Report links Hurricanes' top defensive trade chip to a pair of Western Conference teams

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Mike Armenti
July 23, 2023 (12:44)

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We know that Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Brett Pesce is set to enter the final year of his current contract and that the Canes have reported that if he hadn't signed an extension by July 1st, he'd be traded. Well, here we are nearly a month into free agency, and Pesce still resides in Carolina.

Pesce, who is slated to become a UFA next summer, was expected to be a hot commodity if he hit the trade market. While there have been a few reports of teams kicking tires over the last few weeks, nothing has been reported as close. Well, according to recent reports, two Western Conference teams could be preparing to make a push to acquire Pesce from the Canes. Those teams are the Calgary Flames and Seattle Kraken.

Pesce, a native of Tarrytown, New York, is coming off the best season of his career, having notched 30 points (five goals, 25 assists), 11 penalty minutes and a plus 43 +/- rating in 82 regular season games. He followed that up by tallying six points in 15 Stanley Cup Playoff games all while playing tough minutes against the opposition's top players.

The one potential issue that may be causing a delay for the Canes is that Pesce owns a 15-team trade list. This allows him to decide on 15 locations which he'd be willing to accept a trade to, which means that there are 17 teams who are basically off limits in any trade discussions, unless Pesce agrees to waive his NTL.

There's still two months remaining until training camp, so there's plenty of time for the Canes to either deal Pesce or come to terms on an extension to remain with the club. His current cap hit is $4.025M.