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Metro Division and Eastern Conference Deep

By Glenn Brewer |
Apr 25, 2023; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Hurricanes left wing Mackenzie MacEachern (28) and New York Islanders left wing Anders Lee (27) battle for position during the third period in game five of the first round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs at PNC Arena. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 25, 2023; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Hurricanes left wing Mackenzie MacEachern (28) and New York Islanders left wing Anders Lee (27) battle for position during the third period in game five of the first round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs at PNC Arena. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports

The road to another Metro Division title will be tough this season for Rod Brind’Amour and the Carolina Hurricanes. Not that the division was a cakewalk the last few seasons, but the Metro Division has advanced to the top of the standings.

The Canes are seeing firsthand how difficult the Metro Division competition will be on this recent trip to New York. The Eastern Conference in general has started off the season extremely tight.

The entire Eastern Conference is separated by a point for the most part besides the 6-point Pittsburgh Penguins at the bottom. It is hard to write off anyone this early in the campaign, but that goes even more for a team with Sidney Crosby on it.

The Metro Division has had some surprise starts with the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Philadelphia Flyers playing some strong, competitive hockey thus far.

After the top teams in the Metro Division made some news in the off-season, teams like Philadelphia and Columbus were mostly quiet. Of course, we all know the Stanley Cup is not won in July and August.

Playing the two New York teams has brought a reality to just how difficult this regular season title defense will be in 2023-24. Nothing too unknown as the Canes have battled with these division foes.

The tougher realization upfront is that the two New York teams have the best two goalies in the NHL. Ilya Sorokin and Igor Shesterkin have jumped way ahead of the rest of the league’s goaltenders in a short time.

Shesterkin popped onto the scene first and took home some hardware for his efforts but Sorokin is getting better and better, surpassing his Russian counterpart. The Canes have a Russian advantage in goal with Pyotr Kochetkov close to joining his countrymen.

All of this will play itself out in the coming months but the chemistry of this Canes team has taken longer than expected to gel. Although some concerns have arisen in the first month of hockey, this team’s depth and character are sure to prevail.

Once this road trip is done, it will be nice to settle in with a home stand for the team. One more crazy thing is as good as the New York teams are, the Canes missed playing the high-flying, New Jersey Devils this trip.

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