Carolina Hurricanes: Lack of Depth Scoring a Huge Cause for Concern

Constantly leaving valuable points on the table, it’s about time the Carolina Hurricanes address one of their biggest needs, depth scoring.

Currently on the wrong side of the playoff bubble, the Carolina Hurricanes need to start stringing together a couple of long win streaks if they want to still be playing hockey this spring. Although they’ve gone a respectable  9-5-2 in their past 16 games, they’ve certainly left valuable points on the table.

Within their seven losses, four of them were decided by one goal and one was decided by two. It is safe to say that if the Hurricanes had some scoring up and down their forward lineup, those games could have all gone the Canes way, in turn leaving them with a much better record of 14-2-0 and conformably in a playoff position.

After yesterday’s overtime loss to the Oilers it couldn’t be anymore clear, the Hurricanes need some kind of shake up up front. Aside from the top line of Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov and Teuvo Teravainen offense has been extremely hard to come by.

Looking at this sixteen game stretch, the “SAT” line has combined for 47 points, 19 goals and 28 assists. Although they were only put together a handful of games ago, this trio has developed instant chemistry. Dominating shift after shift, they’ve single handedly kept Carolina in games and, a times, were the only reason they’ve walked away with the two points.

Being the team’s three best offensive players, it comes as no surprise these are the guys leading the Hurricanes in points. With all three player well on their way to setting career numbers in a few statistical categories, they’re the main reason the Canes even have a shot at the playoffs this season to be honest.

To put just into perspective just how much this trio has been carrying this team of late, the ten other forwards currently on the roster have only combined for 45 points, 20 goals and 25 assists, over the same sixteen game stretch. Among these players, rookie Martin Necas is one of the few bright spots.

With eight points in his last sixteen, six goals and two assists, he is producing at a .5 points per game pace, decent production for the first year forward. His six goals come on just 20 shots, good for a 30% shooting percentage. While the number likely isn’t sustainable, it’s nice to see he’s converting on most of his chances. The only knock on the player here is that he could shoot a bit more.

Averaging a little over one shot per game, he is tied with Lucas Wallmark for the least amount of shots on goal among forwards. What should be concerning to head coach Rod Brind’amour and general manager Don Waddell, is the fact that if you exclude Necas, the remaining nine forwards have combined for just 14 goals of the last 16.

That’s right, the Hurricanes second, third and fourth line have a combined 14 goals in the last 16 games. This is truly unacceptable to say the least. Over an 82 game season players are going to have their ups and downs and go through scoring slumps, but to have 3/4 of your forward group cold at the same time is a recipe for disaster.

After a torrid start to the season, newcomers Ryan Dzingel and Erik Haula have really cooled off of late. With a combined one goal, to say there’s a lot of room for improvement is a massive understatement. As two key pieces up front, the Canes are going to need these two guys to return to form down the stretch if they want to make it to the post season.

A bit unlucky, Nino Niederreiter is on pace for one of his worst statistical seasons ever. While he seems to be more snake bitten more than anything, he’s another guy that’s going to need to step up. We saw his potential to impact a game this past season, with 30 points in 36 games.

Arguably the must frustrating player for fans right now is Jordan Staal. In his first season as lone captain, he has just 20 points on the entire year. Currently over slotted as the Hurricanes’ second line center, he is perplexingly being used in all situations.

Given the amount of power play time he see nightly alone, his production should be much higher. While points don’t illustrate intangibles, at some point he’s going to have to step up and earn his contract and ice time, because right now he isn’t cutting it.

Aside from shootouts, Justin Williams hasn’t had that big of an impact on the ice that some were hoping for. Putting up his best offensive season since 2011-12 last year, his return was expected to propel the Canes in the back half of the season. Through ten games, his presence honestly has hardly been noticed.

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In addition to the aforementioned players, Wallmark and Brock McGinn have been almost invisible since the new year. When you see the lack of depth scoring on this Carolina roster it’s scary to think where this team would be right now if it wasn’t for the “SAT” line and Aho’s nine game point streak in particular.

The margin for error so small and points continuously slipping away, it may be time for Waddell to bring some offensive reinforcements, either through a trade or a call up. Guys like Julien Gauthier and Morgan Geekie on fire lately with the Charlotte Checkers and deserve at shot. While their offense might not translate to the NHL level right away, they can’t do any worse than what we currently got.

At the end of the day, the longer they sit by and do nothing, the harder it will be to make a late season push. The “SAT” line can only carry them so far. When you look at divisional opponents like Pittsburgh and Columbus, they’re getting help throughout their forward lines. In the event one of their star miss time with injury, the next guy steps up, causing them to not miss a beat.

With all this in mind, Carolina really needs someone, anyone, to step up on lines 2-4 and help with their playoff push. On paper the forward core looks decent but it just isn’t producing anywhere need their potential.  To have just one line account for over 50% of you offense isn’t going pave the way for team success.