By: Chris Nosek
The biggest question about the Hurricanes coming into this season was their goaltending. Tulsky seems to have taken care of that when he claimed Brandon Bussi off waivers. The Canes have put themselves comfortably at 1st place in the Metropolitan, and have almost become an afterthought to many. They have made the playoffs every season under the leadership of Rob Brind’Amour since he took over as their Head Coach starting in the 2018-19 season.
Tulsky made the headline moves last season when he traded for Mikko Rantanen, then was forced to flip him again on deadline day. He managed to walk away with several draft picks and Logan Stankoven. He was also supposedly shopping around the trade market over the offseason. However, there were seemingly few, if any, reports of Tulsky looking to add anyone at the trade deadline.
While he was able to get great value for a 7th-round pick by acquiring Deslaurier, it’s simply not enough. Deslaurier brings a physical presence and some depth to the lineup, but averaging less than 10 minutes per night of ice time means he will have a very limited impact overall. Questions about Bussi’s stamina still exist as his games played continue to climb. He’s allowed four or more goals in four of his last seven starts. Prior to that, he allowed four or more in just two of his 23 starts.
The deal that Tulsky pulled off was a great value, but he simply didn’t do enough. If it were simply a matter of the one deal, then the grade would be a B. This team has been to the Conference Finals three of the past seven seasons and has reached at least the second round in all seven seasons. Tulsky needs to do more if he wants to push this team over the edge. His failure to act vastly outweighs the one move he did make.
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