The 2025 NHL Trade Deadline has come and gone, as March 7 was another busy day with a flurry of trades around the league. There were a ton of surprises, but one of them, which started in the early morning, was the rumored trade between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Dallas Stars. As the day progressed, it seemed there was a framework of a trade that was agreed upon by the two sides, but it was all contingent on Mikko Rantanen signing an extension with the Stars. If Rantanen did not sign, there was no trade. However, in the end, there was an agreement on an extension, and it was a pretty decent haul for the Hurricanes.
Logan Stankoven Is a Carolina Hurricane
As the dust settled and the trade finalized, Hurricanes and Stars fans finally saw the deal between the two sides. While Rantanen signed an eight-year, $12 million average annual value (AAV) deal, the Hurricanes received forward Logan Stankoven, a 2026 first- and third-round pick, a 2027 third-round pick, and a conditional 2028 first-round pick. The main holdup for a while was the Stars and Rantanen figuring out the layout of an extension, and once it was figured out, the saga surrounding the now-former Hurricane was finally put to rest. In return, the Hurricanes got a strong forechecker with a 5-foot-8 frame who plays big and has no quit in his body. He is just like Seth Jarvis, while being two inches shorter, as someone who gives 110% on every shift and has the shiftiness with the puck on his stick. He is someone who is a pure Hurricanes player with his skill set as a 47th overall pick in the 2021 Draft.
Related: Stars Acquire Mikko Rantanen From the Hurricanes in Blockbuster Deal
In 59 games for the Stars, the 22-year-old Canadian forward has nine goals and 29 points in his first full season in the NHL. He has a .49 points-per-game pace while only taking six penalty minutes all season. When you need someone on the ice for 5v5 and power plays, Stankoven is the one you need. He has one power-play goal but four game-winning goals while averaging 15:06 of time on ice (TOI) this season. He even has a 46.4% faceoff percentage as a hybrid center/winger. Stankoven doesn’t block a ton of shots but is not afraid to use the body as he has totaled 42 hits. Just like Jarvis, he is a shorter player compared to the rest of the league but will throw the body and play bigger than his size.
When asked about Stankoven, Hurricanes general manager Eric Tulsky stated, “Logan is young, skilled, and tenacious. He is well-equipped to play our style of hockey and should be an excellent fit with our group, and the draft capital acquired will help us continue to improve our team.” The fact that the Stars play a similar style to the Hurricanes does make it an easy transition for the young player to fit into the Rod Brind’Amour system well. Plus, surrounding him with younger players like Jarvis (23), Jackson Blake (21), Jesperi Kotkaniemi (24), and Andrei Svechnikov (24), and prospects like Bradly Nadeau and Scott Morrow will help Stankoven get acclimated with the Hurricanes system and locker room. It has been revealed that Jarvis has already reached out to the newest Hurricane to welcome him to the squad. Jarvis already took Blake under his wing, it seems like Stankoven will be helped by the fellow Western Canadian as well.
Tulsky went on to add about Stankoven, “He is a really aggressive player. When the puck’s on his stick, he’s very shifty with it, he’s very aggressive and he’s attacking on offense and when he’s going and recovering loose pucks, he’s always the first one in on it, he’s always there pressuring and getting into people’s bodies and making things difficult. He’s not the tallest guy in the world, but he plays bigger than he looks and he plays hard and he competes hard and that’s what we look for in a Hurricanes player.”
When looking at how Stankoven plays, his skillset matches Jarvis’ to the letter, and now you’re talking about both of them on the same team, just a year apart in age. Stankoven could slot anywhere in the Hurricanes’ lineup and on the second power-play unit for Brind’Amour and his staff. Adding him just gives the coaches another talented youngster to flow within the lineup with ease.
The youth movement the Hurricanes will have this offseason and beyond starts with the addition of Stankoven and what could be with Alexander Nikishin coming over next season from the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). Also, don’t be surprised if Nadeau and Morrow make the jump next season as well. Having a ton of young and talented players all around the same three or four-year age range and on great deals could give the Hurricanes the flexibility to make huge moves in the 2025 offseason.
Related: Seth Jarvis’ Late Goal Lifts Hurricanes to a 3-2 Win Over Bruins
Stankoven is in the second year of his entry-level contract (ELC) and will become a restricted free agent (RFA) after the 2025-26 season as a 23-year-old. The fact that he makes $814,167 for the next season and a third gives the Hurricanes a ton of flexibility with the cap going up to at least $93 million next season. Furthermore, with Dmitry Orlov, Brent Burns, Frederik Andersen, and other contracts coming off the books on July 1, the Hurricanes could make tons of moves with cap space opening up.
Overall, this was a great move by Tulsky to move a player in Rantanen who seemed to feel like Raleigh was not home and pivoted to acquire a young player with tons of control and draft/trade capital with the four picks. It will be interesting as the Hurricanes have 19 games left in the regular season until the start of the 2025 NHL Playoffs. The transition for Stankoven will take a little bit of time, but the way he plays a two-way, 200-foot game and plays a similar style as he did with the Stars, it won’t take long for him to click with the Hurricanes. Since Jordan Staal wears No. 11 for the team, Stankoven will wear No. 22. He did wear No. 10 for the Kamloops Blazers, but that number is retired for Ron Francis. He joins a great list of former 22’s in Mike Commodore and Brett Pesce.
Deadline Is Over, Back to Regular Season Hockey
Now that the trade deadline is over, the focus turns back to regular season hockey as the Hurricanes are back in action on Sunday, March 9 against the Winnipeg Jets. The game is set for a 5 p.m. Eastern puck drop as the 37-22-4 Hurricanes look for their fourth straight win and continue their march for another playoff appearance, possibly their seventh in a row.
