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Hurricanes’ 2022-23 season was a success despite ECF sweep

May 31, 2023, 5:41 PM ET [2 Comments]
Ben Shelley
Carolina Hurricanes Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
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The Carolina Hurricanes’ season came to an end one week ago at the hands of the Florida Panthers. Despite winning another Division title, the Hurricanes found themselves unable to capitalize deep in the playoffs.

Before diving into the questions of “Who should stay and who should go?” or “Which player should the team add?” that inevitably come with each offseason, there’s a lot to recap from what was another eventful year for the Hurricanes.


Expectations were high for Carolina heading into the year, coming off back-to-back division title-winning seasons, which ended with early playoff exits. But after starting the year fairly strong through October, the Hurricanes hit a bit of a wall in early November. Over a stretch from Nov. 6 until Nov. 23, Carolina lost seven of nine games, and were quickly starting to lose position within the Metropolitan Division.

Around late November though, something started to click for the Hurricanes. Over 43 games between then and Mid-March, Carolina was the best team in the NHL, managing a 33-6-4 record. However, it was over that time that the team was dealt their first major injury, with Max Pacioretty re-tearing his Achilles in late January, missing the remainder of the season.

Despite the injury, the Hurricanes didn’t make a big splash at the trade deadline. All signs pointed to them being in on Timo Meier, but they ended up going a bit smaller, acquiring Shayne Gostisbehere and Jesse Puljujarvi.

Shortly after the trade deadline, the Hurricanes did start to stumble a bit, starting with a shutout loss to the Vegas Golden Knights. It was also in this game that Carolina suffered another massive blow, with Andrei Svechnikov tearing his ACL and being ruled out for the rest of the season.

From there, Carolina finished the year with just a 9-9-1 record through their final 19 games. While they did still clinch top spot in the Metropolitan Division in the final game of the season, they weren’t entering the playoffs with a ton of momentum, and their lack of scoring was on display more than ever.

Their first round matchup against the New York Islanders meant they’d be facing another strong defensive team, along with one of the world’s top netminders in Ilya Sorokin. The concern revolved around the fact that if the Hurricanes were already struggling to score, facing a goalie who can steal games against even the league’s most dynamic offensive teams wasn’t going to help. However, Carolina was able to take down the Islanders with a series of fairly narrow victories and advanced after six games.

They matched up against the New Jersey Devils in the second round, who were fresh off a big first round win over the New York Rangers. The series didn’t play out like anyone would’ve expected though, with the Hurricanes dominating three of the first four games and scoring 21 goals across that stretch. While it did take a close win in Game 5 to end the series, Carolina was largely able to shut down New Jersey’s high-end offense, advancing to the Eastern Conference Final.



Facing the Florida Panthers, it seemed like a good matchup. Carolina had a reasonable amount of regular season success against the Panthers, winning two of the three meetings between the teams, including the final game of the regular season.

However, the story of the series was Sergei Bobrovsky. Yes, the Hurricanes weren’t equipped to handle the huge injuries up front and had trouble scoring as is, but Bobrvosky was outstanding, stopping 132 of 135 shots through the first three games alone. Despite arguably outplaying the Panthers through most of the series, Carolina was swept in four games.

As silly as Rod Brind’Amour’s comments were about not getting swept (after getting swept), you can understand the sentiment. Carolina was very much in every single game and if a few things go slightly differently, the Hurricanes could’ve swept Florida. Of course, that’s just the game of hockey, but this is to say that Carolina put together a pretty good series, despite the outcome.


Even with the sweep, I think overall, this season was another step in the right direction for Carolina.

After a few years of early playoff exits, the team managed to reach the Conference Final without two of their best forwards, as well as Teuvo Teravainen for a lot of that stretch. It’s a testament to how well-built this team was and to get as far as they did without multiple top players is a success in itself.

I think if the team has a healthy lineup for the playoffs and the exit comes the way it did, it may be a different attitude towards the year. But the reality is most teams around the league wouldn’t be able to overcome the loss of multiple top forwards, and for Carolina to get as far as they did, and legitimately look like the better team through much of a Conference Final, it gives some hope as to what the team can accomplish with top stars available.

The Hurricanes are a young enough team that while they've solidified themselves as contenders, there's not necessarily the same 'win now at all costs' status surrounding the group. They're poised to be a threat in the East for the forseeable future and while the goal is to win a Stanley Cup, Carolina remains in position to do so in the coming years. A deep playoff run, even if it ends in a sweep, is only giving the team more experience in these situations.

There are arguably still reasons for some frustration, particularly around the team not adding a top player at the trade deadline. At that point, Pacioretty had been injured and even if Svechnikov was healthy, the team pretty clearly needed another high-end forward. Then once Svechnikov was hurt, it was going to be pretty difficult to find the scoring they'd need. It’s tough to say if adding a top forward at the deadline would’ve made the difference, but not making an attempt at all didn’t help.

At the same time, Don Waddell and the organization have built a reputation of not overpaying on contracts or trades, and it’s been pretty tough to argue with the last few seasons of results. If there wasn’t a move for the right price, massively overpaying for a player would only have garnered even more criticism and may have left the team in a worse spot going forward.

