Carolina Hurricanes: 5 players who need to step up in Aho’s absence

Elias Lindholm could find himself in a much bigger role now. His 25 points are sixth on the team and he has floated between all three forward positions, filling in wherever Peters needs him to. He’s been playing alongside Victor Rask and Brock McGinn on the second line.

Most of Lindholm’s value does come from his playmaking ability, something that is much needed in Aho’s absence, that could help out Staal and Teravainen a lot. We’ll see if Peters has the trust in him to be able to plug that hole on the first line now.

There’s a lot of potential in players like Lindholm and Rask. It seems like a lot of that potential is still untapped since the production comes in waves. Lindholm has two points in the last five games, a trend that hopefully picks up soon.

This could be the second consecutive season that Lindholm sets a career mark in points. Putting the puck in the net is not the strongest aspect of Lindholm’s skill set, but he’s doing well in that department right now, as he has 12 goals. That’s good for fourth on the team.