With the calendar finally reaching September, there is hockey ahead. There's the Prospect Showcase in Raleigh in the middle of the month, the shortened preseason schedule soon after, and the start of the regular season on September 28 against the Panthers. The season will be here before you know it, so it's time to talk about the members of the roster once again.
Let's start with arguably the team's most valuable roster player. Jaccob Slavin had a rough season in 2025-26. He missed more games during the regular season than he played because of his health, and he didn't put up a ton of points. Still, outside of missing time, it's hard to imagine that he'll complain about how the latter half of his season played out, bringing home plenty of hardware.
Two injuries cost Slavin much of his season, but the highs were very high
Not having your best defenseman in the lineup for more than half of the season is not ideal for any franchise. Slavin was hurt in the team's second game, and it cost him two months. After just three games back, he was right back on the shelf for almost a month. When he was in the lineup, Slavin didn't appear as dominant, taking some time to get his skates back under him.
While he's not called upon to be the team's top-scoring defenseman, Slavin's numbers last season were down once again. In 39 games, he was limited to one goal and eight points. His first point of the season against Seattle was his 300th, making him the first defenseman in Canes history to reach that mark. He saved his only goal for the home finale against Boston, scoring the overtime winner.
Slavin had one really bad game in the playoffs, posting a -4 in the team's Game 1 loss to the Canadiens. After that, he played pretty well, especially at the end of the Stanley Cup Final. Three of his five assists in the postseason were against Vegas, the biggest of which came on the series-clinching goal in Game 6.
Despite lackluster appearances and production, Slavin joined a very elite group in 2026. Representing the United States at the Olympics in Milano Cortina, Slavin brought home the gold. Then, he won the Stanley Cup, making him the second American to ever win both in the same year, joining Ken Morrow from the "Miracle on Ice" team in 1980. The second "C" stands for champion.
Assuming he stays healthy, expect a big rebound season for Slavin
We tout his defensive game, and rightly so, but Slavin's offensive game can be dangerous when he gets rolling. We didn't see it last season, though he's rarely expected to showcase it. However, he's historically hovered around the low 30s in points, reaching as high as 42 in 2021-22. I think we should expect to see a little more from him offensively this season.
Because of his injuries and limited scoring, Slavin saw an impressive streak end. It was the first time since his rookie year that he didn't receive a vote for the Norris Trophy. He has never threatened for the award, finishing a distant fifth place in 2020, and his lack of scoring will handicap him from ever being at the top. However, I won't call it impossible.
You can expect to see Slavin in just about every high-leverage situation on defense, and that certainly won't change this season. It'll be interesting to see if the team keeps him with Jalen Chatfield again this year, or if they try to put one of their more offensively inclined defenders next to him, as they have in the past. I'll settle for a healthy season.
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