Carolina Hurricanes: What Should the First Line be?

The Carolina Hurricanes have a lot of offensive talent to put on the opening day roster. But which three forwards should man the Hurricanes first line?

There is one obvious choice for the Carolina Hurricanes when it comes to their first line. Sebastian Aho is the center. But who should play on the wing? The answer is Teuvo Teravainen at right-wing and Andrei Svechnikov at left-wing.

The Finnish connection of Aho and Teravainen should not be separated and with both of their playmaking abilities being able to supplement the heavy shot from Svechnikov. This would have the potential to be one of the better top lines in the NHL. Let’s see how each player performed last season and their potential for this upcoming season.

Aho is a staple of the first line for the Hurricanes. He shouldn’t be placed on any other line. He is the Carolina Hurricanes’ most talented player and he can do it all. He can beat you with speed, he can set people up with quality passes, he can be beat you with his underrated shot. He had 30 goals and 53 assists last season and that was with the lineup not being that solidified. There was always movement with lines and sometimes that threw the chemistry off. There wasn’t much continuity at the beginning of the season because the Hurricanes were struggling to score goals.

Aho playing a full season on a line with Teravainen and Svechnikov could push 90-95 points. The reason being is Teravainen is one of the league’s most underrated playmakers and is capable of pushing 60 assists this year, as in each of his seasons in the NHL his assist total consistently increased. Teravainen is also very capable of putting up 20-25 goals and with teammates like Aho distributing the puck to him will only help that.

It’s also worth mentioning when Aho and Teravainen are together they get dangerous. The chemistry they have with each other is nothing like Carolina Hurricanes fans have seen in a long time. They just make hockey look so easy when they are with each other and they will be the center of the Hurricanes core for years to come.

Adding Svechnikov to the mix makes these two even more dangerous and to think that is possible is astonishing. Svechnikov’s heavy release and physicality adds a different dimension to the line. In a previous article I wrote, I mentioned that Svechnikov can score anywhere from 30-40 goals. Svechnikov would easily get there playing with these two. As mentioned before, Teravainen is an elite playmaker with a pass first mindset. With Teravainen’s elite passing and Svechnikov’s shot, there is nothing but good that can come from having them on a line.

Now about Svechnikov’s physical game. Unlike Aho and Teravainen, Svechnikov has the ability to go through people to get the puck into the net. He has the size and now a year of NHL experience to know how to use his body to get open or in a better position to score. In coach Rod Brind’Amour’s style of a forechecking game, Svechnikov can move people away from the puck where Aho can be a pest and use his skill to out-maneuver opponents in their defensive end.

This line just compliments each other well and they can all use each others strengths to their advantage. This has the potential to be one of the better first lines in hockey if it were to happen. And there is no reason it shouldn’t. The first line should be the best three players on your team as long as positions line up. And in this case it does.

This group will provide the most offensive firepower for the Carolina Hurricanes. They all have the ability to be game changers and you have seen that very often last season. The Hurricanes are in the best spot offensively in a while, so they should take advantage of it.

Question for CC Readers: Do you think there could be a better first line combination than Svechnikov-Aho-Teravainen?