This piece will be another in my series of player profiles, where I’ll give some thoughts on the performance of a member of the Carolina Hurricanes this season. This article will focus on Brett Pesce.
Brett Pesce is someone who you can almost always count on to get the job done in the defensive zone and he proved that once again this season. He logged a lot of ice time, playing 22 minutes per game, which was up almost a minute and a half from last season. Pesce also averaged well over three minutes per game on the Hurricanes’ fourth-ranked penalty kill, the most time of any player on the team.
His point totals were down a bit from last year but with offensive-minded defensemen like Dougie Hamilton and Jake Gardiner in the lineup, Pesce’s game doesn’t need to be focused on offense. His corsi for percentage was strong once again at 52.7 per cent and he was also tied for second on the Hurricanes in blocked shots.
Pesce was injured at the end of the year and should the season return, Pesce won’t. As for next season, I’d like to see Pesce paired with Jake Gardiner or Brady Skjei, to hopefully offset potential defensive lapses, while allowing Dougie Hamilton and Jaccob Slavin to dominate on the top pairing. Pesce remains one of the best defenders in the league in his own zone and will continue to add defensive stability to Carolina’s solid defense corps.
Here’s today’s poll question (results will be discussed in a post tomorrow):
In your opinion, where does Brett Pesce rank against all other NHL defensemen in terms of defensive zone reliability?
Carolina Hurricanes Blogger • 
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