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Carolina Hurricanes: Early Observations for 2019-2020

By Zac Hynus

ANAHEIM, CA - OCTOBER 18: Carolina Hurricanes center Erik Haula (56) at center with his teammates after Haula scored a goal in the second period of a game against the Anaheim Ducks played on October 18, 2019 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA. (Photo by John Cordes/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
ANAHEIM, CA - OCTOBER 18: Carolina Hurricanes center Erik Haula (56) at center with his teammates after Haula scored a goal in the second period of a game against the Anaheim Ducks played on October 18, 2019 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA. (Photo by John Cordes/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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RALEIGH, NC – OCTOBER 6: Erik Haula #56 of the Carolina Hurricanes celebrates a goal during an NHL game against the Tampa Bay Lightning on October 6, 2019 at PNC Arena in Raleigh North Carolina. (Photo by Gregg Forwerck/NHLI via Getty Images)
RALEIGH, NC – OCTOBER 6: Erik Haula #56 of the Carolina Hurricanes celebrates a goal during an NHL game against the Tampa Bay Lightning on October 6, 2019 at PNC Arena in Raleigh North Carolina. (Photo by Gregg Forwerck/NHLI via Getty Images) /

Day and Night on the Power Play Again

The bane of the Carolina hurricanes existence has reared its ugly head once again for the 2019-2020 season. The main difference this year is more a matter of consistency than a matter of being abysmally bad.

Last season, the Carolina Hurricanes ranked 19th in the NHL on the power play, scoring with a percentage of 17.7%. To be honest, most of that came near the end of the season when the PP unit finally got hot. For most of last season, the Hurricanes struggle to even enter the zone on the power play let alone score a goal. They were almost better off declining the penalty.

A similar situation exist this year. However almost in reverse as they started off the season showing a lot of promise. With the addition of Eric Haula and fast puck movement, the power play unit showed a lot of promise scoring four PP goals in just four games. That’s a lot of free boberry biscuits folks.

Then when the team traveled west the Power Play seemed to fall apart, once again struggling to even enter the zone. On the road the power play proved to be ineffective. To make matters worse the one bright spot, Haula, then was injured during the game at Anaheim.

This Power Play unit has shown promise and glimpses of greatness, bu it’s just glimpses for now. Maybe there needs to be a personnel shake up in the units to bring this PP back to life, but the Carolina Hurricanes can not have a repeat of last year on the power play.

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