The Carolina Hurricanes are currently standing at 36-10-8 which is good for 80 points as well as first place in the metropolitan division and second in the east. One of the deepest teams in hockey, let’s break down why.
Top Six
The first line consists of Teuvo Teravainen, Sebastian Aho, and Seth Jarvis. Teravainen is one of the more underrated wingers in the league and seems to play extremely well with Aho. Sebastian Aho is on the fringe of being the superstar Hurricanes fans have needed for almost a decade now.
While Seth Jarvis was the youngest player in the NHL for a while he has developed himself as a skilled winger who will do the dirty work that Aho and Teravainen may not want to do. Which makes himself a perfect fit to round out this top line.
The second line also has a player on the fringe of breaking into the superstar category, that being Andrei Svechnikov. Svechnikov has all the puck skills in the world to match his surprisingly aggressive style of play. However, defensively he lacks fundamentals which is why you see him getting second line minutes.
Jesperi Kotkaniemi centers the second line; he may be the least productive of the top six but the former third overall pick still possesses all the talent needed to break out in the years to come. Lastly, Martin Necas rounds out the top six and is currently having a career year.
Necas has already broken his career high in points and has done so in only 54 games this year. It is safe to say the Hurricanes might have the deepest and most skilled top six in the league this year.
Bottom Six
Currently dealing with injuries the bottom six is not as strong as it was at the beginning of the year. Jordan Martinhook, Jordan Staal, and Jesper Fast man the third line. A perfect combination of hitting and defensive skill with Staal to have a shutdown third line to match the high scoring of the top two lines.
Staal is a veteran that has seen it all and his experience will be extremely valuable when the postseason comes around. The fourth line has had some different combinations this year but play as hard as any fourth line in the league, especially at home.
Not the strength of this team, some of the top tier teams could look to expose this until with line matching but only a handful of teams in the league will be able to do so.
Defense
Outside of the absolutely ridiculous Colorado Avalanche defensive pairing, the Hurricanes might have the best in the league. A top pair of one of the best shutdown defenseman in Jaccob Slavin, and one of the greatest offensive defensemen to ever play the game in Brent Burns, spell nightmares for opposing teams.
Then Brady Skjei and Brett Pesce come on the ice for the second unit which may be one of the hardest hitting pairs in the league. The offense does fall off a little but is definitely not a liability.
Calvin de Haan and Jalen Chatfield round out the defensemen group and nothing special to say here more place fillers that won’t change a game, but also have proven to be solid pros.
Goaltending
The injury to Freddy Anderson in the playoffs is what eventually ended their season. Although Antti Raanta played above average he is definitely a number two goaltender at this point in his career.
Anderson was in the Vezina running last year and hasn’t dropped that much this year. If Anderson can stay healthy this team could make a huge run come playoff time.
Prediction
With arguably the best top six in the league, an elite top two pair of defensemen, and a goalie that was in the Vezina running I see the Hurricanes making the Stanley Cup Finals.
Yes you read that right, not the Bruins, but the Carolina Hurricanes will make the Stanley Cup Finals and win the eastern conference.
