The 2021-22 Carolina Hurricanes season has been one of the best in franchise history, and the depth of the Hurricanes lineup has been a major factor in that. In this article, I am going to attempt to rank every Hurricanes player based on performance over the course of this season.
I am not going to rank any of the COVID/injury call-ups because their sample size was so small, but shout out to Jack Drury and company on an amazing 2-game stretch.
I will leave a link here to Hockey-Reference. If you want to look at anything more about any of the players, there’s a link for you.
Honorable mention:
Jalen Chatfield- I found it incredibly hard to rank Jalen because we really didn’t get to see a lot of him. I think I speak for everyone when I say we really enjoyed his few games as a Hurricane and hope to see him in the red and black more next season. Chatfield was very good and fun to watch in the little time he got with the team.
23. Jordan Martinook
It’s been a weird one for Jordan Martinook. He has not even come close to matching his career-high in goals of 15 in 2018-19, in fact over the last 3 seasons combined he only has 10. He hasn’t been awful this year but he is clearly the 14th best forward on this team.
Despite his struggles, Martinook continues to be placed in the lineup. He has infamously spent some time in the top 6 where his weaknesses have really been exposed. I think we can all agree the “Marty party” has been disappointing during this 21-22 campaign.
22. Brendan Smith
Brendan Smith is the weirdest and hardest player to evaluate on the Canes. He is known for his toughness with his shot-blocking and fighting, which he has done well this season, but other times he plays incredibly lazy in his own end and has his less than stellar foot speed get taken advantage of.
Smith is a 7th D that got used as a 6th D sometimes and that was when he was at his worst. I’m not really sure if he’s even an NHL-level defenseman sometimes but his heart and grit cannot be questioned.
21. Steven Lorentz
Lorentz is Warren Foegele light. I say that because for 10 games you forget he exists until he randomly decides to score a highlight-reel goal, and then the cycle repeats. Lorentz is fine for what he is, a solid 4th liner who knows the system well. I don’t think he has much potential but he has carved out a nice role for himself.
Lorentz has been a good sport with how often he’s been asked to sit out, and every one time he is in the lineup he is as advertised. Stevie is extremely energetic and an aggressive forechecker, and next season he will likely play a bigger role on this team.
20. Derek Stepan
I really liked what Stepan brought to the lineup and I wish we got to see him more. What Stepan lacked in footspeed he made up for with smart plays, which allowed him to keep up with the young guys on his line.
Stepan could be a huge asset to the Canes in the playoffs, that 4th line is most effective when he’s on it. In my opinion, Derek should be playing over Martinook and Lorentz in the postseason. Derek has 54 points in 106 career playoff games.