Jordan Martinook Is Carolina’s #1 Grinder But Should We Expect More?
By Chris Baker
If you have been keeping up with the Carolina Hurricanes, you will notice a marked absence on the highlight reel from Jordan Martinook lately.
Not counting an early hat trick against the St. Louis Blues, his absolutely selfless act of waving off fans ready to mount an All-Star fan vote campaign in favor of Martin Necas, and an empty netter against the Buffalo Sabres we have not heard Martinook’s name that much attached to any big time Carolina Hurricanes news.
Nothing jumps off the page at you in looking over the stats sheets. No flashy moves, or clap of thunder goals either.
Still the most consummate Hurricanes fans know his game is valuable to the overall success of the team more than any overproduced reel might show.
In the five games before the NHL All-Star break, Martinook had 3 points including a goal against Buffalo to expand Carolina’s lead and shut the door on a resurgent Buffalo team.
Looking back at five more games, he recorded 2 points. A goal against Vancouver and a helper against Pittsburgh.
That is 2 goals and 3 assists in 10 games, if my observation is correct. Sprinkle in some negative games on top of that for a so-so score sheet for the fantasy hockey guys.
Still sitting with 25 points, Martinook is tied for 5th on the team with his line mate Jordan Staal and Stefan Noesan. Solid company to say the least.
At +7 Martinook and Brent Burns are tied at 8th on the squad in the +/- department. Nothing to scoff at either. He does have one of Carolina’s 10 short handed goals and ranks 3rd on the team in shorthanded points. Until recently special teams points had been hard to come by so Martinook’s 2 short handed points puts him tied for 3rd most.
Diving a little deeper in the stats you might delve into the tapes to see Jordan Martinook has only 4 shot less nights on the season. Only Martin Necas (2) and Sebastian Aho (3) have fewer shot less nights with more total shots (Necas 165, Aho 138 Martinhook 103).
With a little puck luck, Jordan Martinook could easily be in the top 3 or 4 in Hurricane goals.
Consistently putting the puck on goal is what the Hurricanes thrive on as they play the offensive tilted game they are best known for. Martinook is putting shots on net and forcing opposing goalies to respect him as a scoring challenge.
Stacking Jordan Staal (78) and Jesper Fast (46) on line together with Martinook and it is no small wonder their line has produced 31 goals, and 38 assists. They are shooting, and scoring by shear mathematics, and it is working for the Canes.
As we are also aware, Jordan Martinook is a workhorse. In 51 games, only 6 times has he played 20 or fewer shifts. Only thrice has he played fewer than 10 minutes. That is a night in and night out grinder.
So, besides his absolutely insane pregame tunnel routine, what should we as Hurricanes fans be asking from Jordan Martinook over the second half of the season?
Nothing short of a banner year!
And that is not too much to ask.
Martinook is on track for a career best in most every category except game winning goals. But even that can change. He has already tied his total with a hat trick this year.
Why not game winning goals?
And those 51 games he has already played in. That’s only 8 short of a recent streak of injury plagued years. Not since his first year in Raleigh has Martinook suited for more than 60 games.
It is completely possible that Jordan Martinook makes the whole season for just the third time in his career but the second as a Hurricanes.
He has already tied his career bests in points and short handed points as well. His next assist will draw him even with a career best, and only 5 more goals beats his scoring record set back in the 2018-19 season with Carolina. Martinook’s season +/- is the highest it has ever been, as is his shooting percentage at 10.7% also a career high.
If that’s not enough, Martinook has already racked up 36 PIM which puts his season thus far in 4th place in career penalty minutes. If you are Jordan Martinook, and you decide to have a career year, you might as well add penalty minutes to this list too.
As the Carolina Hurricanes mount a playoff run, expect grinding play and lots of shooting from Jordan Martinook. If statistics tell us anything those shots will eventually fall and goal totals will increase.
Playing with Jordan Staal and Jesper Fast, his assist tallies will definitely not go down. But Carolina Hurricanes fans do not need the stat sheet to tell them Martinook is adding to the team. They already know.