One Year Later: The Henrique/Carrick Trade

By Thomas Harrington

One year ago today, the Anaheim Ducks traded forwards Adam Henrique, Sam Carrick and a 2024 7th round draft pick to the Edmonton Oilers for a 2024 1st round draft pick and a conditional 2025 fifth round draft pick. The fifth round pick would have become a fourth round pick if Edmonton had won the Stanley Cup. The Ducks retained half of both Henrique and Carrick’s salaries. Tampa Bay was also involved; they retained 25% of Henrique’s contract and received Edmonton’s fourth round pick in 2025.

The Ducks had originally acquired Henrique from the New Jersey Devils as part of the Sami Vatanen deal in 2017. Henrique spent several years in Anaheim, scoring 135 goals and 264 points in 435 games. He ranks 9th all time among Anaheim skaters in goals and is tied for 11th in points. Henrique was in Anaheim during some of the team’s worst years, but he was a popular player. He was one of the team’s more consistent players, scoring around 20 goals and 40 points most years in Anaheim.

Anaheim originally acquired Carrick in 2017 from Chicago, along with Spencer Abbott, for Kenton Helgesen and a seventh round pick. After only playing in the AHL for the 2016-2017 season, he played in Anaheim every year after that, starting with six games the following season, and eventually playing in 64 games with the Ducks in the 2021-2022 season. 

With the Gulls, Carrick scored 86 goals and 181 points in 222 games. He is San Diego’s all time leader in goals and is second in assists, points, and games played. He was San Diego’s captain starting in the 2019-2020 season, and only lost it when he started spending most of his time in Anaheim. With the Ducks, Carrick played in 205 games and scored 25 goals and 46 points. He played primarily on the fourth line and in a penalty kill role with Anaheim.

Between Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton didn’t need offensive stars, but they were looking to add a little more scoring and defensive depth to their forward group. Henrique was one of the top available centers on the market and Carrick was one of the more solid role players who were available. Both filled needs the Oilers had at the time.

With the Oilers, Henrique played in 22 games to end the season and scored six goals and nine points. Carrick played in 16 games and scored two goals and five points. In the postseason, Henrique played in 17 of Edmonton’s 25 games, and scored four goals and seven points. Unfortunately, he got injured in the first round and missed almost all of the second round of the playoffs. He returned to full health in the conference finals against Dallas. Carrick played in 10 playoff games and recorded one assist. He was a healthy scratch several times but was inserted into the lineup when Edmonton wanted more of a physical presence in the lineup. The Oilers of course went all the way to the Stanley Cup Final, losing to the Florida Panthers in seven games. After the season was over, Henrique re-signed with the Oilers for two years, while Carrick chose to sign with the New York Rangers over the summer.

The Ducks didn’t actually use the 31st overall pick in the 2024 draft. Instead, they traded that and the 58th overall pick, which Anaheim had previously acquired from Boston as part of the Hampus Lindholm trade, to the Toronto Maple Leafs for the 23rd overall pick. The Ducks then selected defenseman Stian Solberg with their new pick. Solberg became the second Norwegian player ever taken in the first round of the NHL draft. Anaheim is flush with young, highly talented defensemen in the NHL and in their farm system. They didn’t have many players who have a more physical edge in their game. Solberg fills that void and the Ducks were very happy to trade up and draft him. 

With the seventh round pick that Edmonton acquired from the Ducks, the Oilers selected center William Nicholl. He plays for the London Knights of the OHL and has already set career highs in goals, assists, and points this season. It remains to be seen who Anaheim and Tampa Bay will take this summer with their fifth and fourth round picks they received in this trade.

Overall, I think all three teams can be pretty happy with this deal. The Ducks were able to get two picks for free agents they weren’t going to sign, Edmonton got within one win of the Stanley Cup, and the Lightning added a draft pick. However, for the Ducks, there was one aspect of this trade that I wasn’t a fan of. Anaheim retained salary for both Henrique and Carrick, using their second and third retention slots. They had used their first retention slot in the Ilya Lyubushkin trade. It made sense to retain money on Henrique’s contract given how expensive he was, but Carrick was significantly cheaper and I was hoping Anaheim wouldn’t need to retain salary on any deal he was involved in. As a result, the Ducks were not able to retain salary on another player with a higher salary, or act as a third party broker the way Tampa Bay did to get another late round pick. It’s fine to retain both salaries, but I would have liked to see the Ducks get a little more out of Edmonton as a result.

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March 6th, 2025