Hurricanes Tried To Flip Forward To Jets In Failed Hellebuyck Offer

While it was the New Jersey Devils that won the Connor Hellebuyck Sweepstakes, we had heard for months that the Carolina Hurricanes were extremely interested in landing the three-time Vezina Trophy winner.

Now we're learning more about why the Stanley Cup champs were unable to pull off a deal with Winnipeg. 

Elliotte Friedman explained on Saturday Night Hockey that the Canes were trying their best to corral a third team into the mix, to trade for a forward that would be to the Jets' liking. It just didn't come to pass.

One of the issues was that the Jets wanted immediate forward help, and Carolina wasn't trading a Stankoven, or a Jarvis or a Blake. What Carolina did try to do, I heard from a few teams today, they tried to reach out to other teams to figure out forwards that the Jets might have interest in, and they were going to trade for those players and flip that player to the Jets to get Hellebuyck. Obviously it didn't work. 

Of course, Logan Stankoven, Seth Jarvis and Jackson Blake are all huge parts of the Hurricanes' Cup-winning team, present and future, and they were not, as The Friedge noted, going to be dealt, even for Hellebuyck.

The Jets wound up getting Dawson Mercer and Nick Bjugstad as immediate NHL help on the front line as part of the blockbuster return from the Devils.