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For the 2011-12 Carolina Hurricanes, the candidates for a breakout year from a developing young player or a bounceback year from a veteran are many.

From the kids:
--Drayson Bowman: Looked surprisingly comfortable and solid in a regular 3rd/checking line role down the stretch next to Brandon Sutter in 2010-11, but the offense was minimal. Could the sound defensive play win him a spot this year and another year of development combined with a some NHL experience be the formula for a breakout year offensively?

--Zac Dalpe: He got only small tastes of NHL ice time in 2010-11, but he looked decent doing so and had a great year in the AHL. He seems to be the youngster that the fan base and the organization are highest on. Cam Ward (and others) rave out his shot and the scoring potential from his quick release. Partly due to more openings on the right side as the roster sets up right now and partly due to last season, he seems to be the pre-camp frontrunner to seize a spot on 1 of the top 2 lines. Does he step into Jeff Skinner's Calder-competing role and step right into the top 6?

--Zach Boychuk: Only a year or 2 back, he was arguably the very top of the Canes promising prospect depth chart at forward. Since then, nothing has really gone wrong, but he just has not progressed to the point where he is an every-night NHL player. He has collected a little bit of NHL experience to go with skill and pedigree. In a training camp where he is probably down the depth chart a little bit, could he reassert himself as a young Cane destined for a scoring role in the NHL?

--Jiri Tlusty: He is a little like Bowman. He looked comfortable and solid in a defense-first, checking line role next to Sutter for stretches of 2010-11. But offensive production was minimal. He seems to be most often categorized as a forgotten afterthought and cheap depth player these days, but he was drafted high to be a scorer at the NHL level. Is it possible that still at only 23 years of age, he is just developing a little slower than hoped and is primed to finally have the offensive breakout year?

--Anthony Stewart: Size-check. Speed (especially considering size)-check. Reasonable offensive tool bag-check. This solid combination of physical skills is exactly what made him a 1st round pick. But that was 8 years ago now. He has developed gradually into a decent checking line forward and even showed signs of more offense in 2010-11 with 14 goals and 18 assists through about 2/3 of the season. But then he managed no goals and 7 assists in his final 23 games last year. Could a change of scenery, confidence from the first half of 2010-11 and hunger driven by the falloff late last season be just to fuel to help Stewart get closer to orginal expectations for him?

From the vets:
--Alexei Ponikarovsky: He is only a couple years removed from a string of seasons with a 20-goal pace (he fell a little short in a couple 60-70 game seasons). But switching to a new team and hindered by a couple bouts with injuries, he never got going in 2010-11 in LA and had the kind of season that makes him the cheap, 1-year signing reclamation project that the Canes signed up for. Is he just a little bit of chemistry and health away from being a 20+ goal scorer again?

--Chad Larose: You could make a case that he slots more like 4th line coming into 2011-12. And with his grit, penalty-killing ability and energy this is not a bad role for him. But he has started here before and always found his way into the top 9. Coming off a sub-par 2010-11, does he rise up this year and get back to previous form and kick in more offense in the process?

From the wild card:
--Ryan Murphy: Right now, he is clearly slotted for another year in juniors to develop. The Canes are 7 deep with veterans on the blue line and very much looking to take another step forward from #9 into a playoff spot and not at all in the "let's just get the kids time and build for the future" mode. But then the Canes have a history of kids who were not supposed to be there playing their way onto the team in training camp. Way back it was guys like David Tanabe, Erik Cole, Josef Vasicek and Jaroslav Svoboda. More recently and notably it was Eric Staal, (maybe less so) Brandon Sutter and of course Jeff Skinner. Could Murphy surge in camp and make it real hard for the Canes management to send him away for a whole year?

Who else do you have for wild cards? Which of the above player(s) is your pick to break out this season?

Go Canes!

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