NHL Season Preview 2014-2015: Carolina Hurricanes

Weaknesses

Apr 5, 2014; Raleigh, NC, USA; New Jersey Devils forward

(19) celebrates his 2nd period goal against the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena. The New Jersey Devils defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 3-1. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports

Jason: Outside of the Hurricanes’ top-end forwards, there isn’t much to marvel over.

My biggest issue with the Hurricanes is depth, especially after the news broke tonight that Jordan Staal broke his leg. Neither Riley Nash nor Jay McClement has the game to play on the top-six: they’re both defensively minded centermen, so their depth down the middle is questionable. I’m not too high on their defense outside of Faulk.

Which goalie will win the job? Since posting a save percentage of .923% in 2010-2011, Cam Ward‘s save percentage has dropped each season, all the way to .898% in 2013-2014. However, Anton Khudobin started a career high 36 games last season, after only starting 21 games in his NHL career before then.

There are just too many questions throughout this roster, and losing one of their best players doesn’t help their cause one bit.

Josh: The previous slide practically showed me drooling over the potential of the Staal brothers along with Semin and Skinner. However after those four, it gets quite murky.

Even before the season opener on Oct. 10, the Hurricanes have dealt with Eric Staal getting banged up during the summer and now that Jordan Staal will be out indefinitely with a broken leg, the ice is already cracking in Carolina. The depth following those two down the middle isn’t strong.

A possible replacement for J. Staal is 19-year-old Elias Lindholm who tallied 21 points (9 G, 12 A) in 58 games last season. However, Lindholm was already expecting to center the third line so that still leaves a vacancy on the third and fourth lines. The addition of Jay McClement certainly comes in handy now, but his production is nowhere near what J. Staal provides.

The lack of depth not only hampers even strength play but also special teams. This was evident with Carolina’s power play last season (28th, 14.6%). The first power play unit has the talent (Skinner – E. Staal – Semin, Faulk – Sekera) to put up numbers, but when these guys head off the ice the drop-off is significant.

Outside of Justin Faulk and Andrej Sekera, the blueline was in desperate need of an upgrade this offseason. Tim Gleason returns after a brief hiatus in Toronto, but that still doesn’t improve a defensive corps that could rank in the bottom-third of the NHL this season.