Carolina’s three in-house options for 2C next year
After a season of great success, the Hurricanes are at a crossroads this summer. With the player that was the second-line center last year becoming a pending unrestricted free agent, decisions need to be made about the Hurricanes’ second-line center. There are thee in-house options and those are what are worth looking at as of right now because the free-agent market is completely unpredictable.
Carolina’s second-line center is going to be very important moving forward. They’re going to need to be able to play in all situations under pressure in the playoffs at the highest level and give the team a chance to win when the team needs them to in order to be successful in this setup for the long term. It is going to be a very important position for the future and the Canes will need to be committed to this decision.
Second-line centermen need to be able to produce and that is the Hurricanes’ major issue. I’m not saying that the Hurricanes have had any reason to not appreciate the production from this year’s forward group, but with a vital decision in the offing, there’s going to need to be a level of consistency about what you are getting. With the Hurricanes knowing that this is a big decision, there’s a lot to take from this.
I’m going to work on the assumption that Vincent Trocheck is not an option. We know how the Carolina Hurricanes organization has been under this ownership in terms of extending their players and we know that they do not like to open the checkbook for people, so I think it is pretty fair to assume that Trocheck has one foot out the door at this moment in time. This may change because hockey is insane, but at this moment in time, that is my assumption.
Martin Necas
This is the most recent of the three to become an option. At his end-of-year media interview, Martin Necas voiced his desire to move back to his natural position in the middle of the ice. While that might not have been an option before, it may be now. We’ve seen players in Raleigh start their NHL career as wingers and find great success down the middle, but can Necas take that same path successfully?
Coming off the back of his worst ever season in the NHL, there has been a select minority of the fanbase calling for Martin Necas to be moved on. While I do believe this is a drastic overreaction, I do think that Necas will need to find a way to improve his game ahead of next season if he is going to find himself playing the position he has asked to.
Pierre LeBrun has recently stated that the Hurricanes are receiving a lot of calls about the availability of the Czech forward so we know that there is a lot of value in the young 2017 12th overall pick. Just the sheer fact competitors think they can get value out of Martin Necas should tell you everything you need to know about how talented this player is.
With the restricted free agent wanting to move back to the middle due to the position feeling more natural for him, you have to wonder if it is indeed possible for the Hurricanes to attempt to facilitate a move back to his natural center position. It is a possibility that could very well be at the forefront of the Hurricanes’ minds when addressing their needs down the middle this summer.
Jesperi Kotkaniemi
After his first season with the Carolina Hurricanes, we saw Jesperi Kotkaniemi take a few steps this year toward becoming a fully pledged dominant centerman in the National Hockey League. With the Finnish centerman signing an eight-year extension worth $4.82 million, it is presumed that the former third overall pick is going to be taking on a more important role within the organization going forward.
We know that the Hurricanes’ newest centerman has asked for a bigger role within the team. It was again something that was made public in Kotkaniemi’s end-of-season press conference. Kotkaniemi got chances to play in the top six as a center during the year and proved effective in that limited sample size.
At the beginning of the year, Kotkaniemi was a winger and was wildly inconsistent outside of his natural center position. Carolina’s offer sheet target was not quite the ultimate winger. It became apparent after he was moved back to the middle of the ice for the game in Vegas that Kotkaniemi was far more comfortable playing center, even in a fourth-line role for the organization, so they left him in a position to succeed.
With the pedigree of being a third overall pick behind him and the new eight-year deal that he signed with the organization, Kotkaniemi is likely to receive some preferential treatment from fans in this regard. We know that under this coaching regime, Kotkaniemi will have to earn everything he gets on the ice, but that doesn’t mean that he won’t be given the nod in the event of a split decision.
Jack Drury
This is the WAY outside chance, and I’m going to acknowledge that before we get too far into this. It’s unlikely Jack Drury comes in right away and steals the 2C role moving forward. Anyone that says that is completely right and I agree wholeheartedly. However, after his performances for the Chicago Wolves in the Calder Cup Playoffs. If he comes in and right away impresses, it is possible.
Drury is currently a goal per game at the NHL level and has the highest goals per game ratio of anyone in Carolina Hurricanes history. A rather pointless stat, but it is still funny to think about to this point. Carolina’s second-round pick in 2018 has come a long way from the kid he was when he made his NHL debut earlier this season against the Detroit Red Wings.
Drury is from a hockey family with his uncle, Chris Drury, having won the Calder Trophy for best rookie back in 1998-99, we know that there is a strong pedigree from this family and Drury has the ability to become a fantastic player at the NHL level.
For the Chicago Wolves this season, Jack had 20 goals and 32 assists for 52 points in 68 games. Nothing special but not bad for an AHL rookie. But in the playoffs, we saw Drury at his monstrous best. In his 18 AHL playoff games, he had 15 assists to accompany his 9 goals as his 24 points led the AHL playoff rookies and were second on the Wolves. He proved he is too good for another year down there.
He’s likely going to start in the bottom six when he makes his move to the NHL next year and that’s okay. No one is expecting him to blow the doors off the NHL right away, and it would be a welcome surprise. As the saying goes, you do not depend on rookies, you get surprised by them. Allow them the time to develop, and see what happens. Drury seems to be a major wildcard for next year