2021 Carolina Hurricanes Season Preview: The Lineup

How can we expect the Carolina Hurricanes to fare in their new division?

The Carolina Hurricanes are looking to dominate a shortened season and bring the playoffs back to the Oak City. How does their lineup look like?

It is almost time for Hockey. The Carolina Hurricanes are already getting back to the ice in North Carolina. It’s almost time for the most unusual start to an NHL season ever. Carolina finds itself in a new division with a new playoff format in a shortened season. New rivalries will be forged, old rivalries renewed, and the Canes have the task of trumping the Stanley Cup Champions.

Carolina will obviously be in the central division with the Chicago Blackhawks, Columbus Blue Jackets, Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers, Nashville Predators, and Tampa Bay Lightning. The top 4 will make the playoffs, playing in a 1v4, 2v3 mini-tournament. Winners play each other before moving onto the final 4 with the other remaining teams from each division.

So, how can we expect the Carolina Hurricanes to fare during the 2021 season? Well, there’s a lot to remember with this. For one, we can expect a lot of hatred. Every game will be within the division, meaning they play the other division members 8 times apiece. A gruesome road awaits with the format. Familiarity with opponents will be a key component when the playoffs come around.

There’s going to be a lot of depth use. The NHL has instated a 6 man taxi squad and a requirement of 3 goaltenders. This is going to be a season that rewards teams with solid depth and don’t rely on star power alone. As someone that has always been critical of the Canes forward depth, I’m skeptical, but I’m hopeful. This season is going to be a lot of fun.

Another thing to remember with this season is that the Canes are no longer forced to run the gauntlet that is the Metropolitan division. This is a FAR easier division than the Metropolitan, despite wielding the Stanley Cup Champions. This may be the best chance the Canes have to really remove all doubt about their role as Stanley Cup contenders, or even win the thing.

So, enough about the external factors, what about the Canes lineup itself? Is the roster strong enough to contend? Well, that is a mammoth question to try and break down. It’s going to be easier to go through this piece by piece, which is what I plan on doing. Tackling each aspect of the team before moving on to the next part. Let’s start up front.

The Forwards

This is going to be the most important part of the team. We all know the talents of the members of the SAT line. Sebastian Aho is a freak of nature and may find himself exploding in the scoring race. Andrei Svechnikov is Andrei Svechnikov. The dude can score from anywhere on the ice, including behind the goal as he so elegantly demonstrated twice last season.

Let me stop you from looking for the goal, here you go.

This leads perfectly to the mystery box of the SAT line. Teuvo Teravainen can take a puck, blast it around the boards, and have it land perfectly on the bench wall where they all rest before warm-ups. I have no doubt of that. His ability to pass the puck is outright fantastic. He is one of the best pure passers in the league, and he’s so defensively responsible. He’s just too unselfish.

Turbo has such a great shot and his reluctance to use it often leaves the canes dependant on his linemates to beat goaltenders. Granted, when Teuvo hits a pass, it usually ends up in the net, but his shot isn’t exactly bad. He’s very capable of scoring on any goaltender league-wide. If he shoots regularly and becomes a dual-threat forward, that top line is going to be one of the best league-wide.

Moving onto the second line, there’s a lot of optimism on this line. Assuming this line is composed of Nino Niederreiter, Vincent Trocheck, and Martin Necas, we can assume a few things. One is that Necas is going to develop further. Two is that Trocheck is going to get used to being in Carolina. This leaves Nino. If it’s an up year for Nino, this top 6 is deadly. If this is not an up year for Niederreiter, there’s a hole in the top 6.

Now, this needs to be an up year for Jordan Staal on the 3rd line. No one is asking him to win the Rocket Richard and score 60 goals. But there need to be more than 27 points in 68 games this time. He’s going to be protected in the expansion draft because he has a no-movement clause. He needs to be better in terms of the end product. Or else, maybe buying the contract out becomes essential.

Ryan Dzingel might be someone to look for in terms of a bounce-back year. He started really well last season and this might be a theme this season, look for Dzingel to start hot and move up the lineup. He’s an incredibly streaky winger, and when he’s going, there’s no doubt he’s an asset worth having.

Jesper Fast is the new boy in town. He’s consistent in that he’ll skate around hard, fight, and he’ll bag somewhere between 20-30 points in a season. Last season he saw himself having a career year in New York, but bear in mind he was playing with one of the league’s best players. He’s not going to contribute a lot to the scoresheet. Also, someone who struggles with injuries, so watch for his health updates.

