After eight seasons sitting outside the playoff picture, the Carolina Hurricanes look like they might be ready to jump back in.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that we have a team that’s capable of getting to the playoffs,” general manager Ron Francis said earlier this week. “But there’s a lot of things that happen over the course of an 82-game season. So I think on paper, we’ve got a really good team, we’ve got a really competitive team.
“Based on where we were in April, and the holes we filled, we think we’ve had a good summer in addressing a significant portion of those and made ourselves a better team.”
Francis further solidified the club’s existing core of Jeff Skinner, Justin Faulk, Jordan Staal and rising stars Noah Hanifin and Sebastian Aho by locking up a few of his promising young defencemen in 23-year-old Jaccob Slavin (seven years, $37.1M) and 22-year-old Brett Pesce (six years, $24.15M). Then he added a boost by bringing in an abundance of playoff experience — including three former Blackhawks and the man they call Mr. Game 7.
“When you tell people outside the hockey world that you’re going to Carolina, they might be like, ‘Oh, man, why?”’ veteran Justin Williams told The Associated Press earlier this summer after signing with the club. “But I think when you look and you talk to people within the hockey circles — you talk to NHL players — they know exactly what I’m talking about. It’s a fun time, I think, to be a Carolina Hurricane, and I want to be part of something good. I’ve been on some successful teams, so I’m going to try to do the same, do my best to make sure that happens.”
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UP-AND-COMING PLAYER TO WATCH
Last year, it was Sebastian Aho. The year before, defenceman Noah Hanifin. The Hurricanes have had a steady stream of young talent hit the ice.
This year, look for defenceman Haydn Fleury to get a shot. The seventh overall pick in 2014 played his first season in the pros in 2016-17, registering seven goals and 19 assists in 69 games with the AHL Checkers.
The 23-year-old will have his work cut out for him if he wants to land a spot on the blue line that’s already full of young talent, but should be the first call if injury strikes.
Up front, six-foot-four centreman Nicolas Roy still needs some time to develop, but there are plenty of reasons for optimism. The 96th-overall pick in 2015 tallied a team-best 36 goals and 80 points in 53 games with the QMJHL’s Chicoutimi Saguenéens in 2016-17, and he didn’t waste much time making an impact at camp:
WHAT A SUCCESSFUL 2017-18 WOULD LOOK LIKE
Whether it’s this year or next, the Hurricanes look poised for a trip to the post-season.
The knock on this team — if you can really call it a knock — has been that they’re simply too young to contend. Experience goes a long way in this league, and Francis brought that in in spades when he signed veteran Justin Williams to a two-year, $9-million deal on July 1.
Beyond excited to begin the season and put the @NHLCanes jersey back on again. Watch out for the canes this year…
— Justin Williams (@JustinWilliams) July 1, 2017
Williams, 35, helped Carolina win its first (and only) Stanley Cup back in 2006 in his first stint with the club and has since won two more Cups with the Kings before spending two years contending for one with the Washington Capitals.
They also brought in a new No. 1 goalie in Scott Darling, as well as two of his Cup-winning teammates from Chicago: Trevor van Riemsdyk and Marcus Kruger. All three were part of at least one championship in Chicago.
There’s a total of seven Stanley Cups between those four new players, and a wealth of experience that can guide the team’s young core to the playoffs — or at least make a serious run for them come March.
BIGGEST REMAINING QUESTION
The Hurricanes had trouble scoring consistently last season, with only Jeff Skinner and Sebastian Aho surpassing the 20-goal plateau in 2016-17. But fear not — it’s safe to assume one or more of Victor Rask, Teuvo Teravainen and Elias Lindholm will join them up there this season as they continue to develop.
Instead, our biggest question right now is in net. All that’s missing from the club’s deep pool of young defencemen is a steady No. 1 netminder behind them. Darling, the former Blackhawk, is the man tasked with the job now after signing a four-year, $16.6-million deal, while veteran Cam Ward is likely demoted to the role of (supportive) backup.
“I thought it was a great move,” Ward told Hurricanes reporter Chip Alexander earlier this month. “I know where I am in my career.
“Certainly I’m a competitive guy and I still want to be able to play and I’ll do whatever I can to earn that ice time, but I’m hopeful he can make that next step,” said Ward. “He deserves that.”
Darling, 28, started a career-high 27 games with the Chicago last season and saw playing time in 32. We know Darling can step up in big-game situations (he helped the Blackhawks win the Cup in 2015), but he hasn’t yet had the chance to grab hold of a true starting gig. His 39-17-9 record, career save percentage of .923 and 2.37 goals against average suggest he’s ready for the challenge.
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