The Carolina Hurricanes took a conservative route at the NHL trade deadline, opting to forego a major trade and instead upped the toughness factor with the acquisition of big bruiser, Nick Deslauriers from the Philadelphia Flyers.
After the deadline, Tulsky spoke to the media on a variety of topics related to the day's events, from what he saw in Deslauriers to the always-controversial second center role plan and everything in between.
What does Nick Deslauriers bring to the table
Tulsky began the press conference by discussing the latest addition to the storm.
"Nick is a veteran. He's a physical presence. He's a guy who has great character, does things the right way, makes the team tough to play against, and just generally adds the kind of character and toughness that we wanted to bring to the group."
He later spoke about the doggedness Deslauriers brought to the team as well as the tenacity he already possessed.
"Ultimately, a lot of the toughness is personal and internal, right? 'Am I going to take it, or not? That's what toughness is for me - it's not really 'Do I have someone else to take care of it'. And I think we have a group of people who have that internal toughness, that's the fight.
"Stankoven is the smallest guy in the world, and when he felt like that needed to happen, he grabbed guys and started fighting, right? So, it looks like we have that fire, but of course, it's easier to maintain that toughness when you have a guy like Deslauriers. When it feels like games are getting more intense, and that can be useful for people, that's something we wanted to explore."
Comfortable with current center staff
A lingering dilemma for the Hurricanes has been their second centerman role, an issue that came to the fore following Trocheck's departure in 2022. Addressing questions about the rumored attempt to reunite with the former Hurricane, Tulsky confirmed his feelings about Logan Stankoven's performance at the position.
"I think Logan has been great in that role," he said before giving a list of reasons why. “I know there's a lot of people out there that look at the point total and worry about it. Seriously, at five-on-five, he produced at a high rate.
"We have three of the top 40 centers in the league in five-on-five production. And the fact that he's not on our first power play unit has nothing to do with how good he is as a center. I think people forget how many nights in October and November that line was our best line. That line has generated a lot of offense this year, and he's been part of that.
"He's not the tallest guy, and people worry about that, but he works really hard. He's extremely competitive. He's the kind of guy who pulls teammates into battles. Other guys look at it and say, 'Well, if he can do it, obviously I can. I'm twice the size of him.' You know, I have no worries about it moving forward.”
Players received calls due to the storm
Although this was expected, Tulski confirmed that he had received calls from players. However, the storm wisely avoided taking out anyone.
“At the end of the day, you know, we're trying to win a cup here, and it's going to be hard to take players out...no matter what role they play.
"We anticipate that at some point everyone on this team will be needed. And so, we had some calls, we explored some things, but at the end of the day, you know, we're trying to win a Cup, and we didn't want to weaken our team going into the playoffs."
Deals don't matter to Hurricanes
Tulsky also talked about his desire to add more high-quality players to help push the team toward the Stanley Cup, but the difficulties the market presented, and his confidence in the team remain the same.
"Obviously, we have a lot of confidence in this roster. We've battled through a lot of injuries and are on pace for, I don't know, 112 points or something – and as we get healthier, we're getting better. We're very happy with what we have right now.
"I would say we're always trying to get better. We'd like to be on pace for 130 points or 150. So it's not like I'm ever going to say, 'This team is good enough, we don't need to add.'
"I know the players are excited to see reinforcements, and I want to do it for them as much as they want to see it. We all want it. Like, nobody is more competitive than us. And, you know, we're up and down the organization. We're extremely aggressive in trying to add.
"Ultimately, you know, it's not about my confidence in him. It's about the opportunities that were really on the market to make something addition that will make us better. Yeah. I would love to bring somebody in that is, you know, one of those top 20 players and make everybody say we're one guy closer to being in those top 20 on a team. It wasn't meant to be that way this year."
