Carolina Hurricanes host Boston Bruins in pre-trade deadline game on WRAL

By WRAL Staff

The Carolina Hurricanes host the Boston Bruins on Thursday night, and the game airs on WRAL.

Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. ET Thursday at the Lenovo Center in Raleigh.

The Hurricanes (36-22-4) are second in the Eastern Conference’s Metropolitan Division, trailing the Washington Capitals.

This season, the Canes are on pace to make their seventh consecutive playoff appearance under head coach Rod Brind’Amour. However, the Canes haven’t made it past the Eastern Conference Finals during Brind’Amour’s coaching tenure.

Meanwhile, the Bruins (28-27-8) are second-to-last in the Eastern Conference’s Atlantic Division. However, Boston is only two points out of the final wild card spot as of Wednesday afternoon.

The Canes-Bruins game comes ahead of the NHL trade deadline, which is set for 3 p.m. ET Friday.

A big question hockey fans have is: What’s going to happen with right winger Mikko Rantanen? The Hurricanes traded for the 28-year-old on Jan. 24 in a deal with the Colorado Avalanche.

The Canes’ acquisition of Rantanen is similar to last season when they traded for center Jake Guentzel in that they made a move to acquire an unrestricted free agent without an extension in place.

Carolina got four months from Guentzel before his contract was due to expire. The Canes traded him to the Tampa Bay Lightning in June 2024 in exchange for a third-round pick in 2025. Guentzel later signed a seven-year, $63 million contract with the Lightning.

Meanwhile, Boston is considering whether to trade or keep veteran left winger Brad Marchand.

Marchand, 36, is out week-to-week with an upper-body injury. The Vegas Golden Knights, Colorado Avalanche, New Jersey Devils and Hurricanes are among the teams who could trade for Marchand.

Thursday’s game won’t be the only Canes game WRAL broadcasts. WRAL will also broadcast the April 2 against the Washington Capitals.