The Carolina Hurricanes season has started completely counter to their norm of the last few years. Taking too many breathers on defence mixed with a surprising offensive explosion has everyone confused about the Rod Brind’Amour led Hurricanes. We took a deeper look at what’s happening in Carolina in a previous article here. Now we take a look at special teams specifically as they have been their own brand of crazy.
The Carolina Hurricanes Special Teams a Quagmire
There has been a fairly consistent storyline for the Hurricanes special teams over the last few years. A very consistent and aggressive penalty kill, a league leader in shorthanded goals, and a fairly lacklustre power play. This story has been so consistent that no one questioned the penalty kill to start the 2023-24 season. And most questioned if the power play would improve.
Sebastian Aho has been a big key to the penalty kill and specifically the shorthanded goal scoring. He is now the franchise leader in shorthanded goals scored. On the other side, both Anthony DeAngelo and Michael Bunting were brought in to help the team offensively and specifically on the power play in DeAngelo’s case. But Bunting should help too with his knack for playing around the net. But here we are at the beginning of the year and while some things remain the same, much has changed.
Penalty Kill a Mixed Bag
Onto the penalty kill. And what a crazy experience it has been. There has been some really good and some really bad. Let’s start with the good.
The Best Defence is a Good Offence
The Hurricanes are tied for the league lead in shorthanded goals with four. Jaccob Slavin has two of them. Much like their overall playing style, the Hurricanes penalty kill has no problem playing very aggressive and attacking the puck carrier on entry or the players at the points and top of the circles. When effective, this creates turnovers that lead to rush chances in the other direction. And with that, the next trailing player will typically turn the jets on to engage in an odd man rush.
Stopping the Goal Scoring
So that’s the good. Here’s the not good…not good at all. Typically, a cornerstone piece of the team, the Hurricanes penalty kill ranks 28th in the league at 68.8%. This is a far cry from years pasts results where they led or were at the very top of the league in this regard.
Of their 33 goals against this early season, ten are on the penalty kill. It also doesn’t help that while they can’t keep the puck out of the net on the penalty kill, they also are league leader in penalties taken. In their recent game against the Colorado Avalanche, they allowed three power play goals against. With better penalty killing ability, that game may have ended differently.
It seems like they are getting beaten by quality chances given up versus quantity. Guys back door wide open due to missed coverage, some failures to win 50/50 battles and get the puck out, and failing to clear out rebounds all seem to be the norm. And these results account for a lot of the stats mentioned above in defensive breakdowns.
But what needs to change seems to simply be cohesion. Guys need to figure out how to be on the same page. All defensive coverage, but especially penalty killing, should operate like a single unit. Each player knows their assignment and equally is able to cover when someone else misses there’s. It should be a single unit of four (or three) players tied together with strings. Right now, it’s more like four different players trying to figure out what to do individually.
Power Play Improvement…But Not Perfect
On what should be the offensive side, the Hurricanes power play was surely looking for an upgrade this year. In the 2022-23 regular season, Carolina’s 19.8% power play ranked at 20th in the league. Their 17.7% power play in the playoffs ranked at 12th out of the 16 playoff teams. Leading much to be desired for a team needing to convert as much as possible.
An Uptick in Conversion
On a good note, the Hurricanes power play so far has at least somewhat improved. Their 23.5% power play is ranked at 11th in the league. It’s not perfect, and it’s only a handful of games into the season, but it is an improvement. Given their struggling penalty kill, and overall defensive game, power play conversions have helped the team at least compete through offence. Changes to the power play this year include utilizing both DeAngelo and Brent Burns on the first unit and Dmitry Orlov on the second unit. Meanwhile, Bunting has found a place in front of the net on the first unit while Stefan Noesen provides similar benefits on the second unit.
These slight shakeups have helped in the increase in power play effectiveness but so has the hot hand of Seth Jarvis. He’s tied (albeit with many players) for the league lead in power play goals with three. At times, the Hurricanes have found a way to move the puck quicker than last year. They also seem to be rotating players in the zone versus standing still. Additionally, they have gotten better at working the puck down low which allows for slot and backdoor passes and opens up the points. It still needs improvement, as was seen in their last shutout defeat against the Tampa Bay Lightning, but it is better.
Defence is Still Needed on the Power Play
Well, it’s better offensively. What I mean is that as improved as Carolina’s power play has gotten offensively, they have also given up a lot of shorthanded goals. Sloppy or lackadaisical passing at the blue line has led to rushes going the other way that seem to find the back of the net.
While DeAngelo helps offensively, his defensive coverage on the power play has been much less than stellar. At times appearing as if he is in no rush to go back when committing a turnover. But it’s not just DeAngelo. The entire team needs to be sharper, including the goalies. Scoring goals is great, but if you are allowing them when you shouldn’t be, that’s no good either.
It’s A Long Season
This clearly is not the recipe for success that Carolina wanted. Getting shorthanded goals and improvements in the power play are nice. But the horrendous penalty kill and tendency to give up shorthanded goals against are arguably more detrimental. It’s been a very weird start for Carolina and the special teams fit that bill too. Getting Aho and Andrei Svechnikov should help the power play more offensively but Brett Pesce is likely out for a while. And Pesce is a very effective defensive defenceman that is tough to replace on the penalty kill.
The reality is the Hurricanes need to use this adversity as a learning experience to grow. But part of that includes figuring out the special teams. Effective special teams can be the difference between a Stanley Cup and missing the playoffs completely. There is still a lot of season left but Carolina sure would like to solve this sooner rather than later.
Main Photo Credit: John Leyba-USA TODAY Sports
