Carolina Hurricanes: The 2021-22 roster confirmation
By Conor Power
It’s fantastic news! The Carolina Hurricanes have announced their roster heading into the 2021-22 NHL season. We know now the players that will be taking to the ice in the colors of the organization moving forward. With the Hurricanes looking forward to the new season, we have a new group of players dawning the Hurricanes logo as they take to the ice.
Andrei Svechnikov – Sebastian Aho – Teuvo Teravainen
Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Vincent Trocheck – Martin Necas
Nino Niederreiter – Jordan Staal – Seth Jarvis
Jordan Martinook – Derek Stepan – Jesper Fast
Steven Lorentz
Jaccob Slavin – Tony DeAngelo
Brady Skjei – Brett Pesce
Ian Cole – Ethan Bear
Brendan Smith
With this roster, there’s a lot to like. This forward core is absolutely scary. Even that fourth line with Martinook – Stepan – Fast has a scoring ability to it. There’s no doubting just the murderous ability this team has to score. There’s also a lot of top-end talent. If goal scoring is the issue, then something has gone very wrong with this team. There’s a lot to like in terms of the personnel.
On the blueline, this team has some fantastic players. They have some brilliant defense defensemen with Pesce and Slavin. Skjei has come a long way since he moved down from New York. DeAngelo is showing that he’s a capable offensive defenseman. Bear is so promising and Cole is just a Hurricane through and through. It’s so likable from the perspective of a fan.
Carolina’s goaltending is the question that surfaces no matter who the goalies are. This year, Raanta and Andersen are going to try to answer the questions asked of them. It’s not a fool-proof tandem, but there’s a lot of upsides when these two are between the pipes. If they are capable netminders, Carolina will be back in the post-season to make some noise when the time comes.
Are there issues with this team? Definitely. Are there things to like? For sure. Is it a perfect roster? No, but it allows for so much hope. It allows for optimism and the Carolina Hurricanes have a roster capable of competing for the Stanley Cup. They have a capable core, they have the talent, they have the depth, and they have the theoretical goaltending. But puck drops on Thursday, and we’ll start t get answers then.