Carolina Hurricanes’ Surging and Slumping Forwards
By Santagata JJ
The Carolina Hurricanes Have Been Pushing Up Offense As of Late. This Boost in Offense Can Be Attributed to the Team’s Surging Forwards. On the Contrary, There are Also Some Slumping Forwards on the Team This Season.
The Carolina Hurricanes’ fairly decent play as of late is a worthy story. Let’s dig into this Carolina team, they’re a middle of the pack team as of right now. With the way the Metropolitan Division and Eastern Conference is going right now, playoff possibilities are slim to none for the Hurricanes. Carolina ranks, 18th among NHL teams in goals for(76), 16th in goals per game(2.62), 5th in power play percentage(22.4%) and 15th in shots per game(29.9).
Like stated above, a middle of the pack team, that scores a fair amount of goals and lets up a few amount of goals. Through 29 games, Carolina is 12-11-6, ranking 6th in the Metropolitan division and 11th in the Eastern conference, middle of the pack. Not a spectacular team, but definitely not a team that can be looked past by opponents.
Surging Forwards
Sebastian Aho
Which brings me to my second topic, surging forwards along with slumping forwards. Among the surging forwards is rookie
, who is off to a noticeable start. Aho is slowly starting to make a name for himself on this roster. Posting five goals, 11 assists, 16 points, four of which are power play points, Aho is proving he is capable of putting up great play. He’s an up-and-coming rookie in the league, by no means will he be in the talks for rookie of the year, but Aho is off to a nice start for Carolina.
Victor Rask
Surging forward number two is Victor Rask. Despite having a decent year last season, Rask is on pace to exceed his goal total already. Through 31 games Rask has 10 goals while last season he had just 21 through 80. As well as exceeding his points for the season through 31 games, Rask has 25 points in comparison to his 48 points in 80 games last season. Rask has stepped up in Carolina which, after three seasons, is comforting for the Hurricanes to see.
Jeff Skinner
Surging forward number three is Jeff Skinner, who is off to a career year and makes headlines in the NHL week after week. Skinner has 26 points in 30 games including 12 goals and 11 power play points. As the leader of the team, it’s expected of Skinner to produce these numbers, whereas in years past he hasn’t raised the bar all that well. Well, this season Skinner is on pace for 100 points.
Slumping Forwards
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Teuvo Teravainen
The first of a few slumping skaters is Teuvo Teravainen. Despite going from playing on a team accompanied by Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith to the Carolina Hurricanes, Teuvo has not yet lived up to his standards in Carolina. It could be the dreaded sophomore slump kicking in that we’ve all seen ravage and ruin some players careers. Although Teravainen is on pace to surpass his last season’s numbers, Carolina brought him in to do much more than just barely exceed 13 goals and 35 points. Therefore putting him in the slumping forwards talk for Carolina.
Justin Faulk
Justin Faulk is another skater in the slumping category. It seems year after year Faulk just simply cannot live up to the expectations Carolina and the fans around the NHL have for him. This season Faulk has a minuscule 8 assists and 13 points while posting a -11 plus/minus. On the bright side, Faulk is expected to outdo his -22 plus/minus from last year (Obviously a joke, that’s pretty bad).
Jordan Staal
Lastly is Jordan Staal. Since coming to Carolina, Staal has played two full seasons in his 5 years in Carolina and has posted a total of 57 goals through 282 games. Staal’s past years in Pittsburgh are what Carolina was hoping for. Obviously, Staal does not have Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin on his team, but still Staal’s numbers are nothing spectacular, to say the least. In six seasons and 431 games played in Pittsburgh, Staal posted a total of 120 goals.
Despite playing four full seasons in Pittsburgh, Staal has yet to produce these type of numbers or, better yet, even stay healthy enough to play a full 82 game season in Carolina, which puts him among the list of slumping forwards.Lastly Jordan Staal, since coming to Carolina Staal has played two full seasons in his 5 years in.
Next: Columbus Blue Jackets Chasing Metropolitan Division Lead
Moving forward
The Carolina Hurricanes are seeing more success this season than most recent years, but that does not take away the fact these skaters among the slumping list are still not performing. In hindsight, Skinner seems to be getting his feet under him and Aho looks to be a promising forward for Carolina. It’s only a matter of time until Carolina decided to pull the plug on some of these skaters, down the road this a possibility.