from Luke DeCock of the News & Observer,

The good news for Hurricanes fans is that while Rutherford has tied the Hurricanes to a bloated, underperforming roster full of long-term contracts (Exhibit A: Alexander Semin) and no-trade clauses (Exhibit B: Tuomo Ruutu), he can still swap horses with the best of them at times (Exhibit C: Jamie McBain and a draft pick for Andrej Sekera).

So let’s see what he can get for Jeff Skinner. Let’s see what he can get for Cam Ward. Let’s see what he can get for Ron Hainsey. Let’s see what he can get for Jiri Tlusty. Let’s see what he can get for Semin. Let’s see what he can get for Ruutu. Let’s see what he can get for Anton Khudobin, if he doesn’t sign an extension.

Other than Justin Faulk and Elias Lindholm, is there really anyone who’s truly irreplaceable? No, there isn’t, and that includes the previously untouchable Eric and Jordan Staal, because building around them hasn’t worked yet.

Some of those contracts (Semin, Ward and Ruutu in particular) may be too toxic for anyone to touch until the salary cap goes up over the summer, and almost all of the biggest names have no-trade clauses, but strange things can happen when teams panic at the deadline.

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