The Carolina Hurricanes started the season in excellent form. A frustrating string of events have them going into the final months scrounging for points.
The Carolina Hurricanes were primed for success this season after exceeding expectations the season prior. The Hurricanes season has been met with frustration. Why exactly has this season been so frustrating?
The most frustrating part of the Carolina Hurricanes season has hit them the hardest in the recent stretch of games. That is injuries. The Hurricanes are fighting for a playoff spot without two of their best defenseman, Dougie Hamilton and Brett Pesce, and their two goaltenders, Petr Mrazek and James Reimer.
That leaves the Hurricanes in a tough spot, especially since trade deadline acquisition Sami Vatanen is out with an injury.
Not to throw cold water on what was an unbelievable night, but Rod Brind'Amour on the trio of injuries the #Canes suffered: "Pesce is out for a long time. That’s devastating for us. Reims is going to be out for a while. Petr, I don’t know how long."
— Michael Smith (@MichaelSmithNC) February 23, 2020
The Hurricanes are still very much alive in the playoff race, but these injuries cut into that. Hamilton and Pesce were easily the team’s best defenseman this season. They were both key penalty killers and Hamilton helped create offense, especially on the first power play unit which has taken a huge hit since his injury.
And since these two have been injured the Hurricanes play on defense has taken a turn for the worse. Especially recently, you have seen multiple defensive breakdowns, which have led to odd man rushes for the opposition mostly resulting in goals.
This is the exact reason the Hurricanes see themselves falling behind early in games. The defense hasn’t been good enough lately and Alex Nedeljkovic and Anton Forsberg have been serviceable in net. They just haven’t been able to get the help from the defense they needed.
That’s why the goaltending situation is frustrating. Mrazek and Reimer are very capable of taking over games in which there isn’t much help defensively. Forsberg and Nedeljkovic have yet to prove that, in my opinion despite a very solid relief appearance in Saturday’s loss to the Montreal Canadiens. The Hurricanes desperately need one of their goaltenders back in order to have a shot at the playoffs.
All of this is happening while the Metropolitan division is in a bit of a tailspin. Teams in the Metro haven’t been winning lately and the Hurricanes most certainly haven’t been able to take advantage of that. While injuries are a factor, the team needs players other than Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov to step up.
The team needs consistent scoring from their depth forwards, which they have not been getting. Depth scoring was instrumental to the Hurricanes run last season and they haven’t gotten the help the need from the bottom six this season.
Another thing that hasn’t been like the Hurricanes has been the lack of discipline. I made an article earlier in the season discussing the Hurricanes taking penalties at an alarming rate. That has since slowed down a bit, but the Hurricanes do still find themselves taking dumb penalties in crucial situations.
They need to play smarter down the stretch. Even though the penalty kill is in the top 10 in the NHL, they can’t allow themselves to give any team an opportunity to score goals, especially with a beat-up defensive group.
The 2019-20 season has been a frustrating one, but the Hurricanes still have an opportunity to sneak into the playoffs and make some noise. Let’s hope despite all the problems the Hurricanes have dealt with that they can still make the playoffs and show all of hockey they belong.
Question for CC Readers: What has been the most frustrating thing about the Carolina Hurricanes season in your opinion?