Two forwards swapped in a minor NHL trade.

Not exactly a blockbuster trade but a trade nonetheless.

The Florida Panthers and the Carolina Hurricanes have announced that they have agreed to swap forwards on Tuesday with the Panthers sending Connor Brickley to Carolina and receiving Brody Sutter in exchange the other way.

It's a curious move on the surface as both players are currently making roughly the same salary, are roughly the same age, and are at roughly the same stage of development in their careers where both men appear to be journeyman forwards who will serve in a depth role bouncing between the NHL and AHL levels.

The one key difference between the two is that Brickley is a natural left winger who shoots from his left side and Sutter is a natural right winger who shoots from his right side, and it could be the reason both parties opted to make the swap.

Brickley who has played in 23 career NHL games also has a higher pedigree as a second round draft pick, and while that could mean a higher ceiling that Sutter who was drafted in the 7th round, that's speculative at best. Sutter has even less NHL experience than Brickley having only played in 12 career NHL games. 

[pub]