Jordan Martinook and Warren Foegele are weird. Martinook scored 15 goals two seasons ago. Doing that again would be greatly appreciated. Warren Foegele… if he could score 10% of his breakaways would be a perennial all-star. He creates so many chances for himself. He’s so annoying to watch when you love watching him because he could be so much better.

Brock McGinn is going to give you what Brock McGinn gives you. He’s going to smack anything that moves, skate hard, and play good fundamental hockey. The mystery box for the forwards is Morgan Geekie. If he can continue the hot start he made during the regular season, he could quickly make himself a top 9 player, and a top 6 player sooner if Nino struggles.

All in all, the potential for this forward core is there. There is enough talent here to compete with the best of them. It’s just one or two things that could push this forward group into the elite category. If Necas can take that next step, Aho and Svechnikov keep developing, Foegele learns how to deke. All of those would make Carolina truly scary.

Now into the undoubted strength of this team.

The Blueline Express

I feel like I can say this is the best blueline in the NHL and leave it there, can’t I? This is a backend loaded with talent up and down the lineup. Elite players, NHL stars, and one of the most underrated players in the entire league are on this blueline and it just amazes me how good this backend is.

I’m going to start with Jaccob Slavin. This man is just a freak. For years, he was one of the best-kept secrets in hockey, and now everyone knows his talent. Widely considered the best pure defensive defenseman in the game, Slavin is also capable of scoring. A tally of 6 goals and 30 assists last year left him 5th on the team in scoring. That’s incredible for a defensive defenseman.

Dougie Hamilton was a little under a point per game last season, broke his leg, missed 33% of the season, and still finished highest in the scoring department of anyone, not on the SAT line. He missed 20 games and finished 7th in Norris voting. He is one of the best defencemen in the league right now. The man is fully capable of putting the team on his back and winning a game on his own. This is what Carolina was after when they got him from Calgary.

Between the two of them, that top pairing is just outstanding. Slavin covers the defensive game perfectly and it gives Hamilton a license to play almost as an extra forward at times. It is a pair that have won many games for the Carolina Hurricanes in the last two seasons, and I expect next season to be no different.

Behind them is one of the most underrated players in the entire National Hockey League. He will always fly under the radar because he’s not someone that blows the scoresheet up, but Brett Pesce is one of the best defenders in the NHL. His defensive excellence allows players beside him to go forward and play far more attacking hockey, and he’s capable of babysitting someone who isn’t so great defensively.

Speaking of people who aren’t so great defensively… Jake Gardiner. I cannot explain to you what happened last season with this player. By all analytics, he was an offensive dynamo. His end product was just… not there. That may have been due to a lack of depth scoring, or the fact that this dude walked under a thousand ladders every day to get to the rink and has a year of bad luck.

Gardiner and Pesce, in theory, seem to fit like a glove. Pesce being the defensively responsible one, and Gardiner being someone who can score from here, there, and anywhere. It just didn’t work like that. Gardiner finished the season hot, and Pesce still hasn’t played in the NHL since the David Ayres game. Maybe we see this duo turn a corner.

Brady Skjei… this acquisition still makes no sense to me but whatever. Skjei is a big physical defenceman who will smack anything that moves. His offensive abilities are limited, and he really does need a partner who can babysit. Luckily, that is something the Carolina Hurricanes have in spades. It’s very unlikely we see Skjei any higher than the maximum of the second pairing.

Haydn Fleury is likely going to be his defensive partner. A versatile defenseman, Fleury showed flashes of his talent during the 2019-20 season. Nothing to indicate he’s displacing any of the big 3 the Canes have, but certainly enough to spark hope that there’s something there with the former 7th overall pick. He’s likely going to play on the 3rd pairing with Skjei or Gardiner.

This final pairing I would not expect to see too often. If nothing else, just because the top 4, well, top 3 are so fantastic. I would expect to see Fleury get penalty kill time on the second unit, and Skjei and Gardiner to split time on the second powerplay unit to balance the minutes out. This back end is loaded. All are very talented defenders in their own right. It’s probably the best league-wide.

Now we move on to the Carolina Hurricanes’ signature headache.

The Goaltending

Yup. What does it always come down to? Now, this is not nearly as dire as it has been in years prior. The current crop of Canes goaltenders is a far cry from the whole it used to be on the roster. Both Petr Mrazek and James Reimer have shown themselves to be very capable of playing the position and doing a good job to help the team. However, they’re not all cherries and rosebuds.

