OK Gang, get me up to speed on the Hurricanes

[Zod]

WHats up with the bunch of jerks this season?

 

Give me a paragraph or two summarizing the offseason and where the team is now. What can I get excited about and what are the biggest challenges?

[CanesFanStan]

Hi there, I am happy to help share some fun information on the Carolina Hurricanes:

The team has loads of talent and is coming off back-to-back playoff appearances. The new format of the season has the Canes playing in the Central division, which does not have as many strong teams as the the East (Caps, Isles, Bruins, Flyers, Pens) which means if Carolina plays to their potential, they can really make some noise. 

On offense, they have some extremely exciting and dynamic young players: Sebastian Aho (a points scoring machine, Andrei Svechnikov (did that LAX goal twice and has the potential to be a Top 5 player in the league) plus assist-machine Teuvo Teravainen and young stud Martin Necas. There's great depth at center with the addition of Vincent Trocheck. The Canes signed Rangers stuf Jesper Fast in the offseason, an under-the-radar move that gives them a ton of depth. Jordan Martinook is another player to watch because of his personality and pregame screaming rituals. 

While the offense is exciting, the Canes have been known for their DEEP defense over the last couple of years. Alternate Captain Jaccob Slavin is one of the best defensive players in the game and won the All Star passing accuracy contest last year. Dougie Hamilton plays on the top pairing with Slavin and is a HUGE offensive weapon for a D-man. Brett Pesce, Brady Skjei, Haydn Fleury, Jake Gardiner, Jake Bean and Joey Keane make up the rest of that super talented and deep corps. 

The Canes have been rolling with a two-goalie system since the 2018-19 season, and that could be a major key to success this year. Petr Mrazek and James Reimer make up the tandem and can make some spectacular plays. That depth will really help given the format of the season. 

Lastly, the head coach Rod Brind'Amour is a Hurricanes legend and fantastic coach. The players love him and the rest of the league respects him. 

This team surprised a lot of people in 2018/19 and then showed they are for real last year. This should be the season they take a big step forward. 

 

[Zod]

4 minutes ago, CanesFanDan said:

Hi there, I am happy to help share some fun information on the Carolina Hurricanes:

The team has loads of talent and is coming off back-to-back playoff appearances. The new format of the season has the Canes playing in the Central division, which does not have as many strong teams as the the East (Caps, Isles, Bruins, Flyers, Pens) which means if Carolina plays to their potential, they can really make some noise. 

On offense, they have some extremely exciting and dynamic young players: Sebastian Aho (a points scoring machine, Andrei Svechnikov (did that LAX goal twice and has the potential to be a Top 5 player in the league) plus assist-machine Teuvo Teravainen and young stud Martin Necas. There's great depth at center with the addition of Vincent Trocheck. The Canes signed Rangers stuf Jesper Fast in the offseason, an under-the-radar move that gives them a ton of depth. Jordan Martinook is another player to watch because of his personality and pregame screaming rituals. 

While the offense is exciting, the Canes have been known for their DEEP defense over the last couple of years. Alternate Captain Jaccob Slavin is one of the best defensive players in the game and won the All Star passing accuracy contest last year. Dougie Hamilton plays on the top pairing with Slavin and is a HUGE offensive weapon for a D-man. Brett Pesce, Brady Skjei, Haydn Fleury, Jake Gardiner, Jake Bean and Joey Keane make up the rest of that super talented and deep corps. 

The Canes have been rolling with a two-goalie system since the 2018-19 season, and that could be a major key to success this year. Petr Mrazek and James Reimer make up the tandem and can make some spectacular plays. That depth will really help given the format of the season. 

Lastly, the head coach Rod Brind'Amour is a Hurricanes legend and fantastic coach. The players love him and the rest of the league respects him. 

This team surprised a lot of people in 2018/19 and then showed they are for real last year. This should be the season they take a big step forward. 

 

Thank you new huddler @CanesFanDan, you seem to be a very knowledgeable fellow. I hope you stick around. 

[Zod]

Would you agree @zacka77ack ?

[CanesFanStan]

Thank you Zod, you are as handsome as you are charming and also a fantastic CEO. I hope to give you pie one day. 

