Three potential trade destinations for Tomas Hertl if the Sharks decide to trade him

Carolina Hurricanes

It feels like a cheap answer, throwing the Canes onto every rumor list, but they are always sniffing around any player that might become available. With the Sharks having made deals with Don Waddell and the Hurricanes front office too, there's reasons to believe Tomas Hertl to Raleigh to reunite with former San Jose Shark Brent Burns may have some credit to it, and the team in teal could try to aid their former player in the pursuit of a Championship.

Going beyond the links between the two teams, the Carolina Hurricanes always need more help scoring. It tends to be the reason everything dries up for them, and Hertl can score like it's nobody's business. Adding a point-per-game center to a roster to compliment players like Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov, Martin Necas, and Seth Jarvis seems somewhat unfair, given how deep that roster is.

In terms of cap space, Carolina projects to have almost $8 million available at the deadline, so they can actually take on Hertl's deal at the present moment. It may throw a spanner in the works for their offseason plans with so much projected turnover on one of the model organizations of the NHL at this moment, but it could be the last chance for the bulk of the pending free agents on this roster.

Carolina tends to be cutthroat in its pursuit of value. They have an internal value for players and will not go over it without certain exceptions. It may make negotiations with Carolina difficult, but Carolina has a first-round pick and two second-round picks in this upcoming draft, as well as a prospect pool full to the brim with talents that project to make the NHL. Getting a couple of kids to make the roster better is possible for the Sharks.