Despite the sweep to end the year though, Carolina found huge success yet again this season. They captured their third straight division title and battled through some huge losses to do it, getting back to the Conference Final for the first time in four years. The team also continued to solidify their identity as a hard-working, high-intensity group that was almost always ready to go for puck drop.

Highlighting some individuals, one big positive was Martin Necas’ impact this season. After a really strong 2021 year, Necas slowed down a bit last season, scoring at an 82-game pace of just 15 goals and 42 points.

This season though, Necas took his biggest step yet, basically doubling his goal pace with 28 goals and 71 points in a full 82 games. Especially with the injuries up front, Necas needed to play a big role for the team and only one year after his long-term future with the organization was somewhat in question, he’s emerged as the team’s second-most valuable winger.

Necas’ ability was never in question – just in terms of pure, offensive skill, there’s an argument to be made that he’s the most dynamic forward on the team. It was just about finding consistency, and while Necas did struggle a bit in the playoffs, he was able to drive play far more consistently.

Some other positives up front were players in the bottom-six stepping up. Jesperi Kotkaniemi took noticeable steps in the back half of the year, looking like he could possibly develop into a long-term, second-line center. He’ll need to follow it up next season, but it was the first time that he was really putting together consistently strong results in a Hurricanes sweater.

Jordan Martinook was also great, highlighted mostly with his time on a line with Jordan Staal and Jesper Fast. A player who found himself on waivers to begin the year, Martinook’s 34 points this season were the best of his career.

Stefan Noesen finally solidified himself as a full-time NHLer as well. He’s able to use his size to his advantage around the net and showed that his production in the AHL could translate, posting 36 points in 78 games. With another year remaining on his contract at well under $1 million, Carolina should continue getting great value from the contract next year.

Then on the blue line, Brent Burns was essentially a perfect fit. Jaccob Slavin has a history of success with offensive defensemen and this was no exception, with Slavin and Burns working as a great top pairing. Burns posted 18 goals and 61 points in 82 games for his highest production in years.

I said this at the time that Burns was acquired, but the biggest thing working against him with the San Jose Sharks was the lack of talent around him. Due to the Sharks’ thin blue line, Burns was counted on to do it all, and inevitably fell short. But sheltering him within a well-structured blue line and tailoring his role a bit more produced excellent results.

Carolina’s offense from the blue line in general was another story as well. Burns and Brady Skjei each had 18 goals this season, while the team acquired Shayne Gostisbehere, who was scoring at an 82-game pace of 16 goals with the Arizona Coyotes prior to the trade. Then each of Jaccob Slavin, Brett Pesce and Jalen Chatfield had at least five goals as well.

In net, things weren’t as clear-cut as they had been last season. Frederik Andersen saw a decline in performance following an outstanding season last year, where he posted a .922 save percentage across 52 games. This season, Andersen managed only a .903 save percentage and got into only 34 games, though he did put together a really strong performance in the playoffs.

Raanta, on the other hand, was pretty consistent compared to last season. He played just about the same number of games, posting a .910 save percentage instead of a .912 save percentage.

With injuries, Pyotr Kochetkov also ended up taking on a big role, playing 24 games. While his play did tail off a bit near the end of his NHL stint this season, he was playing well enough at times that it seemed like trading either Andersen or Raanta to make room for Kochetkov seemed like a legitimate possibility.

Goaltending will also be something to track heading into the summer. Andersen and Raanta are both unrestricted free agents, while Pyotr Kochetkov’s four-year extension essentially locks him in as one of the team’s two netminders next season. So we know with near certainty that Andersen and Raanta won’t both return, and there’s the possibility neither are back.

Special teams was also a whole other story for Carolina. While their penalty kill continued to be elite, ranking second in the league this season, their power play was a major issue at times. While it did end up only 20th in the league, there were stretches of games where the Hurricanes were virtually useless on the man advantage. It’s been much better over previous years and not having some key forwards available didn’t help, but it’s something that needs improving for next year.


So now, the Hurricanes head into the offseason. Decisions on several unrestricted free agents need to be made, such as Andersen and Raanta (as listed above), along with Max Pacioretty, Jordan Staal, Jesper Fast, Shayne Gostisbehere and others. There isn’t a ton of work to be done with restricted free agents, but deciding whether there are positives with issuing a qualifying offer to Jesse Puljujarvi will be an interesting debate.

The benefit is the Hurricanes do have a ton of cap space right now, with nearly $25 million available. But with many top players set to become UFAs next summer, in Sebastian Aho, Teuvo Teravainen, Brady Skjei and Brett Pesce, then key 2024 restricted free agents in Martin Necas and Seth Jarvis, Carolina needs to be careful not to overspend now.

With a young group, the Hurricanes are poised to continue contending for the years to come and Don Waddell is deserving of considerable trust heading into the summer. Again, considering they got as far as they did with a depleted top-six, this team is a legitimate contender when healthy.

The Hurricanes are on the right track and continue to improve year after year – it’ll be exciting to see how the next couple of months unfold.


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Hurricanes eliminate Devils, advance to Eastern Conference Final
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Hurricanes drop Game 1 of ECF to Panthers in quadruple overtime
Hurricanes face 2-0 series deficit after another overtime loss to Panthers
Hurricanes on verge of elimination after Game 3 shutout loss to Panthers
Hurricanes eliminated by Panthers after dramatic Game 4 loss
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