No News is Good N...Umm, Whatever

After finally notching one in the win column Tuesday night against San Jose, the Carolina Hurricanes set their attention on the big NHL trade deadline. Fans were anxiously awaiting the news. Twitter was buzzing with rumor, speculation, and expressions of hope.  Would Cam Ward be moved? Justin Peters? Would anyone be brought in to make the "mathematically still possible" shot at the final wild-card playoff spot more realistic?

3pm Wednesday rolled around and the Canes had one announcement: Tuomo Ruutu was headed to New Jersey and Andrei Loktionov was headed to Raleigh. Carolina also got a conditional 3rd round pick in 2017 in the deal. Oh, and Justin Peters was called up from the AHL. It was an amazing day...confetti flying, streamers floating across offices and sports bars all across North Carolina. Ok, not really. There was more of a collective, "Huh?" sound reverberating from the denizens of Caniac land.

The best thing about this trade will be hearing Canes radio voice, Hall of Famer Chuck Kaiton saying, "Loktionov" several times a game. That and the remaining 2 years old Ruutu's salary being dumped. (The Canes reportedly have picked up $950,000 of the remaining nearly $5 million.) Other than that, trading day for Carolina was an enormous letdown for fans hoping once again that Jim Rutherford would either get the team in playoff contention, or clean house a la the Buffalo Sabres. At last check, the Sabres had moved their Zamboni driver to the Predators for a beer vendor to be named later.

Regarding Ruutu v Loktionov, there are similarities. Ruutu has 18 points in 57 games this season and Loktionov has 12 points in 48 games. Tuomo is 31 and a bronze-medalist with Team Finland. Andrei is 23 and may or may not have ever been to Finland. Loktionov has potential great upside, and Ruutu may be on the other side of his career-peak. Sans the salary clearing for Carolina, almost a wash.

Perhaps ole' JR is trying to build for the future of this franchise with youth. Today the Canes recalled 20 year-old defenseman Ryan Murphy. He's done well in Charlotte since being sent down January 24th, notching 18 points in 16 games. Earlier he had 11 points with the Hurricanes in this his first full professional hockey season.

Scott Burnside of ESPN.com includes the Carolina Hurricanes in his post-trade-day list of teams that "got it done." His point is that the Ruutu salary dump and the acquisition of a younger player is a good thing for the Canes, and that Ruutu is not the scoring machine that New Jersey needs now. Advantage Carolina.

What do you think? Post your comments on how you would grade the Canes' trade deadline results, and what moves you would have made to make the Canes a better team.