2014-2015 Review

It was another disapointing season for the Hurricanes last year as they finished at the bottom of the Metropolitan division and missed the playoffs for a sixth consecutive season. Carolina was banged up all year with injuries to star players such as Jordan Staal and Jeff Skinner and they never were really contending at all. Eric Staal had a good season for Carolina where he put up 23 goals and 31 assists to equal 54 points but he's also going into the final year of his contract along with goaltender Cam Ward who was also banged up a lot of last season.

New Additions

Eddie Lack: The Hurricanes traded for Eddie Lack at the draft and this is a guy who's going to come in and be the backup to Cam Ward this season. He also could be the future starting goaltender after this season if the Hurricanes decide to trade or let Ward walk in free agency. I personally would start Lack this season since he has more upside whereas Cam Ward isn't getting better since he's getting older.

James Wisniewski: Carolina acquired Wisniewski in a separate deal with the Ducks for goaltender Anton Khubodin and this looks great for Carolina. Wisniewski was the best defenseman on the Blue Jackets last season before he got traded to the Ducks and now he looks like he's the top defenseman on Carolina. He can certainly help their D corps this season and help mentor rookie defenseman Noah Hanifin who was taken in the top ten in the NHL Draft and who's looking to make the team.

Key Losses

Carolina really didn't have any key losses this offseason even though Alex Semin left but he didn't have a good season last year and was severely overpaid.

Biggest Strength

Center

Carolina has a great 1-2 punch of centers going into this season with Eric Staal centering the first line and his brother Jordan centering the second line. If they're both healthy during the entire season(which has been a problem for Jordan), they could put up some really good numbers. Elias Lindholm is a young and very fast center who looks to be the third line center for the upcoming season and then Jay McClement will get the fourth line duties. 

Biggest Weakness

Defense

The defense for Carolina really doesn't look that good going into the season, except for James Wisniewski, Justin Faulk, and possibly Noah Hanifin on the blue line. They're going to need to upgraded that blue line at some point because the rest of the guys that are on it (Ron Hainsey, John-Michael Lies, etc) just aren't going to cut it for them this coming season. This is a situation that needs to be watched closely by GM Ron Francis.

Bottom Line

Carolina isn't going to contend again this season as they're going through a rebuild and it could be even bigger if Carolina elects to not resign Cam Ward and Eric Staal. They'll finish in the bottom three of the Metropolitan division this coming season and will miss the playoffs for a seventh consecutive season.

Fantasy Slant

Most Overrated: Cam Ward

Cam Ward is the starting goaltender right now for Carolina but he really shouldn't be after the numbers he's been putting up the past few years. He had a .910 save percentage last season which is way below league average and his GAA was 2.40 which also isn't good. Injuries have got to him a bit the past few years but whenever he comes back healthy, he always struggles. We'll see if Ron Francis decides to extend his contract or not during or following the season.

Most Underrated: Elias Lindholm

Elias Lindholm had a tremendous season for Carolina last year where he broke out and scored 17 goals and added on 22 assists for 39 points. The best part about Lindholm is that he's such a young player at 20 years old and will only continue to get better. If he's available in the middle to late rounds, be sure to grab him.

Most Surprising: Jeff Skinner

Jeff Skinner is known to be a very good goal scorer and that showed his rookie season where he had 31 goals but concussions have made him miss a lot of time since then. Last year was a down year for him even though he had 18 goals but if he can get healthy for a full season, he has the opportunity to get back to the 30 goal mark which he last reached in the 2013-2014 season.