Carolina Hurricanes: 5 players under pressure next season
After an offseason of changes, everybody on the Carolina Hurricanes is on notice. Here’s a look at five players who should be feeling the most heat going into the 2018-19 NHL season.
The Carolina Hurricanes have gone nearly a decade without making the playoffs. If they don’t make the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2018-19, it will mark a full decade since their last postseason appearance. The Hurricanes’ nine-season postseason drought is the longest current streak in the NHL.
Recently, new majority owner Thomas Dundon has taken over. This offseason was one full of changes. They fired head coach Bill Peters and general manager Ron Francis, hiring franchise legend Rod Brind’Amour to replace the former and former Atlanta Thrashers general manager Don Waddell to replace the latter.
If the Hurricanes don’t start getting some better results this season, more roster changes could be occurring next summer. This puts the entire roster under pressure to perform. But which five players should be feeling the most heat underneath their seat?
109. . Center. Carolina Hurricanes. Jordan Staal. 5. player
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The Carolina Hurricanes shipped out forward Jeff Skinner to the Buffalo Sabres. This suggests the Canes are ready to address their lack of leadership. If Carolina doesn’t see improvement this season, the next guy voted off the island could be longtime Hurricanes center Jordan Staal.
Since hitting the 50 point plateau in 2011-12, he hasn’t been able to reach that milestone again in six seasons. Staal is turning 30 years old in September. The Hurricanes are a team who are looking to get younger. Obviously, Staal is a guy Carolina could consider moving if he can’t help lead the Canes to a better record.
The Hurricanes have a promising center in Teuvo Teravainen. He finished second on the team in points with 64, trailing only linemate Sebastian Aho. With Staal getting older, the Hurricanes might be ready to hand the keys to the franchise to Teravainen.