The NHL season is under two weeks away and the Carolina Hurricanes will be competing in a different division than usual. Leading up to opening night, I’ll be looking at how the Hurricanes’ lineup compares to each team in their new division. Last time we looked at how the Hurricanes compare to the Chicago Blackhawks, which you can read here.
In today’s article, we’ll look at how Carolina’s lineup looks against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
FORWARDS
Pierre-Luc Dubois is key for the Blue Jackets, while Oliver Bjorkstrand is coming off a strong year and Cam Atkinson should bounce back to be a key contributor once again. The team also made a big trade in the offseason, acquiring Max Domi from Montreal, though Gustav Nyquist is expected to be out long-term. After that, however, the depth does fade a bit as well, with the likes of Nick Foligno and Boone Jenner being called upon for secondary scoring.
Carolina, however, has three star forwards in Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov and Teuvo Teravainen, along with solid depth in Martin Necas and Vincent Trocheck. The Hurricanes’ bottom-six is strong as well but the difference-maker is the top line.
Advantage: Hurricanes
DEFENSE
The Blue Jackets have two excellent defensemen in Seth Jones and Zach Werenski, that said, the pair can be offset by Carolina’s Dougie Hamilton and Jaccob Slavin. The Blue Jackets also dealt Ryan Murray to New Jersey in the offseason and will rely on Vladislav Gavrikov and David Savard, while the Hurricanes have Jake Gardiner, Haydn Fleury, Brady Skjei and Brett Pesce as solid depth after the top pairing. The Hurricanes have the edge here.
Advantage: Hurricanes
GOALTENDING
Joonas Korpisalo and Elvis Merzlikins made for a very strong tandem in Columbus last year and should be equally as effective this season.
The Hurricanes, on the other hand, failed to address their goaltending issues and still have uncertainty in net. The Petr Mrazek/James Reimer duo can’t be counted on for consistent support and the Blue Jackets are certainly positioned better in net.
Advantage: Blue Jackets
Columbus may have the better goaltending but the Hurricanes have the better skaters. There’s not a huge gap between these teams but the Hurricanes do look to have the better overall group heading into next season.
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Here’s today’s poll question (results and discussion will be posted in a future article):
Do you think the Hurricanes will finish ahead of the Blue Jackets in the standings this season?
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