The Carolina Hurricanes’ season came to an end last week, following a second round playoff elimination at the hands of the New York Rangers.
After a rocky start to the year in 2023, the Hurricanes managed to find their stride once the calendar flipped, and were one of the NHL’s best teams in the back half of the year. Then adding Jake Guentzel, along with Evgeny Kuznetsov at the deadline, and it seemed like the Hurricanes were in a better position than ever to make a run at the Stanley Cup.
While Carolina was able to get past the first round again though, they fell into a huge deficit against the New York Rangers, before eventually being eliminated in six games. So with another premature playoff exit – and this one coming with their best roster yet – the Hurricanes’ end to the year came with more disappointment than ever.
Below, we take a look at the positives, negatives, and next steps for the Hurricanes.
Comparison to the 2022-23 season
While this season marked the first time in four years that the Hurricanes didn't claim top spot in their Division, their results overall were fairly similar to last season. Carolina managed 52 wins and 111 points, good enough for second overall in the Eastern Conference, compared to 52 wins and 113 points in 2022-23, where they also finished second in the East overall.
Defensively, the Hurricanes remained one of the league’s top teams. They allowed virtually the exact same number of goals (211 this season compared to 210 in 2022-23), and their penalty kill was the best in the NHL, at 86.4 percent (compared to a second-place finish last year, at 84.4 percent). Considering how poor their penalty kill and goaltending were to start the season, it’s a pretty wild feat that they were able to bounce back to that extent as the year went on.
Where Carolina really saw a boost this year though was with their scoring. After scoring 262 goals last season (15th), the Hurricanes boosted their goal totals up to 277 this season, good enough for 8th-best in the NHL.
Part of this was aided by a greatly improved power play. Carolina was held back last season, finishing the year at 20th in the NHL on the man advantage and operating at 19.8 percent. This year, however, that shot up to second in the NHL, at 26.9 percent. While power play struggles ultimately played a major role in the Hurricanes' second round downfall, the regular season success was a positive step nonetheless.
Who performed?
In terms of the positives, the strong majority of the Hurricanes’ roster put together really good results.
Sebastian Aho arguably found another step in his game, posting 36 goals, with his 89 points being his highest total yet by quite a margin. He also found great chemistry alongside Jake Guentzel post-trade deadline, establishing a true top duo that could be counted on for consistent offense. After arriving in Carolina, Guentzel posted eight goals and 25 points across the remaining 17 regular season games.
However, perhaps the most surprising breakout year belonged to Seth Jarvis. While Jarvis had already established himself as a two-way, high-intensity winger over his first two NHL seasons, he had been limited to a pace of around 15-20 goals and 40-45 points per 82. This year though, Jarvis exploded for 33 goals and 67 points, proving he was capable of providing high-end offense, in addition to a really well-rounded game.
Meanwhile, Andrei Svechnikov produced at a very similar rate to the two years prior, with his numbers through 59 games putting him on pace for close to 30 goals and 70 points per 82 games once again. Teuvo Teravainen was then also able to bounce back from a really underwhelming 2022-23 season, posting 25 goals and 53 points in 76 games. Then while Martin Necas saw a bit of a drop in production, he was still able to add some really strong secondary offense, with 24 goals and 53 points in 77 games.
The Hurricanes’ bottom-six was as strong as ever, too. Jordan Staal finished the year as a Selke Trophy finalist, while Jordan Martinook was consistent as always. Stefan Noesen was also able to repeat his success from last season, while Jesper Fast provided solid depth before his injury.
Down the middle, Jack Drury took a step in his first full NHL season, and while Evgeny Kuznetsov was inconsistent, when at his best, he did add another dynamic element to the forward group.
On the blue line, Jaccob Slavin continued to be a workhorse for the Hurricanes, but Brady Skjei’s year was maybe the most impressive of any Carolina blue liner. Skjei managed an excellent 13 goals and 47 points across 80 games, while also being one of the more consistent and reliable defenders on his own side of the puck. Jalen Chatfield also worked really well on the bottom pairing again, and was able to chip in more offense, with eight goals and 22 points.
