Will the Carolina Hurricanes Push for a Playoff Spot in 2015-2016?
By Brett Finger
The Carolina Hurricanes have not appeared in the Stanley Cup playoffs since 2009. After many years featuring several attempts at a rebuild, are the Hurricanes finally good enough to make a playoff push?
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What the Hurricanes have done this offseason is pretty notable. They added a veteran offensive defenseman to the top-four in James Wisniewski, they upgraded their goalie duo with the trade for Eddie Lack, and they threw top defensive prospect Noah Hanifin into the fray on the blueline.
These new additions going with roster cornerstones like Jeff Skinner, Eric Staal, Jordan Staal, Justin Faulk, Elias Lindholm, and others has the Canes looking much better than they did last season, but many things have to go right for the Hurricanes in order for this team to compete for a playoff spot.
Health
One of the biggest keys to the season will be health. The Carolina Hurricanes have to avoid the injury bug, something that has hurt them badly over the past few seasons.
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The club lost Jordan Staal in the preseason of 2014, and the team club got off to a devastating 0-6-2 start in October, which ultimately set the tone for the remainder of the season.
Would the Hurricanes have been a contender with a healthy Jordan Staal all year? Probably not, but having an established top-six center, second-line powerplay center, and top-line penalty killer out of the lineup for the first half of the season certainly hurt.
The Columbus Blue Jackets led the NHL in total man games lost last season, and they were likely good enough to be a playoff team with all their players, but instead they finished 11th in the Eastern Conference and 9 points out of the 8th place spot in the East.
Columbus had 508 man games lost last season. To put that in context, the Carolina Hurricanes had 173 man games lost, which ranked 21st in the league, and they had Jordan Staal on IR until late December.
One serious injury could kill a team like the Hurricanes that has very little depth in some areas, particularly at forward.
The Carolina Hurricanes will have to stay healthy in order to make a playoff push.
Goaltending
The goalie situation is very similar to past years, but the Canes went out and upgraded from Anton Khudobin with the addition of Eddie Lack, formerly of the Vancouver Canucks.
There is set to be an interesting goalie battle in camp between the new comer Lack and the veteran Cam Ward.
Lack is coming off two consecutive 41-game seasons in Vancouver, and he showed signs of being a very good starting goalie at times, but at other times he was inconsistent and lackluster. Maybe the change of scenery will be good for Eddie Lack, and if it is, the Carolina Hurricanes could be carried to playoff contention.
Ideally, Eddie Lack would be the one that breaks out and turns into the distinguished number one, which would make Cam Ward a trade chip as a pending unrestricted free agent if he is not signed to a new deal.
Lack, 27, could also bridge the gap between the Cam Ward-era and the potential Alex Nedeljkovic-era, if the 2014 2nd round draft pick turns into the starting goalie that most people expect. A potential due of Eddie Lack and Alex Nedeljkovic in 4 years could be a very good thing, but that is way in the future and assuming everything works out with both goalies.
Scoring
Last season, the biggest issue with the club was the team’s lack of offensive consistency with guys like Jeff Skinner, Eric Staal, and Alexander Semin underperforming. Now, there’s even less potential firepower with the loss of Semin, which means production from top players will be crucial.
Outside of Eric Staal, Jordan Staal, Jeff Skinner, Elias Lindholm, and maybe a surprise or two, there likely will not be a lot of offensive depth in the current group of forwards.
The youth movement could make a massive impact on the scoring with guys like Jeff Skinner, Elias Lindholm, Victor Rask, and Andrej Nestrasil all set to be in top-nine rolls, if not top-six. There are also young guys coming up from Charlotte and the juniors that could compete for spots and contribute. Sergey Tolchinsky and Brock McGinn will be amongst the players in that category.
Again, injuries could hurt the production from the team’s offense, but they can’t post another 2.23 goals per game like they did last season. That ranked 27th in the league in that category a year ago.
Development of Justin Faulk
The Carolina Hurricanes obviously found a diamond in the rough in 2010 with 2nd round draft pick Justin Faulk.
Faulk had a big year last year and proved everyone that he is a legitimate top-two defenseman, but will he continue to improve into a top-10 defenseman in the NHL?
Around the league, I feel as if Justin Faulk is still pretty underrated. He suffers, as does Oliver Ekman-Larsson in Arizona, from being on a small market team, but he could breakout into an elite defenseman role this season, and the Hurricanes will likely need that to happen if they will be a playoff contender.
It will be a big challenge for the young Minnesota-native as he enters his first full year without Andrej Sekera by his side on the blueline since the 2013 season. There will likely be a lot of different players playing alongside Faulk this year, like Ron Hainsey, James Wisniewski, and Noah Hanifin.
Verdict
The Carolina Hurricanes will bring in a whole lot of young players this season, and they will be playing in key roles.
For the team to make the playoffs, the youth on the club will have to perform incredibly well, along with Eric Staal, Jeff Skinner, and Jordan Staal having bounce back seasons.
If injuries aren’t an issue, the offensive hits its potential, and Eddie Lack and Justin Faulk come out and have big seasons, then the Hurricanes can get into the playoffs, but that is assuming quite a lot.
It looks more likely that the Hurricanes are still a year or two away from playoff contention as they await young players to improve and create more depth for the team.
I think the Hurricanes will be a much better team than last year. This club is significantly better than last year’s on paper, so hopefully the team gives the fans something to be proud of.