The Carolina Hurricanes had high hopes heading into the 2013 season. The brothers’ Staal reunited in a big trade with Pittsburgh in a deal that the Carolina faithful thought would return them to glory. The subsequent season-ending knee injury to goaltender Cam Ward derailed the season for the former Southeast Division residents.
A new year and a new division provide a fresh and exciting start for the Canes. Eric Staal seemed to benefit greatly with a legitimate number two center, specifically since it is his brother. Newcomer Alexander Semin ingratiated himself nicely in Carolina red, posting numbers that could almost justify his enormous offseason contract. Jordan Staal seemed to fit in eventually, though statistically his minus-18 certainly isn’t an accurate representation of his talents as a defensive center.
Jeff Skinner was the only player on the Hurricanes that had a worse looking plus/minus than the younger Staal, but he certainly isn’t known as much for his defensive prowess. The good news is that Skinner appears to finally be healthy after battling concussions in 2012. Another nice offensive surprise has been the emergence of Jiri Tlusty who turned out to be the Canes biggest goal scorer. Hopefully he can build on his 23-goal effort and help the offense-heavy Hurricanes. They’ll need to outscore most opponents this year.
On defense the prospects don’t look as good for Carolina. The top returning defenseman is Joni Pitkanen, but his recovery from an ugly icing injury is still being monitored and he could miss the start of the season. Tim Gleason, Justin Faulk, Andrej Sekara, Ryan Murphy, Jay Harrison and Mike Komisarek combine to make one pretty good defenseman. Unfortunately for Carolina, that is the depth chart for their collectively woeful rearguards. If the Canes expect to be competitive, they’ll need a big effort from the blueline.
In goal Ward returns as the incumbent starter. He looked a tad inconsisent before he went down for the year. It’s hard to say if he is losing a step or if his stats are a result of the defensemen in front of him. He will be expected to come up big this year in the new division if the Canes want to make the playoffs. If Ward falters, Anton Khudobin will be a more capable backup than the traffic cones that coach Kirk Muller was forced to roll out last year.
Prediction: Seventh-Sorry Carolina. The new division will not be kind to the Canes and someone has to finish near the bottom. There are just too many holes on defense to expect Carolina to compete for the playoffs.