Carolina Hurricanes: Three Ways to Improve the Team for 20-21 Season

The Carolina Hurricanes Season may or may not be over, but that doesn’t mean we can’t look ahead to the next one and ways to improve the team.

The season is still on hiatus with no timetable to return. Many are already thinking that it’s time to focus on the next season. Unless you are one of the top teams in the league such as the Bruins, Blues, Lightning, Golden Knights, or Capitals, the concept of scrapping the season may not be a bad one. For the Carolina Hurricanes it can involve making tweaks to getting the most next season.

While the Canes started the season as one of the best in the league, it became obviously clear that there were still holes in the lineup. It didn’t take more than one or two key players getting hurt for the team to drop in the standings like a weight in the ocean. So how can this team adjust for next season?

Now, I know that many of you are not ready to be done with this season just yet, but consider this, the way the events of the offseason keep getting pushed to the right, the smartest decision could be to just let this season go and focus on conquering the next one.

So how can this team get better for next year? I have narrowed it down to three ways to take this team from a wildcard to a divisional champion, perhaps even the best team in the league. Surprisingly enough, it won’t take much.

Build the Offense Around the Youth

Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov, Martin Necas, Morgan Geekie. What do these names all have in common? All four are the best scorers and finishers on the team and all four are 23 years of age or younger.

This team is going to have to lean on the younger players and try and get more of them. Especially those that can finish and score. This team as it is, is excellent at generating scoring chances, but only a handful are consistent in finishing them off with a goal. They lead the league this season in average xG per game yet are middle of the pack in terms of actual scoring.

To change that and get this team’s scoring to match its ability to generate chances, not just take shots on net, this team will have to relook the forwards and try to bring in more guys that can finish.

That means making guys like Geekie NHLers and perhaps trading away and replacing the guys who are struggling to finish and score. Right now those guys are Jordan Staal and Brock McGinn.

I know what you are yelling at me right now, “their value isn’t in scoring, it’s in their physical presence!” and you would be correct. But this team has lost 10 games this season by a single goal. A little bit more finish, just a tad bit would have added 18  points to their point totals (two of those losses were in OT) and had them leading the division with 99 points.

But just scoring goals isn’t the only way to win games, stopping them also works. So how do we fix the defense?

Tweaking the Defense

The loss of Dougie Hamilton in January was awful for this team and it sent them spiraling down the standings. Losing Brett Pesce right before the trade deadline was even worse and it took Carolina from being in a position to trade away defense to needing it.

Luckily Don Waddell secured Brady Skjei from the rangers who, while it took him a few games to get into rhythm, looked solid in the last three to four games. Sami Vatanen is also a new Hurricane, but you could have fooled me, because he has yet to practice with the team arriving injured from Jersey.

But even before the injuries and trades, the defense did not live up to its name, way too many guys were out of position constantly and the team kept allowing the opposing offense to get the puck on their stick at the most dangerous parts of the ice.

Two of the worst offenders in this category were Trevor van Riemsdyk and Joel Edmundson. While both looked great to start the season, both have been caught puck watching or on the wrong side of the puck when the opposition has it in the slot. This has been leaving the goalies high and dry constantly.

The Carolina Hurricanes are in face, the worst team in xG allowed. But they have been one of the best in allowing the least amount of shots on goal. What does that tell you, it means that when the opponents have been taking the shots, they have all been high danger chances that would require the netminding to play out of their minds to stop.

All four pro goalies that have played for the Canes actually have good saves over expectation percentages. Meaning that they have stepped up consistently and that the damage could have been worse. But what if we didn’t have to rely on them to do that? Take the David Ayres game for example. It has the lowest xG allowed all season. That’s how they should have always played.

I can’t tell you how many goals could have been avoided this season if the defender managed to simply be in the right spot and not given the opposing offense the confidence to take a high danger shot. Several games that have been lost could have been won.

Fixing it starts with saying goodbye to Edmundson and TVR, and Playing a defensive defender on each pairing. Jaccob Slavin on the first with Dougie Hamilton. Brett Pesce on the second with Brady Skjei, and Haydn Fleury on the third with either Jake Gardiner or Jake Bean. Either way he is assigned a Jake.

A guy to patrol the center of the ice and stop opposing players from getting the puck from the easiest place on the ice to score a goal. That’s how you fix this defense.