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?

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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.

Usually, a player being under pressure is a bad thing. But in Sebastian Aho’s case, it’s for a good reason. The 2018-19 season is his last year under his entry-level contract, which means he’ll be a restricted free agent after next season.

This will be Aho’s final chance to prove he’s deserving of a long-term commitment. In his first two NHL seasons, he has 114 points (53 goals and 61 assists) in 160 games. That’s pretty outstanding, but let’s put this in context. Since the start of the 2016-17 season, Aho ranks 59th in the NHL in points. He’s ahead of some pretty darn good players, including Logan Couture and Brayden Point.

Aho will also be under pressure to improve. This is not his fault, as the Skinner trade has left the Hurricanes without known goal scorers. Sure, Andrei Svechnikov should be a huge help. But then again, he’s a prospect. An unknown. Aho and Teravainen are the only two returning players who scored at least 20 goals last season.

The Hurricanes have lacked goal scoring for so long. Aho is the guy they’ve been waiting for. The 2018-19 season is his time to erase any doubts the Hurricanes might have and to prove he’s fully deserving of a long-term extension.

Defenseman Justin Faulk might not even start this season with the Carolina Hurricanes. Currently, the Canes have seven defensemen signed to multi-year deals. Trevor van Riemsdyk and Faulk are the only two not signed for at least three years. Do the math. One of them is a goner.

The acquisition of Dougie Hamilton puts Faulk’s future on the team in question. Are the Hurricanes going to be willing to commit over $4 million a year to someone who is likely going to be on their third pairing? But let’s assume Faulk starts this season on the team. Even if this is the case, he’s going to be under pressure to prove he’s a part of the Hurricanes future.

Faulk has another strike against him – he’s a part of the leadership group of alternate captains and actually served as their captain during home games last season. Whether it’s fair or not, when a team struggles, guess who tends to get the blame? The leaders.

This puts Faulk under a lot of pressure, as he’s one of the veterans on the team. Yes, it’s odd to say this about someone who’s just 26 years old. But the Hurricanes are a young team. If Faulk can’t stand out in a very crowded blueline, he could be the next guy shipped out.

The Carolina Hurricanes have been looking a long time for a true franchise goaltender. Cam Ward might have been with the team for a long time. But that doesn’t make him a franchise goalie. A franchise goaltender is someone you can build a team around. The Hurricanes believed goaltender Scott Darling was one, which is why they traded for him and signed him to a huge extension.

One year later, the move is looking horrible. Goaltenders tend to struggle with their new teams, as they have to adjust to a new system and new guys playing in front of them. But Darling’s struggles were especially pronounced. According to Corsica, he had the second worst goals saved above average at -21.56 during all situations. The Hurricanes allowed 256 goals last year. Had Darling even been league average (meaning his GSAA would be zero on the dot), they would have allowed 234.

The Hurricanes signed Petr Mrazek this summer, which suggests they aren’t comfortable with Darling moving forward. He will most likely challenge him for starts. And if Darling continues to struggle while Mrazek struggles, he could see himself shipped out or even bought out. This is a crtical season for both goaltenders, but especially Darling.