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.