State of the Canes: Five Current Storylines for the Carolina Hurricanes
By Adam Burruss
On Wednesday, January 11, Carolina Hurricanes forward Martin Necas went to the podium and confessed his desire to participate in the 2023 NHL All-Star Game.
“I would love to go. It’s the All-Star,” Necas said. It would maybe be different if you go five times, then maybe you want more of a vacation, but I want to go.”
Necas’ All-Star candidacy began after forward Jordan Martinook addressed the fanbase’s desire to vote him into the All-Star game. Martinook took it as an opportunity to promote his teammate.
“There’s someone to my left that deserves it a heck of a lot more,” Martinook said in reference to Necas. “Get him there.”
Since Martinook’s statement, the fanbase and the Hurricanes’ Twitter account pushed Necas’ All-Star candidacy as much as possible, which speaks to the season he has experienced thus far. He trended up to number three on Twitter’s trending list.
The fanfare not only shows how Necas has progressed thus far, as he has already surpassed his career high in goals and nears his career high in points. With 17 goals and 22 assists thus far, Necas blossomed into one of the Hurricanes’ scoring leaders this season.
Necas’ story speaks to player development and how progression is not necessarily linear; the recently-turned 24-year-old forward received a bridge contract after a down year last season. After playing his best hockey, the team and the fans rallied around the cause of getting him recognition.
With that anecdote, welcome to some current storylines with the Carolina Hurricanes based on last week.
State of the Canes: Five Current Storylines for the Carolina Hurricanes
This series may be starting late into the season, but the plan is to touch on some growing narratives for the team as well as interesting tidbits each week. Let us dive into how this week went.