HURRICANES 8 Since winning the Stanley Cup in 2006, the Hurricanes have missed the playoffs in eight of the nine subsequent seasons. Projected Roster HEAD COACH: BILL PETERS LW C RW 1st Line Jeff Skinner Eric Staal Alexander Semin 2nd Line Jiri Tlusty Jordan Staal Patrick Dwyer 3rd Line Nathan Gerbe Elias Lindholm Zach Boychuk 4th Line Brad Malone Jay McClement Riley Nash D D #1 Justin Faulk Andrej Sekera #2 Ron Hainsey Ryan Murphy #3 Jean-Michael Liles Tim Gleason G Starter Anton Khudobin Backup Cam Ward Scoreboard 13 12 11 10 09 PLAYOFF FINISH DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ REGULAR SEASON 36-35-11 19-25-4 33-33-16 40-31-11 35-37-10 POINT TOTAL 83 42 82 91 80 SHOOTOUT RECORD 2-4 1-1 1-6 5-5 4-5 GOALS SCORED 207 128 213 236 230 GOALS AGAINST 230 160 243 239 256 POWER PLAY % 14.59 14.55 16.67 15.90 17.02 PENALTY KILL % 81.74 77.64 80.56 81.25 80.63 the third line, and Riley Nash has the ability to be a versatile performer on the fourth line at either center or the wing. Defensemen Andrej Sekera and Justin Faulk demonstrated the ability to set up teammates from the point, a big reason why they are such a solid tandem. Carolina is excited about Zach Boychuk, who looks ready to join the big club after leading the AHL with 38 goals last year. He also led the league in power-play scores, something that could help the team’s anemic man-up unit thrive some more. He will likely start the year on the third line, but the team is hoping he can make an impact and become more important as he gets older. Defense The aforementioned Faulk-Sekera pairing is the best thing about the Carolina defense. Even though both ended up with minus ratings, each is a strong defenseman and can help on the offensive end with his passing. They play roles on the power play and don’t take a lot of dumb penalties. Expect to see a lot of them this year. The problem is that after them, the Hurricanes are in trouble. They did try to improve things by re-signing Tim Gleason, who suffered from concussion symptoms last year with Toronto. But he isn’t going to step in and become a stalwart. At best, he’ll provide some stability on the third pairing. It isn’t enough. The Hurricanes weren’t awful last year in goals allowed, finishing 17th in the league. Their second duo, Ron Hainsey and Ryan Murphy combines experience (Hainsey) and youth in the 21-year old Murphy. Murphy played 48 games last year and showed promise, but he’s not ready yet. Hainsey has experience but isn’t a big-time performer. Gleason will likely be paired with John-Michael Liles, who was traded from Toronto to Carolina last year after disappointing following
Carolina Hurricanes Gameday HQ
To see the actual publication please follow the link above