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.
We’ve already released two articles in this series, which you can view here:
In today’s article, we’ll be assessing how the Hurricanes compare to the Dallas Stars.
FORWARDS
Dallas will be without Tyler Seguin long-term, which is a huge blow to their forward group. The Stars will be counting on Jamie Benn, Joe Pavelski and Alexander Radulov but considering each forward is now in their 30s, they’re unlikely to regain top form. The team has strong secondary pieces in Denis Gurianov and Roope Hintz, among others but Dallas’ forward group overall isn’t as strong as Carolina’s.
The Hurricanes have a massive top line, with Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov and Teuvo Teravainen.
Their secondary scoring can come from Martin Necas and Vincent Trocheck, among other depth players, like Jesper Fast, Warren Foegele, Nino Niederreiter and Jordan Staal. The Hurricanes will get better production from the top of their lineup and also have quality depth.
Advantage: Hurricanes
DEFENSE
Miro Heiskanen was great for Dallas in the playoffs last year, while John Klingberg remains a key part of the defense group as well.
Esa Lindell can also play important minutes, while Jamie Oleksiak has also worked out well for the Stars and took on a larger role in the playoffs. Stephen Johns reportedly won’t play this season but Julius Honka, Mark Pysyk and Andrej Sekera should provide solid depth for the Stars’ blue line.
Like the Stars, the Hurricanes have two standout defenders in Dougie Hamilton and Jaccob Slavin, along with a strong second pairing of Brady Skjei and Brett Pesce. They have good depth as well, with Jake Gardiner, Haydn Fleury and potentially Jake Bean to use on their bottom pairing. The defense groups are fairly evenly matched.
Advantage: N/A
GOALTENDING
Even though Ben Bishop is injured, the Stars still have the edge in net. Anton Khudobin proved during the playoffs that he can handle the starting job and posted a .930 save percentage during the regular season. Khudobin will likely provide Dallas with better goaltending than what Petr Mrazek and James Reimer will be able to provide for Carolina.
Advantage: Stars
If the Hurricanes had a legitimate starter, they’d have the advantage here. As of now, however, these teams will likely be fairly evenly matched in the Central Division.
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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 Stars in the standings this season?
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