[zacka77ack]

27 minutes ago, Zod said:

Would you agree @zacka77ack ?

That's pretty succinct and accurate.

Look for Svechnivok to continue his meteoric rise. Had there been a full season last year he would have been one of the top scorers in the league. Cap nerds should be over the moon that All-Star defenseman Jaccob Slavin and fellow defenseman Brett Pesce are locked up through 2024 for 5 million and 4 million per year, respectively. Slavin and Pesce are routinely overlooked, but are easily 2 of the best lockdown defensemen in the league.

Pesce's contract is extremely attractive and could be used to bring in a big time player like Patrick Laine through a trade. Rumors are the Winnepeg Jets may be interested in trading Laine and he's been linked to the Canes for a defensemen, either for the quiet, lockdown Pesce or offensive mainstay Dougie Hamilton.

Hurricanes fans should finally be expecting to not only make the playoffs, but advance and make noise with a talented and deep roster.

Plus, the Storm Surge never disappoints.

Evander Holyfield, HUGE CANIAC:


 

[Harbingers]

13 hours ago, zacka77ack said:

Pesce's contract is extremely attractive and could be used to bring in a big time player like Patrick Laine through a trade. Rumors are the Winnepeg Jets may be interested in trading Laine and he's been linked to the Canes for a defensemen, either for the quiet, lockdown Pesce or offensive mainstay Dougie Hamilton.

Hurricanes fans should finally be expecting to not only make the playoffs, but advance and make noise with a talented and deep roster.

Plus, the Storm Surge never disappoints.

Evander Holyfield, HUGE CANIAC:


 

I'd hate to see Pesce go and would love if we could pick up Laine without giving either of them up but we are missing our other big frame on defense this year with Edmondson gone.

Also love Holyfield's footwork on ice. Total pro.

[t96]

15 hours ago, Zod said:

WHats up with the bunch of jerks this season?

 

Give me a paragraph or two summarizing the offseason and where the team is now. What can I get excited about and what are the biggest challenges?

Sorry if this is long but I think it's an important in-depth breakdown for someone not as familiar with the team.

TL;DR: Canes have 3 superstar players in Aho, Svechnikov and Slavin. Then there are 2 next tier players in Teravainen and Pesce. All of those guys should be great and a ton of fun to watch and make this team competitive at the very least. Then there are many players who have upside or have been inconsistent and the team's success depends a lot on the development of those guys. Goaltending is the big concern as that is a weakness here, but can be overcome if others step up and there is a chance the 2 goalies we have can get hot as that does happen in the NHL. Overall, we have an extremely young team with many core pieces in place and several on team friendly deals already, and many prospects in the pool still. Very exciting time to be a Canes fan.

 

Here's the expected lineup:

Forwards:

Niederreiter - Aho - Teravainen

Svechnikov - Trocheck - Fast

Foegele - Staal - Necas

Martinook - Geekie - McGinn

Dzingel

Defense:

Slavin - Hamilton

Skjei - Pesce

Gardiner - Fleury

Bean

Goalies:

Mrazek

Reimer

 

Offseason changes (personnel wise): The only significant losses this offseason were: Justin Williams, former captain and rock solid veteran winger, who retired (we replaced him with Jesper Fast, a very solid signing). And Joel Edmundson -- an average bottom pair defenseman who offered us size and toughness which we haven't really replaced, but not a big loss at all. We haven't really added anyone else except for prospects in the draft who won't contribute this year or probably next year anyways (if you're unfamiliar with NHL draft/prospect stuff, most prospects take years to develop before even making it to the NHL; they're drafted at 18 typically and then play in Canada juniors, NCAA or other leagues around the world to develop before coming into the league).

