Carolina Hurricanes Players with the Most to Prove Before the Season Ends

As the season winds down and things look bleak for the Carolina Hurricanes, several players have a lot to prove going into the 2016-2017 season.

After a big trade deadline which sent key pieces of Carolina’s current roster out of town, the club seems ready to push forward and look to next season.

More from Cardiac Cane – Hurricanes Close the Door on an Era

Before they get there, they have to play out the final 17 games of their season. The Hurricanes currently sit just 4 points south of the 8th place Pittsburgh Penguins, but the Pens’ three games in hand make things incredibly difficult for the Canes in regards to chasing a playoff spot.

You don’t like to count the team out, as General Manager Ron Francis said following the trade deadline, but they’ve missed out on some great opportunities over the past two weeks to get in a playoff position.

All signs point to the Carolina Hurricanes missing out on a playoff run this season, but that doesn’t mean that some players have nothing to play for down the stretch.

A hand full of players, in particular, have a lot to prove not only to themselves, but also to the coaching staff and the higher ups in the organization.

Let’s take a look at these players and what they need to do down the stretch in order to assure themselves a bright future going into the 2016-2017 season and beyond.

Derek Ryan

The NHL journeyman has finally made it to the show, and it didn’t take long for Derek Ryan to make a big impact.

As big as that moment was for him, he has a whole lot more to prove between now and the conclusion of his rookie season as a professional hockey player.

Ryan, 29, has made a big impact on the Charlotte Checkers in his rookie year in North America, and he has done it by being a great scorer. He even earned his way on to the AHL All-Star Classic roster.

The Checkers’ captain is now an NHLer, and if he wants to stick around, he will need to make sure his scoring ways continue.

Derek Ryan is a former Swedish Hockey League MVP, so he’s no push over as a player. That being said, he’s a small player, so he fits in a lot better as a top-nine scorer opposed to a bottom-line grinder. He just isn’t built for that role.

Hopefully Derek Ryan’s cup of coffee in the NHL turns into something much more significant. He’s worked hard for the last decade through adversity to get where he is now. If he can become a significant contributor on the score sheet down the stretch this season, he could be a guy we see a lot of next season as well. This is a guy who is playing for a pay check.

Elias Lindholm

Elias Lindholm is in a much different situation than Derek Ryan. The young Swede has established himself as a real NHL mainstay, despite a letdown season to date.

Where things get interesting is where Lindholm fits in the lineup going into next year and for many more years after that. Is he a center or is he a winger? Thus far, he has played a majority of his hockey on the wing, but according to Canes head coach Bill Peters, that could change.

With the departure of Eric Staal, who played a mix of center and the wing throughout his 2015-2016 campaign with the Hurricanes, the natural instinct is to put Elias Lindholm, a natural center, in the middle.

This will be a big indicator for this team moving forward. If Lindholm plays well down the middle, Carolina will then have Staal, Rask, McClement, and Lindholm as their centers. That mix of players at center would be dangerous for the Hurricanes going forward, if it works out.

If he can’t play center, that moves him back to the right wing, and it makes drafting a top-flight center a bigger priority going into the draft.

The Hurricanes will hope that Lindholm can play at a high level in the middle of the ice. This is a player that still shows serious upside as a good offensive player, and his advances as a two-way player makes him an even better all around forward. If the organization has their top-line center of the future in Lindy, that makes the draft much less stressful. The 2014 5th overall draft pick is still just 21-years-old.

Jordan Staal

One Staal is out, but one Staal remains. Jordan Staal is approaching what might be the biggest 17-game stretch of his entire NHL career.

Carolina Hurricanes

Staal has shined since December, putting up 25 points in a 24 game span from December 31 through February 23. He turned into the club’s leading point producer in the process. On top of that, he remained the team’s best defensive forward and a big time physical presence on the best forward line on the team, one which featured wingers Joakim Nordstrom and Andrej Nestrasil.

Since then, his brother has been traded and Nestrasil has been ruled out for the remainder of the season with a broken vertebrae. Now what?

Staal needs to prove to himself and the organization that he has the mental fortitude to move past a heavily trying period in his career. He needs to continue to be the driving force and the leader of this club.

The next 17 games will serve as an audition for Staal. It’s his team, can he be the new true leader? It’ll be a big gut check for a player who has won a Stanley Cup and now is scheduled to be a long-term player for this team.

Jordan Staal leads the Hurricanes in assists (23), points (39), plus/minus (+7), shorthanded points (2), shooting percentage (14.2%), and faceoff percentage (58.3%).

Eddie Lack

With Cam Ward‘s future fairly uncertain, Eddie Lack will likely get a majority of the starts as the Hurricanes wrap up their 2015-2016 campaign.

Lack, 28, is on the brink of his two-year contract extension kicking in with the Hurricanes, and he has a lot to prove over that time.

A backup to Ryan Miller for two years in Vancouver and now a backup to Cam Ward this year in Carolina, Lack has yet to prove he can carry a team for a full 82 game season.

Obviously, he won’t be able to prove that this year either, but he has the final stretch of the season to prove that he can play at an elite level for an extended period of time.

Since December 11, Eddie Lack has allowed 4+ goals just five times in 18 appearances. He’s posted a record of 11-4-3 in that span and has been a victim to much more high danger scoring chances than Cam Ward, meaning that he has had to make much harder saves from much closer in than Ward has.

Lack is also coming off of a big performance in Carolina’s 3-1 win over the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday, stopping 29 of 30 shots.

If the Swedish backstop finishes the year strong, he may be able to steal the starting job going into next season. He also may be able to find his way onto Sweden’s roster for the World Cup of Hockey in September.

Ryan Murphy

Once Carolina’s top prospect, Ryan Murphy has had a fall from grace. He’s now looking up at the likes of young blue liners Noah Hanifin, Jaccob Slavin, and Brett Pesce on the depth chart. That’s what makes his most recent call-up and the next 17 games crucially important for him.

Murphy may be getting his last shot with the Canes. His entry-level deal expires this upcoming July, and he is one of many young defensemen trying to stake their claim at NHL success in the Hurricanes organization.

He was an AHL All-Star just a season ago, and many hoped that this season would be the first time that he’s skate a full NHL season, but that didn’t happen. To date, he has played in just 19 NHL contests this season and 108 over the span of four seasons.

At some point, the logical decision for general manager Ron Francis is to deal away one of his young defensemen. With Justin Faulk, Hanifin, Slavin, and Pesce all making impacts at the NHL level and the likes of Trevor Carrick, Haydn Fleury, Roland McKeown, and the aforementioned Murphy coming through the ranks, projecting to be NHL talent soon, at least one of them will have to be moved.

Over the next 17 games,  Ryan Murphy will need to prove that he is a guy that the organization should keep. So far, the young offensive minded defenseman has yet to do that. He will need to produce points, be smart with the puck, and be an effective powerplay quarterback, especially with Faulk out of the lineup at listed “week-to-week”.

It’s make or break for Murphy’s stint with the Canes. Hopefully he can bring that superb offensive skill to the NHL and make a big difference.

Next: How Eric Staal Changed Everything

There are 17 games separating the Carolina Hurricanes from April 9, the final game of their 2015-2016 season.