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 Justin Williams.
I have to admit, when Williams returned, I was skeptical as to whether or not he’d be the same player that we saw in the 2018-19 season. He certainly was and from the time he played his first game back, he looked great.
Placed on the fourth line when he returned, Williams added a huge spark and was able to provide secondary scoring. He was an excellent addition to the bottom-six and managed to score 11 points in 20 games, despite averaging just 13:37 per game, which ranked 10th amongst Hurricanes forwards. He was also added back to the power play, where he averaged about two and a half minutes per game.
He was a solid, cheap addition and if the season is cancelled, hopefully, this isn’t how his career ends. If he’s back next season, he’d be a great fit on the third line again, where he slots in behind Teuvo Teravainen and Martin Necas. He can help to elevate Jordan Staal’s game and whoever else is on the line (likely either Ryan Dzingel, Warren Foegele or Nino Niederreiter) and once again help with secondary scoring, which Carolina lacked at times this year.
Getting Justin Williams back, even at 38 years old, was a huge win for the Hurricanes. If this is it for his career, it’s been a joy watching him but if not, he’ll continue to be a big part of Carolina’s forward group next season.
Here's today's poll question (results and discussion for all polls this week will be posted tomorrow):
If the season is cancelled, do you think Justin Williams returns next season to make one more run at a Cup?
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