The Carolina Hurricanes have not had a 100 point scorer since Eric Staal in 2005-20. The 1979-80 Hartford Whalers featured two 100 pointers. Blaine Stoughton reached 100 with 56 goals and 44 assists. Mike Rogers hit 105 with 44 goals and 61 assists.
Will the Hurricanes see a C-note scored this year?
It would be a whale of a season if we did, but I do not think so.
And for no fault of any single player.
The Hurricanes of today are just built differently with their overall offensive production spread more evenly from top to bottom and between the offense and the defense giving the Hurricanes an advantage in what is becoming the new way of hockey.
Let’s compare that 1979-80 Whalers team to the squad Carolina hit the ice with last year.
Hartford scored 303 goals and were 8th in the NHL. Carolina scored just 266, rating them 15th in the NHL.
At the top end, the Whalers had 4 skaters manage 20 goals or more.
Mark Howe- 24
Jordy Douglas-33
Mike Rogers-44
Blaine Stoughton-56 goals
The Carolina Hurricanes had only 3
Andrei Svechnikov-23
Martin Necas- 28
Sebastian Aho- 36
It is in the middle though that Carolina catches and passes the Whalers
Between 10 and 20 goals Carolina fielded 9 skaters to Hartford’s 8.The Whalers had 10 players with no goals what-so-ever. Carolina had just 4. Two of those have 5 or fewer games. Seven of Harford’s no shows had 5 or more games.
The 2022-23 Hurricanes did have fewer goals than the 1979-80 Whalers, but Carolina’s goal scoring was distributed evenly between the top and the bottom of their scoring chart.
And Carolina spread it’s scoring more evenly across the ice.
Mark Howe’s 24 goals for the Whaler’s was the highest total from a defensemen in Hartford. It drops to Al Sims and his 10 goal season for second. Third on the Whalers’ defensive depth chair is Gordie Roberts with 8. That’s 42 points from the top 3 defensemen.
Conversely Brent Burns and Brady Skjei both had 18 goals for the year. Jaccob Slavin was the second highest defensemen with 7. Together, Carolina’s top 3 had 43. If you were to add in Jalen Chatfield’s 6 (#3 not counting the tie for #1) it rises to 49.
When looking at total points, the Hurricanes show their depth and breadth. Carolina had 15 players with 20 or more points. 12 of those with 30 or more.Hartford had 14 with 20 or more and 10 with 30 or more.
Defensively the 1979-80 Hartford team had just 3 players with 20 or more points through 2 of those three had 30 or more total points. On the other hand, Carolina had 4 players with 20 or more and 3 of those 4 had 30 or more.
Oh and Carolina won the Metro Division, and made it to the Eastern Conference Finals last year. In 1979-80 Hartford was 4th in the Adams Division and was swept by Montreal in the prelims.
Carolina may not have a 100 point player this season. They might not again. But they are built for hockey today. Their overall offensive production is spread deeper and wider than teams of the past. And the proof is baked right there in with the puddling. Where teams used to rely on one or two stars, the Carolina Hurricanes show you need much more than a few stars to succeed.