Why losing so many key players has made the Hurricanes better

After the Carolina Hurricanes failed to extend blockbuster acquisition Mikko Rantanen and traded him to the Dallas Stars, there was a period of time where it felt like the team from Raleigh would lose their mojo and the season was lost.

But since the March 8 Trade Deadline, the Hurricanes have been on fire, winning nine of their last 11 games and carving out the second-place spot in the Eastern Conference’s Metropolitan Division. With just eight games to go, Carolina has a chance to go into the Stanley Cup Playoffs with lots of momentum.

On Thursday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk discuss the Hurricanes’ recent success and what’s made them play so well since trading away Rantanen.

Tyler Yaremchuk: The Hurricanes punched their ticket to the Stanley Cup Playoffs yesterday and are pretty much locked in as the No. 2 seed in the Metropolitan Division. They will, in all likelihood, face the New Jersey Devils in Round 1. I think this ‘Canes team shouldn’t have a lot of problems with New Jersey. I might take the ‘Canes in four or five.

Frank Seravalli: I could see it. They should steamroll the Devils with how these two teams have trended in opposite directions. Look, I think a huge psychological boost for this team, as odd as it sounds, was trading away a true difference maker in Mikko Rantanen. It truly freed up this team.

They now have a collection of players, and you see it in every post-game speech from Rod Brind’Amour, how proud he is of this team. They have a group of guys who really want to be there, and I think for that period of time when they put a franchise-record contract on the table for this guy and he didn’t sign it. There was an awkward period of time when everyone was trying to figure out what that was like. It also coincides with the least-productive times that the ‘Canes have had all season long.

He gets shipped out, and they’re in a different place now.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…