 

For the forwards:

Top Line: Sebastian Aho is our best forward and one of the top young centers in the league. He's a little bit small but he can score goals and make plays and is extremely active in the defensive end which is huge. Teuvo Teravainen (fellow Finnish countryman and best friend on the team) has been pretty much stapled to the top line with Aho and they have plays where it seems like they can read each other's mind. Unbelievable chemistry* and Teravainen is a great top line winger as a playmaker, although he doesn't score a ton of goals. The left winger expected to start on the top line this season is Nino Neiderreiter. He is a former top 5 pick and highly touted prospect who has not reached his potential at all and has been very inconsistent. Pretty much every other year the last several years has been a disappointment. We acquired him mid-season in 2018 and he immediately came in and contributed a lot of offense and was a big success. He was a massive disappointment last year with very little contribution offensively. He's getting a shot on the top line in the hope that he can find some of that previous success again but there is plenty of reason to be concerned about him.

2nd Line: Down the stretch last year the other member of the top line was Andrei Svechnikov who was the 2nd overall pick a few years ago and is entering his 3rd season. He steadily improved to year 2 to become one of the best offensive threats in the league and he's also a very physical player which has been a big factor. I would also expect him to take another step forward but he's expected to play on the 2nd line to start this season (reason being to spread the offense around a bit more rather than stacking the top line). Vincent Trocheck will center the 2nd line, he was a mid-season acquisition last year and only played a handful of games with the team before COVID interrupted the season. He was a solid player who has been trending down a little bit due to injuries in Florida the past few years, but there is plenty to be excited about if he is able to bounce back and develop some chemistry with this team. Jesper Fast was signed in the offseason and he's a solid two-way winger who ideally should be on the 3rd line but is starting on the 2nd line I think just due to matchups to start. 

3rd Line: Martin Necas was on the 2nd line down the stretch last year as a rookie and he is one of the most exciting young forwards in the league. Extremely fast and smooth skater with great vision and a great playmaker. The issues with him are that he can actually go too fast for the game and fumble the puck, make the wrong play, etc. as well as he is pretty skinny and needs to work on his goal-scoring and shot. All of these can be attributed to how young he is and as he adds more muscle and the game slows down for him he's going to be a huge core piece for this team. Starting at wing, but is projected down the line to be our long-term #2 center, so his development is one the of the key aspects of how we do this year. Warren Foegele (McLovin) is the other winger and he's another young player who has been pretty solid and has room for improvement but doesn't really have a ton of potential. He'll never come close to being a legit top-line forward, his ceiling is probably as an average 2nd liner but right now he belongs on the 3rd line. He works his ass off and is always sticking his nose in the play with physicality but is extremely inconsistent as a finisher and not the best playmaker. Jordan Staal is the team captain and is one of the best defensive forwards in the league. Unfortunately he's very slow at this point and despite being a big guy doesn't use his body all that much and is believed to play pretty timid. Solid player, especially for a 3rd line center, but is overpaid and not quite what we expected from him after giving him a big contract years ago. I will say though, he has had his moments and was a big reason we made the playoffs in the 2018-19 season as he had some nice offensive production for about 20-30 games at the end of the season there.

4th Line: Should be the same as late last year with some decent players but nothing special for the 4th line. Jordan Martinook** is an alternate captain and a great locker room guy but not much impact on the ice. Morgan Geekie is a rookie who played just a few games late last year and he was amazing in those games but still not a ton to get excited about, though he could take another step forward. Brock McGinn has been here a while and is a solid bottom 6 two-way winger. Nothing special about him but you can't ask for much better than him on the 4th line. The 13th forward right now is Ryan Dzingel who is the odd man out to start but will likely wind up playing games and could insert himself into the lineup if he plays well. He put up a fair amount of points in Ottawa before signing here but he doesn't really offer anything except finesse offense and for that reason hasn't really fit in with the team so far.

For the defensemen:

1st Pair: Jaccob Slavin is arguably the best defensive defenseman in the entire league. Unbelievable instincts in his own end, reading the play and getting his stick on the puck to interrupt passing lanes, etc. Not the most physical D but can be when he needs to be. He was the Canes' only All-Star last year (though it probably would've been his soon to be mentioned D partner if not for injury). Has improved a lot in the offensive zone too with some nice passing and at times has hinted at a shot that can be threat to score. Dougie Hamilton is one of the best offensive defensemen in the entire league too and was absolutely dominating last year before he broke his leg mid-season (was in the conversation for the Norris trophy for best D in the league before the injury). He has an elite shot and elite offensive instincts. He has also improved tremendously in the defensive zone as before we acquired him from Calgary a few years ago that was thought to be a weakness of his. He led the team in plus/minus considerably before the injury last year and his defensive zone work became a strength. The issue with him though is that his contract is up after the season and unless we can get him extended in the next few months there is a chance he will be traded at the deadline for draft picks/prospects. I hope we keep him but it is a real concern that he prices himself out of Carolina. Overall I think it would be fair to argue that this is the best 1st pair of defensemen in the league.

