Carolina Hurricanes: Teuvo Teravainen’s bounce-back candidacy

A lot of the Carolina Hurricanes roster had great success last season in the Central division. There were major step ups from young players, big seasons from elder players, and the coaching system became a little tighter. But one player who did not enjoy his time in the NHL’s traditional western conference division was Teuvo Teravainen.

Turbo struggled with injuries. Early in the season, Teravainen was affected by COVID-19, and was one of the 5 who came out of the line-up due to the virus. When he came back, Teravainen was quickly missing from the line-up again with a concussion. A player who traditionally doesn’t miss games missed a big chunk of time last year.

However, this doesn’t mean that Teravainen had a bad year. Despite only managing 21 regular season games, he recorded 5 goals and 10 assists for 15 points. That is still roughly a 60 point pace. Not earth shattering, but that’s still a great performance from the Helsinki native. So, it’s a down year with the Finn suffering injuries, how do we know this is a one off?

Well, Teravainen hadn’t missed a game before that since 2016-17, when he was scratched. In the seasons subsequently, Teuvo has recorded 64 points, 76 points, 63 points (in 68 games) and the 21 he recorded last season. It’s easy to see the anomaly. This is a player that can play at the highest levels with pain and blood.

Now, we might see less of Teravainen in coming seasons. Since that iron man streak is gone, Teravainen may be less likely to play when he isn’t 100%, but that doesn’t mean that we will see major reductions in his totals. We can still expect a 60+ point player with Teuvo Teravainen annually. This is just because he is so consistent with his playmaking abilities.

Teravainen always gets lazily mislabelled as a product of fellow Finn and line-mate Sebastian Aho. None of that is true. If you want one goal to prove it, just look at the game where we saw the 2nd lacrosse goal in NHL history. Teravainen would hit a perfect spin pass to the blade of Aho, and even Sebass was in shock with how brilliant that pass was from Turbo. Ahovainen’s connection is ridiculous, but both do their own part.

So, what could we expect from Teuvo this year? I would expect 20 goals. I think that’s pretty safe money in the bank. The last 2 82 game seasons, he has hit 20, and that’s fairly safe. I would also expect 65+ points from the Finn again, assuming he can stay in the line-up. Concussions always leave a history, but if Teuvo can fight through, he’s poised for another fantastic year. He’s a key contributor for the Carolina Hurricanes.

Question for Cardiac Cane readers: What do you think we can expect from Teravainen this year?