Offseason Losses: Erik Cole, Joe Corvo, Bryan Rodney
Offseason Additions: Anthony Stewart, Brian Boucher, Tomas Kaberle
Last Season Ranking: 9th in East
Offense: The Canes are pretty stacked at the center position. The top three leading scorers from last season were all centers. Eric Staal returns as leader and face of the franchise. His offensive numbers were very impressive as he scored 33 goals and had 43 assists. But a byproduct of the awful defense the team had was his -10 rating. He will also quarterback the power play unit as he was the only player on the team with double-digit power play goals with 12 last season.
One of the breakout players from last season was rookie Jeff Skinner. The Calder Trophy winner led all rookies in the league in points with 63. He played a huge impact in them coming within a few points of making the playoffs. Just like with Detroit’s Jimmy Howard last season, I don’t expect a sophomore slump from Skinner.
The loss of Cole means there are 26 goals from last season that needs to be replaced. One player can’t fill his shoes entirely but expect a slew of young players to battle for limited spots on the team. They added Alexi Ponikarovsky and Anthony Stewart during the off season, but they can’t each be expected to score 20+ goals. Carolina could be playoff contenders just like last season if both players play within themselves ( 14 goals/35 points for Ponikarovsky and 16 goals/42 points for Stewart) they will have a solid first two lines.
This could be a make or break season for Zach Boychuk. Boychuk, 21, was the team’s first round pick (14th overall) in 2008 and the team is hoping can finally bust through and stick in Raleigh. In 23 games last season, Boychuk had four goals and three assists.
Defense: If there is anything the Canes need to an overhaul of, it’s the defense. They faced a league-high 33.2 shots per game and the addition of Kaberle should help keep the puck going the other direction because of his puck moving ability. The addition of assistant coach Dave Lewis should help strengthen their defense as he has many years of experience coaching stingy, sound defense while he was with the Detroit Red Wings. Carolina fans should still worry about the defense as Kaberle was the only addition and it appears the rest of the defensive depth chart will be filled from within during training camp provided they don’t make any other trades or free agent signings.
Goaltending: The addition of Brian Boucher is huge for the Hurricanes. They have someone who will give Cam Ward a few nights of rest without risking losing the game. That is what you need from a backup: someone who will give your team just as much of a chance to win as the starter. Ward started more games than any goalie in the league (74) and made over 200 more saves (2191 vs 1982) than the next goalie in the saves made list (Carey Price).
HWB Playoff Prediction: Not playoff bound. While the changes they made were good, they didn’t go enough to earn a playoff spot above the teams around them.
I got them in. Injuries slowed them down a little last year and Cam Ward is not just a good goalie he is great. He is on my watch list for the Vezina trophy this year. With an improved defense and the continued maturation of the younger forwards I think this team will turn heads this year. Playoff bound.