Carolina Hurricanes: 5 reasons Zykov-Aho-Teravainen line can be league’s best
The most productive line for the Carolina Hurricanes got an added spark when Russian winger Valentin Zykov joined the party.
Two of the best young players in the entire organization for the Carolina Hurricanes right now are the Finnish wing duo of Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen. Both Aho and Teravainen are also the leading scorers for the Canes this season. Add upstart rookie forward Valentin Zykov to the mix, and the Canes have a very scary top line come the start of the 2018-19 regular season.
Adding a few points to his stat line for the season in the past two contests, Aho now leads the team in points overall, with 62. Teravainen is only one point behind Aho in that regard, with 61. Aho also leads the team in goals this season with 26. Teravainen is tied with Carolina assistant captain Jeff Skinner for second on the team in goals, with 23.
Considering Aho and Teravainen are both having career seasons, and only look to improve from here, they’re a threat to spearhead a premier top forward line in the league next season. The line centered by co-captain Jordan Staal, with Aho and Teravainen, already formed a great top line for the Canes for most of the 2017-18 campaign.
The one player the fans have not seen much of yet is Zykov. He’s spent most of the year with the Charlotte Checkers, as a leading scorer in the AHL. He should have gotten the call earlier in the season, but that’s in the rear view mirror now.
Here’s a look at five reasons why the Carolina Hurricanes forward line of Valentin Zykov, Sebastian Aho, and Teuvo Teravainen, could potentially develop into the NHL’s best trio.
5. Potential each player has yet to fulfill
Saying that this is how Aho and Teravainen will top out during their careers offensively would be coming from a naive viewpoint. They blew their stat lines from the previous season out of the water, and look to only go up from here.
Moreover, thinking about the ceiling for Zykov in terms of scoring potential is an even more intriguing picture. Zykov has a nose for putting the puck in the net that is just unmatched by pretty much the rest of any forward on Carolina’s roster.
Each of these three players have their own unique skill set to further develop, and could see tremendous growth come next season. All three also have the ability to command the puck in the offensive zone, and facilitate their own scoring chances if need be.
Teravainen is the oldest of the three players on this line. He first made his NHL debut with the Chicago Blackhawks a few years back. At 23-years-old, he’s still got a ways to go before he enters his prime years as a scorer in this league.
4. Progress shown from Aho and Teravainen this season
To elaborate on the overall potential of Aho and Teravainen, there’s a lot still left to be desired. Aho was the fifth leading scorer, among rookies, last season. And, he continued to get even better this season which shows his initiative to improve in his needed role with the Canes.
Teravainen is on pace to go well beyond 20 points more than his overall point total from the 2016-17 campaign. He posted 42 points total last season, which was still on the better end of scorers for the Canes. Down the stretch, he’ll pretty much have a 50/50 shot at finishing out as the scoring leader.
Meanwhile, Aho is the overall leading scorer for the Canes at this moment. The way that Aho and Teravainen are playing of late, it’s hard to tell who’ll round things out on top. However, since both players are among the leading goal scorers for Carolina, they tend to play into each other’s point totals on a nightly basis.
In his rookie season, Aho posted a point total of 49, including 24 goals. This season, he’s already eclipsed both his goal total, and overall point total from his rookie year. He does have the potential to become an 80-90 point scorer when he reaches his true ceiling.
3. Finishing ability of Zykov right in front of the net
We’ve talked a lot about Teravainen and Aho here, and during the course of the entire season. Not enough focus fell on what Zykov was doing in the AHL, or what he could do when he got his chance with the Canes. Here’s to also hoping he stays with them at the beginning of next season.
Much of the discussion surrounding Zykov right now falls under the category of speculation, not proven credibility. He’s succeeded at the AHL level, but things ramp up once you get the call to play in the big time spotlight.
However, the Canes passed on giving Zykov the chance to make an impact when they were still in the thick of playoff contention. Instead, Peters largely relied on the same lineup night in and night out, even if it was not working over longer periods of time.
Now, we get to see what Zykov can really do when he’s paired with a truly talented group of players. The 22-year-old Russian native already has four points this season, and continues to show why fans were so excited to see him debut this year in the first place.
2. Filling first line center need in a different way
A commonly discussed need for the Canes for the entire season is for the first line center spot. However, the Canes used either Staal, Victor Rask, or Elias Lindholm to fill that slot for most of the season. Staal, Aho, and Teravainen were the most common top forward line under Peters.
While the grouping known as the “TSA line” kept a strong offensive presence for most of the season, there was something missing especially when Staal was under producing. In total, Staal has posted 42 points this season, with has last goal coming by way of an empty net.
Carolina reached into its current talent pool to fill the first line center need, and it’s working out good so far. Aho is not accustomed to playing center, but he’s manning the position pretty well at this moment. That versatility is very valuable to any hockey team.
It’s still worth addressing the need to improve up the middle for the Canes this off-season, but that’s a different focus than this line. Aho, Teravainen, and Zykov play extremely well together, even if there’s not a true center between them.
1. Natural chemistry in the past few games
Aho just extended his current point streak to eight games, by racking up an assist in the March 24 road victory in Ottawa. Overall, Aho has seven points in the last five games. He’s playing his best hockey of the season at the end of the regular season slate.
If the Canes were in the playoff picture, the current contributions from Aho would be very welcome. However, at this point he’s just building up momentum for a strong start to next season. That’s still an important step for a team in a position like the Canes are in now.
Teravainen is enjoying similar success to Aho of late. Since Zykov got called up from Charlotte, Teravainen’s on-ice product also saw a spark. He has five points in his past five games. The recent goal production from Teravainen is the biggest jump in his game in the past month.
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Lastly, Zykov is averaging 1.0 points per game in a very brief body of work in the NHL. Zykov had the best performance of his very short NHL career in the March 22 win over the Yotes, with two goals. He’s showing no signs of slowing down to cap off the regular season, and continue that into the start of the 2018-19 campaign.