2nd Pair: Brett Pesce, who others have mentioned above, is one of our most valuable players because of the contract he's on which is an absolute bargain for several more seasons. When healthy he's one of the best defensive defensemen in the league and has been slowly improving offensively. One concern though is injuries as his season last year ended with a shoulder injury that he also has injured twice years ago. If he's healthy, he's an impact player for the Canes. His partner will be Brady Skjei who the Canes acquired late last season and we've only see him play a handful of games as a Cane due to the COVID shutdown. Skjei is a big and fast relatively young D man who can chip in offensively very well at times but has some questions about his decision making and ability defensively. Pairing with Pesce (who can cover for him) should theoretically help with this and make this a great pairing, but that's yet to be seen since they haven't played together yet. There's reason to be excited about Skjei but it could also turn into an issue if the defensive issues remain and/or Pesce gets hurt again.

3rd Pair: The Canes drafted Haydn Fleury fairly high several years ago and his development has been really slow but he is starting to come into his own and could probably be a solid 2nd pair defenseman. He used to be an offensive black hole but improved in that regard tremendously last year. Not super physical but solid defensively and doesn't make a ton of mistakes, skates pretty well. He's a young guy to be excited about this season but there's a chance we could lose him in the Seattle Expansion Draft after this season. His partner is expected to be Jake Gardiner who we signed before last season to a fairly big contract and he was largely a disappointment last year. He's supposed to be a good skater and be able to chip in offensively, but we didn't see nearly enough of that last year to makeup for his lapses in the defensive zone. Speculation is that he had lingering issues from a back injury he suffered the year before and as that heals further he may be able to improve, but for now I consider him to be a weak spot. The 7th defenseman will likely be Jake Bean, who the Canes drafted in the first round a few years ago and who has been lighting up the AHL (minor league) the past several years with offense. He just needs an opportunity but he is considered one of the best young prospects in the league. We could also lose him in the Seattle Expansion Draft this year instead of Fleury, as it so happens Seattle's GM was the Canes GM when both Bean and Fleury were drafted. There's a great chance it's one of them who is taken, probably more likely to be Bean.

 

Goalies: This is by far the team's biggest concern. We have Petr Mrazek who is considered to be the 1a for now. He's an extremely aggressive goalie who has been very inconsistent and is generally believed to be below average overall. He had an outstanding stretch at the end of 2018-19 here that was a huge reason the Canes made the playoffs that season, but was somewhat disappointing in those playoffs and last year as well. James Reimer is the 1b goalie and he's an older vet who has never really carved out his role as a starting goalie. Has some solid moments but definitely should not be relied upon. Either of these goalies could step up and play better than the other and earn the majority of the minutes and goaltending is a very strange thing where players can get extremely hot at random times even if they're not consistently really good. We'll need to get lucky in that regards if we want to make a deep playoff push, in my opinion. It's definitely possible but this is what is holding this team back from being an elite top tier team this season.

 

Coaching: Former star Canes player and captain, Rod Brind'Amour, is the head coach. I generally think he's been a very solid coach in his 2 years here and does a great job getting the guys ready to play. But the main concern I have with him is our defensive system as a team. We play a very aggressive game with heavy forechecking and encouraging defensemen to jump into the play on offense, but this results in many high danger scoring opportunities against us, which is a recipe for disaster with sketchy goaltending like we have. This has killed us at times the last few seasons, especially in the playoffs. I think we've seen some improvement in this regard but it's been slow so with our goaltending expected to be average at very best this year we need to have a ton of improvement in team defense to really truly contend in my opinion. 

