Carolina Hurricanes: Top 3 Season Expectations after the All-Star Game

The All Star Game has come and gone, so what are the top expectations of the Carolina Hurricanes in the proverbial second half of the season?

The Carolina Hurricanes are in a five team dogfight for four different playoff spots that range from second in the Metro division all the way down to the second Wild Card.

While the Washington Capitals seem to have a lock on the division with a whopping 73 points, there is only a seven point difference between the Pittsburgh Penguins at second place all the way down to the Philadelphia Flyers who are sitting a single point down from the Carolina Hurricanes who are occupying the final Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference.

That means that the second half of the season is critical for the Carolina Hurricanes and their chances to make the playoffs. It also means that there is a chance to climb up the ranks as well as a chance to fall out and be the one team that could have made it but didn’t. So what can we expect of these Canes in this half of the season?

First of all, this team is made tough. There have only been three players who have had to sit out games for injuries; Trevor Van Riemsdyk, Erik Haula, and more recently, Dougie Hamilton. While the loss of Hamilton stings, there is more than enough talent on this roster to carry this team towards an excellent second half of the season.

Second of all this team has a great number of opportunities to clear itself a way to the playoffs. But what can the fans expect of their team as they take on the final 15 home and 17 away games?

Resurgence against Metro Opponents

The Metro Division has not been kind the Carolina Hurricanes so far. In 16 games played they have only skated away with a underwhelming seven points spread across five games and a single OT loss. There are still 12 games left to play against this division against every team in it outside of the Washington Capitals. So what can we expect in the remaining games?

The Columbus Blue Jackets and the New York Rangers each will face the Hurricanes a single time as they try to complete the season sweep of Carolina. However both teams will attempt to do so at PNC arena, which has slowly become a fortress for this Canes team. The expectation here is that neither of these teams, who are both worse than Carolina on paper, complete the sweep.

The only other Metro team with a single game remaining against the Hurricanes are the Philadelphia Flyers and their child abusing mascot, Gritty. Unlike the Rangers and Jackets, the final game between them and the Hurricanes will be played away from Carolina. This will probably be a tough game. The only win for the Canes between these two teams happened in OT.

The New York Islanders on the other hand have been dominated by the Carolina Hurricanes. After years of being owned by Thomas Greiss, the Hurricanes have seemingly flipped the script. In fact the last time the Islanders have beaten the Hurricanes it was November 24th, 2018. Unfortunately for the canes that game was played in Barclays center where the next two games will be played.

The New Jersey Devils are the only team with three games left against the Hurricanes, and luckily for Carolina all but one of them will be played after the trade deadline where the Devils are expected to continue their rebuilding process by trading away a few more assets. Expect Carolina to rake in some easy points there.

The Penguins are the only real wildcard here. They started the season slow but eventually built up steam and have seemed unstoppable as of late pushing their way up to second place and giving themselves a four point buffer. Carolina has yet to play them so far this season which opens up a pandora’s box of concerns. Can the Carolina Hurricanes use these four games to eliminate the 7 point lead they have on them?

Larger Role for Justin Williams

Oh Captain, my former Captain. Justin Williams is a goal per game player in 2020. Let that settle in. He could have also secured himself a hat trick had Rod Brind’amour actually iced him for more than seven seconds when the Jets left their net empty. This man has helped the Hurricanes secure points in the first two games played. The biggest expectation is that his role will grow.

After being a healthy scratch a few games after signing with the team once again, Williams came into the matchup against the Islanders on the fourth line replacing Jordan Martinook. He continued to play on that line against the Jets replacing Erik Haula. He played in the top six last season.

While I cannot see him making it back into the top six soon, his play, if he keeps it up, is worthy of moving him into the third line to get the extra minutes. Perhaps from there he can continue to show his value and play on the proverbial second line with Jordan Staal and Nino Niederreiter.

Simply his presence on the ice has already enhanced the performance of guys like Jaccob Slavin and even Teuvo Teravainen, who had a three point night against the Jets. There is no reason to not continue to give Justin Williams a bigger role on the team and more ice time as long as he continues to show that he can handle it even with his age.

I fully expect the Carolina Hurricanes to continue to lean on Justin Williams for his expertise, leadership, and his ability to play in clutch moments.