Carolina Hurricanes: Keys to Rolling on in Chicago

Trocheck’s Possible Return

The Carolina Hurricanes’ 2C, Vincent Trocheck, may be back in the lineup for the first time since March 9. The Hurricanes have gone 5-1-2 in his absence, but adding a player that led the team in goals – and still leads in power play goals – when he went down is going to boost this lineup in multiple ways. He is a reported game-time decision.

At a basic level, the Hurricanes would get a dynamic player back in the lineup that has shown the ability to create offense on his own and battle in the dirty areas extremely well – especially for a player of his size (5’10, 183). And we know how good he is at banging home rebounds and tipping in (Dougie‘s) point shots.

However, what kind of makes this a 1+1=3 situation is the effect it’s going to have on other players, and specifically one Andrei Svechnikov.

Svech’s game is starting to come around of late, and he is producing (mainly assists) on the power play, but he has still struggled to be as threatening at 5-on-5 as we are accustomed to seeing him. Being on Jordan Staal‘s wing, he is largely being used against opponents top lines. This means he must play a responsible game, focusing on keeping the other team off the scoresheet.

Now, I do not mean to knock Staal at all – he has been fantastic this year – but he does not provide the kind of dynamic threat that makes Svechnikov’s life easier in the offensive zone (which is obviously 37’s strong suit).

Staal is more of a north-south, grind in the corners, crash-the-net-and-score-greasy-goals type. He is not at his best making reads and diagnosing the play with the puck on his stick, and therefore does not really put Svech in dangerous positions to score.

Instead of being able to simply read the play, find open ice to settle into, and catch a pass for a scoring threat, Svechnikov is forced to create those plays and space for himself, usually while being the biggest point of concern for the opposition. Go back and watch some clips or games over the last few weeks, and see what sort of position Svechnikov is in when he catches the puck.

Without multiple threats, it becomes easier for defenses to key on Svech and ensure fewer grade-A chances develop. Svechnikov’s creativity, vision, and finishing are, at some level, being suppressed.

Now, according to Michael Smith, Staal is being put with Warren Foegele and Brock McGinn, and Svechnikov has lined up on Trocheck’s wing in practice (with Jesper Fast opposite him).

Svech has rarely had a teammate of Trocheck’s offensive caliber on his line this year – and vise-versa (Necas stretches notwithstanding, he had not really decided to go Super Saiyan at the time).

Fully expect that duo to put forth some dynamic stretches, and perhaps now is the time the Russian phenom will take off and return to being the player that had 16 points in the first 16 games of the season.

The fact that the Hurricanes have kept their heads (well) above water since the Trocheck injury speaks to just how absurd Aho and Necas, who was just named the NHL’s second star of the week, have been.

Now, the Hurricanes top-six is nearing a return to having two legitimately deadly lines to deal with, and Chicago’s defense ought to have its hands full.

Or, perhaps Trocheck is not quite ready tonight, in which case this key just becomes “Nino, Necas and Aho set the world on fire again”.