In goal, it was an incredibly shaky start to the season. However, Pyotr Kochetkov was able to turn things around, posting a .911 save percentage across 42 games. He had a great back half of the season, and considering this was still really only his first full NHL season, Kochetkov’s year can be considered a success overall.
Then with Frederik Andersen, while his blood-clotting issue was a really unfortunate way for his season to play out, it was incredibly impressive how well he was able to perform upon his return. Andersen posted a .951 save percentage and a 9-1-0 record after getting healthy, and while his playoff results were mixed, I think all things considered, it was a strong performance in a limited sample size.
Who didn’t meet expectations?
Up front, there's unfortunately one standout in terms of disappointing year.
To back up a bit: when Jesperi Kotkaniemi was signed to a massive eight-year contract extension, it was a gamble. He was relatively unproven in terms of what kind of role he was going to fill long-term (and I had expressed some of the concerns with the extension at the time), in the article below.
However, given Don Waddell’s excellent track record, the Hurricanes’ General Manager had earned a lot of trust with his decisions.
Two years into the contract though, and Kotkaniemi still has yet to carve out a role for himself. He’s gotten opportunities at second-line center, which was a role the Hurricanes were undoubtedly hoping he’d grow into when they parted with Vincent Trocheck. However, any true success has been fleeting, and Kotkaniemi was held to just 12 goals and 27 points in 79 games this season, seeing his role notably really reduced in the postseason. At this point, there could be legitimate consideration for a Kotkaniemi buyout.
Meanwhile, there were a few defenders who, while putting together an okay year, maybe didn’t provide the impact the team would’ve hoped. While Dmitry Orlov did find his game as the year went on, and was quite good in the playoffs, it’s a hard sell to say the Hurricanes got the value they were likely expecting. Orlov spent the year on the team’s third pair, managing 26 points and only a little over 17 minutes per game. Orlov was fine, but wasn’t a positive difference-maker a lot of the time.
On the right side, Brent Burns’ production slipped from 18 goals and 61 points down to 10 goals and 43 points. His shortcomings on defense seemed more apparent, and with less of an offensive impact, his second season in Carolina failed to match the success of his first.
Then with Brett Pese, the defenseman saw both his production and ice time slip. Managing just 13 points and averaging 20:17 per game, both totals were the lowest since his rookie season in 2015-16. Obviously though, he was still a key part of the back end, and his absence was felt in the second round.
Again, all of Orlov, Burns and Pesce were still alright, but I don’t think any of the three really put together their strongest year. I’ll also add Tony DeAngelo to that group as well, where he didn’t get much of an opportunity, but failed to replicate his 2021-22 spark when he did get into action.
Then in net, of course, Antti Raanta’s play fell off a cliff. While Pyotr Kochetkov was able to get things back on track after his shaky start, Raanta didn’t see the same turnaround, posting an .872 save percentage in 24 games. At 35 years old, unfortunately, this could possibly spell the end of Raanta’s NHL tenure.
Next Steps
The result of another playoff exit is tough to swallow, with this year’s team looking more prepared than ever for a deep run. It’s hard to imagine Carolina getting better on paper heading into next season than they were for this playoff stretch.
But the Hurricanes won’t have much time to digest the early playoff exit, with a laundry list of items to attend to. The team was able to extend Rod Brind’Amour, but still has eight notable unrestricted free agents, in Jake Guentzel, Teuvo Teravainen, Jordan Martinook, Stefan Noesen, Brady Skjei, Brett Pesce, Jalen Chatfield and Tony DeAngelo. Meanwhile, that’s not including three key restricted free agents in Seth Jarvis, Martin Necas and Jack Drury.
So essentially, the immediate next steps are figuring out how to allocate their available cap space, given they won’t have the room to bring back all their free agents. They’ve got about a month to figure it out.
Carolina has managed to remain competitive in previous years despite losing major pieces, including the likes of Dougie Hamilton, Vincent Trocheck, and Nino Niederreiter. But with so many notable names set for a possible departure, this offseason could be more challenging than ever for Don Waddell and company. As the team looks to find ways to improve after another playoff failure, they may just struggle just to put together a roster of the same strength.
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