Follow me on Twitter: @BenShelley_20 Follow HockeyBuzz Hurricanes on Twitter: @HB_Canes
After a break from action, the Carolina Hurricanes are set to face the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight. Over the last few weeks, I’ve been looking at how the Hurricanes’ roster stacks up against each team in their division and in today’s article, I’ll look at how Carolina’s roster matches up against Tampa Bay’s roster.
Note: We’ve already released six articles in this series, which you can read here.
- Hurricanes/Blackhawks Comparison - Hurricanes/Blue Jackets Comparison - Hurricanes/Panthers Comparison - Hurricanes/Predators Comparison - Hurricanes/Red Wings Comparison - Hurricanes/Stars Comparison
FORWARDS
Even without Nikita Kucherov, the Lightning are looking very strong up front. Brayden Point and Steven Stamkos can put up huge numbers, while Alex Killorn is coming off a big year and Anthony Cirelli is likely to continue developing. Yanni Gourde, Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat can all provide quality secondary scoring and the bottom-six is very strong, with the likes of Blake Coleman, Barclay Goodrow and Patrick Maroon. With Kucherov out, the Hurricanes do have one more key forward available but could continue to lack secondary scoring, which certainly won’t be a problem for the Lightning. Carolina has a quality bottom-six group as well but Tampa Bay has the edge there too, after giving up assets specifically to improve their depth. It’s not a lopsided comparison with Kucherov out by any means but the Lightning do still have an advantage up front.
Advantage: Lightning
DEFENSE
Victor Hedman is one of the league’s best defenseman, Ryan McDonagh is a leader on the blue line and Mikhail Sergachev will be a key member of the group for a long time. Erik Cernak has also emerged as a good, young defenseman, while Cal Foote, Jan Rutta and Luke Schenn provide solid depth. The Hurricanes certainly have the depth part down and do have one of the league’s best overall defense groups. That said, it’s hard to bet against a group led by Hedman, McDonagh and Sergachev. While there isn’t a huge gap between the defense groups, the Lightning have the advantage.
Advantage: Lightning
GOALTENDING
Not much of a comparison here. The Lightning have arguably the best goalie in the world in Andrei Vasilevskiy and the duo Petr Mrazek and James Reimer doesn’t even come close to reaching Vasilevskiy’s level.
Advantage: Lightning
The Hurricanes are one of the teams in the Central Division who can try to keep up with the Lightning but at the end of the day, Tampa Bay still has the advantage here.
***NOTE: We've launched a HockeyBuzz Hurricanes Twitter account! For anyone interested, you can follow @HB_Canes for updates on articles, Hurricanes news, etc.***
Here’s today’s poll question (results and discussion will be posted in a future article):
Breaking down Carolina’s training camp roster Central Division Comparison: Hurricanes/Blackhawks Weekly Recap: Hurricanes Edition (January 3) Central Division Comparison: Hurricanes/Blue Jackets Central Division Comparison: Hurricanes/Stars Ryan Suzuki earns Silver Medal with Canada at World Juniors Hurricanes are reportedly interested in Patrik Laine Hurricanes place seven players on waivers Gustav Forsling claimed by Panthers Weekly Recap: Hurricanes Edition (January 10) Central Division Comparison: Hurricanes/Red Wings Hurricanes claim Forsberg, waive Nedeljkovic and Ryan, trade for Max Lajoie Hurricanes announce taxi squad, assign players to AHL Carolina Hurricanes 2020-21 Season Preview Hurricanes shutout Red Wings in first game of season Anton Forsberg claimed by Jets, Jordan Staal added to COVID Protocol list Weekly Recap: Hurricanes Edition (January 17) Central Division Comparison: Hurricanes/Predators Hurricanes/Predators game postponed Two more of Carolina's games postponed Central Division Comparison: Hurricanes/Panthers Weekly Recap: Hurricanes Edition (January 24) Hurricanes/Lightning game postponed Hurricanes place Jeremy Bracco on waivers for contract termination