Carolina Hurricanes: It Is Finally Jake Bean SZN

It’s been a long time coming, but Jake Bean SZN is finally upon us. The 22-year old Calgary, Alberta native has finally been given a solid run of games with the Carolina Hurricanes this season, and he has more than shown he has what it takes to be a defenseman at the NHL-level.

As someone who has been rooting for Jake Bean to finally get a shot at cracking the NHL roster, I couldn’t be more pleased with just how deftly he’s taken his chance and absolutely sprinted with it. Bean, at the time of writing, currently has 5 assists in 8 games played this season.

Prior to this season, Bean had only played in 2 NHL games.

The young blueliner is no stranger to success, though. He’s been a dominant force in the AHL with the Charlotte Checkers the past few seasons, and even led all AHL defenseman in scoring (10g, 38a in 59 games played) to secure the Eddie Shore Award for defenseman of the year in 2019-20.

Only two other players in AHL history have won the Eddie Shore Award before their 22nd birthday; Sami Niku in 2018, and Craig Levie in 1981.

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Bean was also the first Charlotte player to ever win the Eddie Shore Award and the first to have earned All-Rookie, All-Star and Year-End Award honors at the conclusion of last season.

Being given a good run of games in the NHL is just another stepping stone on Bean’s path to an assuredly lengthy and successful NHL career. I’ve been saying for a couple years now that Bean could very easily develop into a Top-4 NHL defenseman, and he’s definitely making a case for it with his performances lately.

Bean is not only lethal offensively, but his defensive game has taken a huge leap forward, especially considering he’s just made the jump from the AHL to the NHL.

Another cool little fun fact is that, at the time of writing, Jake Bean currently leads the league in expected goals-for per 60 (3.68) among players with 95+ minutes of ice time. 8 games in the NHL this season, and the kid is already the best in the league at expected goals-for per 60. This is huge.

Not to switch gears entirely here, but Jake Bean is likely one of Ron Francis’ targets to select in the upcoming Seattle Expansion Draft; most premature talk about who the Carolina Hurricanes will lose in the Expansion Draft seems to swirl around either Jake Bean or Haydn Fleury.

Regardless, Bean’s progress this season has been near-meteoric. He’s shown almost supernatural chemistry in the offensive zone, especially with Vincent Trocheck (as seen in the goal he set up below).

I wouldn’t go so far as to saying Bean is the next Dougie Hamilton, but I also wouldn’t discount that entirely just yet, either. Bean still has tremendous upside, and that upside grows with each and every minute he gets on NHL ice.

Bean is more than capable of quarterbacking a powerplay unit, as he showed us in the Canes/Lightning game the other night in Jake Gardiner’s stead. Who knows, maybe if Dougie doesn’t end up staying in Carolina (knock on wood, please stay Dougie), Bean might end up developing into a solid replacement for him.

At the end of the day, Jake Bean SZN is finally upon us, and I couldn’t be happier than to just bask in it for now.