Staal celebrates after earning his second goal against the Buffalo Sabres.

Through the first two games of their season, the Carolina Hurricanes showed how much the extended offseason and lack of training camp had effected their team.

They held the bizarre (though auspicious) statistical trait of being first in the NHL in shots taken… and dead last in goals scored.

Individually, the Canes didn’t look particularly bad in the first two games. Players were finding good shots, taking them, but coming up empty.

Defense was shaky, and Cam Ward was given no help as Florida’s two teams—the Florida Panthers, and the Tampa Bay Lightning—romped the Hurricanes 5-1 and 4-1 respectively.

The offseason additions of Jordan Staal and Alexander Semin were virtually nowhere to be seen on a statistical level, and it was easy to be depressed by the start of the season.

But after two games against a very good Buffalo Sabres team, the Hurricanes are giving fans a reason to be excited again. Jordan Staal hasn’t scored as a Hurricane yet, but he’s dishing out plenty of assists… four so far this season.

Semin is a notoriously streaky player, but he has managed a couple of good games in a row with the Hurricanes against the Sabres, netting his first goal in the second of back-to-back games against Buffalo.

Adding those two weapons to the returning offensive stalwarts of Eric Staal, who had a hat trick in the first game (January 24th) against Buffalo, and Jeff Skinner, who has now scored four goals in his last three games, is proving to be effective.

The Canes even got a hugely impressive start out of back-up goalie Dan Ellis in the second game against Buffalo. The 30 year old journeyman collected 40 saves in 41 shot attempts, keeping the hard-hitting Sabres without a goal until the third period.

Don’t rush to throw out your Cam Ward jerseys… he’s not going anywhere, and is still a top-shelf goalie. His first three starts were shaky, but he’ll find his groove before long. That doesn’t mean having an extremely competent back-up goalie in Ellis won’t be useful.

Long story short, things looked scary for Canes fans in the first two games… but the additions of J. Staal, Semin, and Ellis are all proving to be fruitful.

Once they’ve played together more as a team, this will be one of the best offenses in the NHL. The January 24th and 25th games against the Buffalo Sabres were an exciting peak at how good they can be.

The big takeaway of the first week of play is that there are going to be games when the Canes get blown out, and there are going to be games where this prolific offense just doesn’t click. Carolina didn’t have the luxury of having a team built through years of chemistry, and they didn’t have a training camp to build any semblance of unity.

But those games aren’t going to define this team. Things are just fine in Raleigh, and it’s going to be an exciting season.

Courtesy Forbes.com

With the notable exception of the Minnesota Wild, I think it’s fair to say that there weren’t many teams in the NHL who were nearly as active this past offseason as the Carolina Hurricanes.

It’s taken some time… a lockout that lasted way too long for hockey fans, players, coaches, and owners has finally come to an end, and fans of the Canes finally get to see all of the hard work their front office and players have put into make this team a contender.

The two big additions? Well, you’ve probably heard by now. Jordan Staal and Alexander Semin. Two high-profile, hugely capable players that are going to greatly impact how effectively the Hurricanes score.

Staal came at a steep price… the Canes had to fork over center Brandon Sutter, the extremely young and talented defender Brian DuMoulin, and the eighth overall pick in the 2012 entry draft.

All of that seemed like a lot for a player who had one year left on his contract and had just turned down a 10-year, $60 million contract from the contending Pittsburgh Penguins. But after the trade, Staal, clearly interested in playing for the Hurricanes alongside the ever-talented brother Eric Staal, signed with the Hurricanes with that exact same deal.

Semin came in free agency. A high-risk, high-reward player, the Canes didn’t see fit to gamble on a multi-year deal, and surprisingly, the eccentric Semin signed for a one-year, $7 million dollar deal.

Along with the already present pieces in Eric Staal, Jeff Skinner, Jiri Tlusty, and Chad LaRose, the additions of Jordan Staal and Alexander Semin have made this team as dangerous as they come when it comes to putting the puck in the net.

Courtesy Sportsinvasion.net

With the lockout-shorterend season of 48 games, it is difficult to say what kind of production each of these players will get. It’s also tough to say if they’ve had enough time to mesh together to play a cohesive, team-oriented brand of hockey.

But when it comes right down to it, the moves that the front office made this offseason were pretty brilliant. You can expect the defense to be improved over last season, Cam Ward will have less to worry about when guarding his net, and even on a bad defensive night, the Canes will still be able to relentlessly push offensively on all of their lines.

Most people are picking the Canes to be a mid-to-low seed playoff team. Maybe I’m just being a fanboy, but in a division that is completely wide-open, I don’t see why the Canes can’t win the division and go in as a top-four seed. Stranger things have happened.

One storyline that will be exciting to watch as the season progresses will be the bond between the Staal brothers. These are two of the most talented players in the NHL, and after growing up playing hockey together, the chemistry they have on the ice when they’re playing together could be quite interesting.

It’s an exciting year to be a Hurricanes fan… even if it is only for a few months this time around.