Carolina Hurricanes: What have we learned from pre-season

Carolina concluded their exhibition games with a 4-3 loss to the Nashville Predators during a matinee on Saturday. With that, we saw the Carolina Hurricanes flex their muscles in terms of prospects and how they’re developing as well as the new faces the team’s success has attracted via free agency. There’s been a lot of good from this preseason.

It looks like the head coach of the Carolina Hurricanes, Rod Brind’amour, has got all the new guys buying into his system in order to extract the most out of each player. Players are diving into block shots during preseason games which really goes to show just how well Rod Brind’amour sells his system to the new guys that come into the dressing room and need to buy into the system.

More than old guys buying in, young faces have come into the big picture this pre-season. The one that stands out perhaps more than the rest of the prospects is 19-year-old winger Seth Jarvis. With Jarvis’ emergence as a problematic player for NHL players in preseason, he’s earned high praise from every corner of the organization and could make the team out of camp at just 19.

Now, there have also been some setbacks. One major example is the injury suffered by Carolina’s 2nd line center Vincent Trocheck. Trocheck suffered a leg injury in practice and missed the final week of the preseason. It has been reported Trocheck has been assigned to the injured reserve, but that is yet to be confirmed by the organization as I am writing this. This source is CapFriendly, or as a friend of mine likes to call it, the motherboard.

Losing Trocheck hurts, although he was skating today with the hockey club. Anyhow, there’s been a lot more good to take from this post-season than bad, so let us dive into the pros, cons, and all the other things we can take away from this preseason as we head to the start of the NHL 2021-22 NHL Regular season.

New guys

We know the Carolina Hurricanes have been very active in terms of their roster turnover. With 9 new faces expected to make the lineup, it’s been an eventful summer for the organization. A complete change of netminders, half the blueline, and some forward depth additions have really given the roster a new shimmer going into the season.

Frederik Andersen headlines the great performers of new faces in the summer. He has looked remarkably calm under pressure which is a very different look to what the Canes used to have on their blueline. Stopping pucks through traffic and kicking rebounds to the corners, the Canes backend will have someone who exudes confidence behind them this summer.

But the other guy I want to spend a lot of time talking about had a good preseason. His first one in Raleigh, he’s going to have unrealistic expectations placed upon him because he is signed for roughly three times his value right now. He’s going to have the entire province of Quebec scrutinizing his every mistake and that is Jesperi Kotkaniemi.

I have no idea where he’s going to play within the lineup, but KK had a good preseason. He did manage to record the first goal of the Canes exhibition season and would record two on that night as the Canes recorded their only win of the preseason. We know Kotkaniemi will offer some defensive stability, but the offense if he can find it would be fantastic.

Tony DeAngelo has also played very well during the preseason. Regardless of what you think about him off the ice, he has shown his offensive capabilities and why the Canes took a flyer on the disgraced blueliner. Now, the former Ranger has a chance to play for the cup if he keeps his stuff together. He could also be a big part of that.

He’s been a very welcome surprise from the backend. His defensive frailties are well-known, but his abilities to move the puck cannot be overstated. As much as fans may dislike the fact he is a Carolina Hurricane, right now, his attributes on the ice look like they’re going to aid this team’s transition game immensely.

While there are some exciting new additions to the team, this is the same core that won the central division last year. Carolina is bringing back the bulk of the team. There’s still Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov, Jordan Staal, Teuvo Teravainen, Martin Necas, Nino Niederreiter, Vincent Trocheck, Jaccob Slavin, Brett Pesce, Brady Skjei and Rod Brind’amour.

This team still has its stars and leaders returning. While the supporting cast might have changed a little bit, there have been no changes to the glue of the roster. That’s important to note because the team has not progressed to the 3rd round since 2019 when they were swept by Boston. The Carolina Hurricanes have not won a game in the 3rd round since game 7 against Buffalo in 2006.

If this should continue, management may think about changing the core. Not in the immediate future, but in three to five years if this is still the case, the team may look to change some things around in order to improve. Now, this is a debate for a different time when we are years down the road and talking about the Carolina Hurricanes going for their 4th straight Stanley Cup ideally.

With the Hurricanes still having the same core, you would expect the same standard. Rod doesn’t tend to let his teams slack off. He never did as a player and you can expect the Canes to prepare for each game this season as he would want them to. He is borderline pedantic with his preparation. He always wants the best from his players and if he can get that, this team will go a long way.

Aho playing with Svechnikov are just 4 words that could instill fear into an entire city. Trying to contain both monsters at the same time is a very difficult job and very few teams manage to completely isolate them both. Even in the Tampa series, Svechnikov had 5 points in 5 games. He did his part. They’ll be the same old monsters.

Necas is someone to keep an eye on this year. He’s going to have to take a large step forward to compensate for the step back of Jordan Staal. If he can score more and make up for the regression of Staal, then the Canes will have the offense capable of winning the division. It’s very rare that we have been able to say that about these Carolina Hurricanes.

Anyway, we’ve seen a lot this preseason to make us excited about the new dawn for the Carolina Hurricanes. With the regular season kicking off against the New York Islanders on Thursday at 7 PM Eastern. It’s going to be a fantastic season, with a lot of questions to answer and stories to follow. They’ll all be covered here on Cardiac Cane.