Starting with Reimer, he’s not a starter. His ability to play the backup role and provide the starter with relief at a high level is perfect. .914 save percentage from someone who can give a starter a rest every now and again is a fine save percentage. His only issue is that he suffers from a lot of injury woes and isn’t capable of starting for long periods of time.

Mrazek is the opposite. When Mrazek is on, and he’s playing well, he’s one of the best goaltenders in the NHL. I point you to the 2019 games in Colorado where Mrazek turned into a wall denying the Avalanche anything. His issue is consistency. He’ll be hot for 6 or 7 games a season, outside of that he’s so hit and miss. It’s so annoying when you understand his upside, and just don’t see it.

Now, this isn’t a knock on Mrazek. There’s a lot to the game of a goaltender that is more complex than I can justify with numbers. For example, Mrazek may have a lower save percentage if he plays 5 games against Tampa than if he plays 5 games against Detroit due to the difference in the quality of the opponent. However, this just isn’t the case with Mrazek.

In his 16 playoff/play-in games with the Carolina Hurricanes, he has a measly .906 save percentage. They’re winning almost in spite of Mrazek in terms of the numbers. Reimer’s is far better at a .934 save percentage, but he has only played 3 games, and he was just phenomenal. So, how Carolina does will really come down to these two.

With solidified goaltending, there’s no reason the Carolina Hurricanes cannot compete for the cup. Without it, there remains a serious risk of more mediocrity. If Petr Mrazek can take that next step and figure out how to play as well as he can do every game, and develop that level of consistency, or if the Canes pick up a starting goaltender elsewhere, maybe they become true contenders.

Now, I know you’re probably looking through everything I’ve said so far and wondering “Hey, isn’t there some American goaltender playing for the Chicago Wolves who could be used?” While the answer is yes, we will progress onto him specifically in a moment. For those of you wondering “What about the Zamboni driver?” well, the Canadian border is shut you see.

The extras

With the NHL mandating that there must be a taxi squad due to the pandemic and the team moving around the country, it makes all too much sense to use it. For those that aren’t aware of how this works, it’s like they’re still in the AHL in terms of cap hit so anything up to 1,050,000 doesn’t affect the cap, and that sum is subtracted from anything over for the cap affect.

So, who likely sits in here? Well, as I mentioned earlier, there must be a third goaltender. Realistically, this leaves two options. Alex Nedeljkovic and Antoine Bibeau. Ned is the likely favorite, although it would damage his development because he’s not going to play. Carolina can’t fit him on the roster without injury, so he’d be sitting in the taxi squad and he really needs the game time.

Bibeau is a different matter. He’s more to make up the numbers. In the event that it is Bibeau that is used, it allows Nedeljkovic to sit in Chicago and play games. I understand that this may be an unpopular opinion, seeing as Nedeljkovic would need to clear waivers. But if he’s sent down in the mosh pit that is the beginning of the season waiver wire, it’s likely that he clears.

Someone else to look out for on the Taxi Squad would be Drew Shore. He’s been out of the NHL for a few years, but a 29-year-old with 97 games of NHL experience is going to be a fine player to slot into the bottom 6 if it really goes south. Obviously, he won’t see the roster if all goes well, but it’s not the worst fallback option in the event of a virus outbreak or something along those lines.

You will have noticed when I talked about the forwards, I missed Morgan Geekie. I’m going to act like that was intentional and put him in here. Geekie currently holds the NHL’s all-time record for points per game in the regular season.  He’s got a career average of 2 PPG. He is literally the best player ever by those cherry-picked metrics. I can’t imagine he’ll start the season on the roster due to the overall seniority of it, but he’ll be the first replacement.

Joakim Ryan is also someone we’re likely to see in the taxi squad. He’ll be carried around from game to game, but he’s really the number 8 defenseman on this team behind the 6 I mentioned earlier and Jake Bean who I have skipped over because he’ll start in the AHL for his development. Ryan can be a nice fill in on the 3rd pairing, allowing others to move up in the event of an injury.

Jeremy Bracco is someone who likely gets a taxi squad place. He’s proved all he can do in the AHL. He’s not quite NHL caliber. He’ll be fine as a fill-in player but he won’t displace anyone on the active roster. He’s going to be a good replacement if there’s a dire need for someone on the 3rd line because someone like Dzingel got sick.

So what about these Canes overall?