A Carolina Hurricanes Guide to the Shortened Season

Mark Your Calendars Folks

For those of you with keen eyes, you might have already noticed that the Carolina Hurricanes will begin the season Thursday, January 14th with an opening game against the Detroit Red Wings. But that isn’t the only important date for this shortened season.

In fact, the first important date is actually today, January 3rd. That’s right, today marks the start of Training Camp for the 24 teams that got to play in the summer during the playoffs to include the Hurricanes. Training camp includes an extended roster of players including a few prospects looking to be added to the roster when play begins. A good look at that roster can be found here.

But what about the Trade Deadline? I am glad you asked. Normally the Trade deadline is towards the end of February with most teams having had figured out if they are buyers or sellers at the deadline. This year it will be pushed to the right a few months to April 12th when the playoffs would normally begin.

That would give teams a good chunk of the season to figure out where they stand against the six or seven other teams in their division before making a choice. It is also less than a month away from the official end of the regular season which will be May 8th. 

But don’t think that there will be a chance to catch your breath. Because only three days later the 2021 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs will begin on May 11th and run all the way through to July 9th (both dates are subject to adjustment naturally).

July is going to be a great month for Hockey and a very hectic one for the fans. Not only will there be a Stanley Cup Champion awarded but teams will have until July 17th to submit their expansion draft protection lists before the Seattle Kraken Expansion Draft finally happens on July 21st. 

The 2021 NHL Entry Draft is only two days after that on July 23rd-24th. Top off the month with Free Agency kicking off on July 28th and virtually every team in the NHL will have a different look leaving the month of July than they did going into it. That is more than enough to drive fans up a wall and back down depending on how their team fairs.

But before all that the Carolina Hurricanes have to get acquainted with a whole new host of division rivals in their brand new Central Division. Let’s get to know the new neighbors, shall we?

New Division, New Rivals, New Play Pace

Thanks to the pandemic and border between the US and Canada no longer being the thruway that it once was, the NHL had to lump together the Canadian teams into their own division. That caused ripples throughout the rest of the league that resulted in four unique and new divisions that saw some serious changes.

No longer are the Carolina Hurricanes in the cutthroat division that featured the likes of the Washington Capitals, the Pittsburgh Penguins, and Philadelphia Flyers. Instead, they shift over into a Central Division that has been basically a globbed together group of teams that have no real home.

With the Bruins and Sabres moving into the Metro Division (now labeled the East Division) the Hurricanes and Columbus Blue Jackets have been moved out and joining them are the suddenly division-less Stanley Cup Champion Tampa Bay Lightning, Florida Panthers, and Detroit Red Wings.

The only teams from the original Central Division staying not being moved into the Canadian North Division or the new West Division (formerly known as the Pacific Division) will be the Chicago Blackhawks, the Nashville Predators, and the Dallas Stars.

Each division will operate internally like its own conference producing four playoff teams that will compete within themselves to produce a single division champion that will compete against the three other division Champions for the Stanley Cup. Considering both Stanley Cup Finals teams are in this same division, a rematch can happen as early as the first round!

This new division also means that there will not be any cross-conference or even cross-division play. The regular season for the Carolina Hurricanes will be wholly compromised of eight games against each divisional rival that will be bunched up in groups of two games against the same opponent, many back to back (with a few exceptions).

That means that, for now, rivalries against teams that have remained in the east will have to be put on hold until the conference finals (if they even call them that at this point). On the other hand, there will be some older rivals to reignite the flame with such as the Nashville Predators and Florida Panthers, and new rivals to create some history with.

This new system of rivalries will very likely create a unique Stanely Cup finals matchup that may even include teams that were just last year, in the same division and considered bitter rivals. Say if the Carolina Hurricanes emerge from Central and defeat the Western Champion on route to a matchup against a Washington Capitals team that defeated the Canadian Champion.

One can only imagine the possibilities.

New Faces on the Roster

For the most part, the Carolina Hurricanes roster that made the playoffs back to back for the first time in nearly two decades remains the same since the additions at the trade deadline last year.

The biggest losses were the retirement of Justin Williams and the UFA losses of defenders Trevor Van Riemsdyk, Joel Edmundson (who’s rights were traded before FA), and Sami Vatanen (who is still an unsigned FA).

While there are more than a few new faces at Camp thanks to a myriad of depth signings and more than a few promising draft picks, there really is only one big name that will be a mainstay on the Carolina Hurricanes roster.

That man is Jesper Fast, who signed during the opening weeks of Free Agency a few months ago, coming from the New York Rangers. Fast, who wore an ‘A’ in his final years as a Ranger has been a locker room player who can more than deliver on the ice.

His addition to the team can easily be considered a fast and easy replacement for Justin Williams (pun wholly intended there) but in reality, he is actually the kind of player that not only can contribute offensively but also bring some leadership experience and motivation to a suddenly much younger team.

That is going to be needed when you look at a schedule that shoves 56 games in only four months. What else is going to be needed is depth at every level. That means an extended roster that will see the likes of Jake Bean, Morgan Geekie, and even Joey Keane get more ice time than they normally would have during a normal season.

Other players such as first-round draft picks Ryan Suzuki and Seth Jarvis might also see some ice time if injuries require it. Unlikely, but still possible.

Other Tidbits and Unique Things

This season will be one like none other before. It will start soon and come to the fans fast and hard. Before you know it there will be teams that look like championship material and others calculating their odds at the 2021 NHL Draft first overall pick.

But that means that all the big events will have to be postponed. That includes the NHL All-Star Game, originally meant to be held later this month in Sunrise, Florida, the Winter Classic, which was supposed to happen on New Years Day in Minnesota, and the Stadium Series Game in Raleigh, North Carolina.

The good news is that these events have been postponed to the 2021-2022 season but not canceled. It’s not the best news, but it’s not all bad news. These cities and their respective teams will still get the chance to host.

More from Cardiac Cane

• 2023 Southeast Rookie Showcase: Takeaways from the Canes’ Strong Showing in Florida
• Week Two Coverage Of College Hockey In NC
• Derek Stepan Ends His On Ice Career As A Hurricane
• The Southeast Rookie Showcase Will Be a Good Look at Carolina’s Future
• Noesen Ready To Provide Depth For Canes

On the other hand, there have been rumblings and rumors of alternative outdoor games in very unique areas that this shortened season may allow for. To include locations such as Lake Tahoe in the mountains between California and Nevada or Park City, Utah as the NHL looks to have a ‘wilderness’ set of games with four teams competing in the two-day event.

For now, such rumors are exactly that, rumors. Although there are more than enough small bodies of water in the North Carolina mountains if the league really wants to create an outdoor wilderness feeling for the fans watching at home. To be honest, it would be a fantastic way to create hype for the Carolina team in some of the only places in the state it consistently snows.

This NHL season will be one for the history books one way or another. There will be a lot to learn from it, not only for the league but for the fans and teams as they begin a journey towards a Stanley Cup Championship like no team has ever done before. Will it be harder? Easier? Unbalanced? Interesting? Boring? We will all find out soon enough.

Question For CC Readers: What do you look forward to the most this season?