Can New Additions Help the Carolina Hurricanes’ Ailing Power Play?

An ineffective power play has been a huge stumbling block for the Carolina Hurricanes.  Can the two biggest offseason forward additions help right the ship?

As the Carolina Hurricanes clawed their way to a postseason berth for the first time in a decade, their underwhelming power play acted as a foil threatening to dash the hopes of the team and its fans.  While the man advantage didn’t prevent a playoff appearance, an ever-evolving Metropolitan Division means that lackluster special teams can be fatal in 2019-20.

In an effort to add offensive depth to a team that finished 2018-19 in 16th place for goals scored, General Manager Don Waddell swung a trade with the Vegas Golden Knights that saw Erik Haula move to Carolina in exchange for Nicolas Roy and a 2021 5th round pick.

Haula, 28, lost most of last season to injury but is optimistic that he’ll be ready to go for the Hurricanes this season.  “I’m going to have to take advantage of training camp so I’m good to go at the start of the year,”  Haula said in an August 8th interview with NHL.com.

The Carolina Hurricanes and their fans hope that rings true.

The versatile forward has averaged .42 points per game over his 6-year career and, depending on how his recovery goes, could see an increase from his career 13:39 average time on ice.  In 2017-18, Haula put up 12 goals and 7 assists on the power play while averaging 2:23 minutes per game on the man advantage.  That production accounted for 35 percent of Haula’s total offense.

Haula has also shown a consistent willingness to drive the net:

With possible power play linemates like Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov, Teuvo Teravainen, and Haula’s former Minnesota teammate Nino Niederreiter, it’s not out of the question that the newcomer nets double-digit power-play goals.  Of course, that all depends on whether he’s 100 percent physically and how he’s utilized throughout the season.

Ryan Dzingel, the other notable forward addition for the Hurricanes, offers more offensive depth, though his power-play contributions haven’t been as solid as Haula’s.  Dzingel, 27, has scored just 16 percent of his points on the man advantage over his 4-year career.  The flipside of that is that, with the Hurricanes, Dzingel will have the opportunity to play with considerable talent that he rarely had during his time in Ottawa.

While his speed is a nice bonus, Dzingel possesses a goal-scoring touch around the net that lends itself to the power play.  With linemates who can put shots on goal, the winger could plant himself in front of the net and put his skills to use cleaning up rebounds.

And, not only does Dzingel have a lethal shot, he has shown himself to be adept at redirections, another crucial component of power-play success:

While both Haula and Dzingel should thrive in Rod Brind’Amour‘s system,  I don’t expect either player to put the power-play over the top.  That said, both are fully capable of contributing to an improved performance that could, along with goaltending, determine whether the Carolina Hurricanes return to the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2020.

How well do you think Haula and Dzingel will mesh with the Carolina Hurricanes?  Will they be able to help guide the team back to the postseason in 2020?