Carolina Hurricanes: Haydn Fleury as the Sixth Defenseman?

The Carolina Hurricanes have stacked their defensive group even more with the signing of Jake Gardiner. With that being said, why should Haydn Fleury fill the last spot on the third defensive pair?

Haydn Fleury deserves one last shot to prove himself on the NHL level. Although he hasn’t been much of what the Carolina Hurricanes expected, he has shown some flashes of his talent defensively in the NHL. The problem with Fleury is that he is well below average offensively.

What hinders his ability to firmly establish himself is the fact that he is very inconsistent. One game, Fleury looks poised and plays to his strengths. He skates well and seems to get into the right position seemingly every shift. But there are nights where Fleury looks way out of sync. He seems lost and is out of position and seems much slower on the ice than he is capable of.

But knowing this, why should the Carolina Hurricanes give him another shot? The answer is because he still has the potential to play at the level he was pegged at in the pre-draft process. That is why the Hurricanes signed him this offseason to a one-year, one-way deal.

You haven’t seen the puck moving ability or the offensive prowess that he possessed as a member of the Red Deer Rebels in the WHL. In 2013-14, Fleury scored eight goals and had 38 assists in his best offensive season in the junior level. In Charlotte, his best season was a seven goal and 19 assist season in 2016-17. Fleury didn’t just lose the ability to be effective with the puck; he just has to find his touch again.

There are a lot of “ifs” in the case of Haydn Fleury, but you want to see if the “ifs” turn into truths. You want to see if Fleury can become the elite puck handler he was in the WHL on the NHL level. You want to see if he can become more consistent on the defensive end. But you can’t see if that will ever happen if he doesn’t get the opportunity.

He should start game one for the Carolina Hurricanes and if you get the same result, then it will be way easier to move on. With defenseman like Jake Bean, Roland McKeown, and Gustav Forsling fighting for the same spot, Fleury needs to elevate his game in order to stay in the NHL.

This also gives the Carolina Hurricanes flexibility, just in case Fleury doesn’t pan out to start the season. Fleury would have to pass waivers if sent down, but if he plays well enough, he will stick around.

If Fleury regains his confidence on offense, then the rest of his game might fall into place. He hasn’t scored a goal in 87 career games in the NHL, and has only managed nine assists. And for a player that was sent to the juniors to shore up his defensive game, these numbers are way less than ideal. Improvement on offense can definitely give Fleury the boost he needs to stay on the roster and move his NHL career forward.

The Carolina Hurricanes are in a spot in which most teams aren’t: they have a stacked blue line and they can see how any given player performs and, if it is less than ideal, there are very capable replacements in the distance. So that is why Haydn Fleury should be the sixth defenseman for Carolina, because the good can outweigh the bad; in this case, it just might be time for Fleury to break through.

Question for CC Readers: Do you feel that Haydn Fleury should be in the Hurricanes starting lineup to open the season?