 

Overall Thoughts: Our D personnel is definitely the main strength of this team, as our group overall is maybe the best in the league if healthy, and extremely deep. The other main concern besides goaltending is that we struggle a lot with secondary scoring. Our forwards are very top heavy with the only true difference makers right now being Aho and Svechnikov, and Teravainen to a lesser degree (he's more complimentary). When those 3 are shutdown, we're not going to be scoring much and will struggle to win games, which is what happened in last year's bubble playoffs against Boston. The good news in this regard, however, is that we do have several players on the team who are either extremely young and have room for improvement, or have in the past shown that their potential is much higher than they played at last season. Vincent Trocheck has another level he can reach, which he already showed in Florida, Nino Neiderreiter has been disappointing but has shown flashes at least of being a solid top 6 scorer, Martin Necas is extremely young and still raw so if he develops faster than expected he could fill that void as soon as this season, Warren Foegele is similar to Necas except without nearly as much upside, and Jordan Staal has shown stretches of being able to contribute offensively in recent years. If any or all of these guys can reach that next level, this team has a real chance to compete regardless of the goaltending, but that's yet to be seen and is going to be one of the things I'm most keeping an eye on this season. Another concern is the lack of physicality. The guys on the team play hard and tough but we have no true enforcers and not a ton of size. That may not be an issue in the current NHL, but it was apparent in the playoffs against Boston the last 2 years. Expect the team to be top 3 in the division and pretty much a clinch for the playoffs and will be in the mix for winning it all, at varying degrees depending on players' development.

 

 

 

 

 

 

* see youtube video highlighting Aho and Teravainen's chemistry: 

 

 

** see hilarious youtube video of Jordan Martinook f*cking with Svechnikov (who he kinda took under his wing as a rookie) before a game: 

 

 

[Harbingers]

Not sure if @t96 covered this, I haven't read his full post yet but we are easily in the top 3 if not #1 youngest teams in the NHL top 20-wise this year now that Williams isn't dragging that number up to 5. Outside of Staal and Reimer nobody on the team was born in the 80's on this team.

[t96]

20 minutes ago, Harbingers said:

Not sure if @t96 covered this, I haven't read his full post yet but we are easily in the top 3 if not #1 youngest teams in the NHL top 20-wise this year now that Williams isn't dragging that number up to 5. Outside of Staal and Reimer nobody on the team was born in the 80's on this team.

Yep I didn't dig too deep into that but mentioned it.

https://www.eliteprospects.com/league/nhl/teams-physical-stats/2020-2021

Per this link, we're 4th youngest in the league. Only teams younger are the Rangers, Devils and Senators. Devils and Sens are among the worst 5 teams in the league, and the Rangers are nearing the end of a rebuild and would've missed the playoffs in a normal season last year (we swept them in the play-in round), and are questionable to make it this year. I'd say we are the youngest of the legit contenders by a considerable amount, and frankly we still have one of the best prospect pools in the league despite Svech and Necas graduating in the last couple years...

[CanePantherHornet]

Not calling Dougie Hamilton a star is undercutting him. He was a favorite for the Norris Trophy before he got injured last year. 

[GentlemanJack]

We just really need to become more consistent in goaltending. I think its going to be an outstanding year. Definitely an exciting time to be a Hurricane fan. Now only if streaming services can get the Regional sports channels back.

[Zod]

11 minutes ago, CanePantherHornet said:

Not calling Dougie Hamilton a star is undercutting him. He was a favorite for the Norris Trophy before he got injured last year. 

Welcome to the huddle, thanks for signing up

[MillionDollarCam]

I saw Zod’s post and decided to log back in for the first time since I can remember.

The Canes will go as far as their secondary scoring will take them. Guys like Trochek, Staal, and Niederreiter need to have rebound years and Necas needs to take the next step. Fast could be an under the radar signing as his play style really fits with what RBA is trying to do. Mrazek and Reimer are always going to be under the spotlight but this Canes team is built to win even with average goaltending as long as we get some secondary scoring.

Additionally, please no Laine. He’s a great winger but he’s due for a new contract and I’d personally rather have Svech and Dougie rather than Svech and Laine (especially at the expense of someone like Pesce and Necas/Jarvis).

Should be a fun season.