as occasionally put the puck behind the goalie. If we are looking at this in a one for one basis ( Hamilton for Hanifin, and Lindholm for Ferland) Elias Lindholms style of play was that of a dime a dozen Hurricane player, while Ferland offers a more rare type player on the Canes roster.

Cons:

The What If Factor of Noah Hanifin: Noah Hanifin is barely 21 years old and is just three years removed from being the first defenseman taken in the 2015 NHL draft (5th Overall). It is a well known fact that an NHL defenseman takes far longer to develop than a forward, so one must ask: Was it smart trading someone this young in his career that is coming off an All-Star Appearance. There is a solid chance that Hanifin could in fact surpass Hamilton, but in a sport where a team can not afford to gamble with the present to affect the future a tough decision was made. Besides IF is a huge word in professional sports.

What is Adam Fox Doesn't Pan Out? The third member of this trade was Harvard Defenseman and Flames prospect Adam Fox. Fox has been regarded as a top prospect within the Flames Organization. Critics of this trade have pointed out that both Ferland, and Hamilton both have only two years remaining on their contracts meaning that in 2 short years the team could find themselves back in the same spot. Supporters of the trade will at this point mention Adam Fox as the answer, but what if he doesn't pan out? Combine that with the "If Factor" of Hanifin and the chance of not resigning Hamilton and Ferland and this could be disastrous.

A lot of disgruntled Caniacs: Caniacs, like most fans grow irrationally attached to players and at times(myself included with Justin Faulk) fail to see the forest for the trees(analogy#3) so trades like this hurt fans. Hanifin was quickly becoming a fan favorite. So the hurt and betrayal from a new owner can agitate the fan base.

My Take: To me this was a good trade that needed to happen. The team hasn't made the playoffs in 10 years and to bring back the same roster and expect different results seems Ludacris. I am also a numbers guy and based on simple numbers Ferland and Hamilton were 12 points greater than Lindholm and Hanifin. That leads me to ask how many games were lost by one goal? Enough to cost the team a playoff spot. Carolina made the right move albeit a tough trade. 

Thanks For Reading and Redvolution

The Caniac Collector