Last Word on Hockey’s Puck Drop Previews are back for the 2024-25 season! As the regular season approaches, Last Word will preview each team’s current outlook and stories to watch for the upcoming year. We’ll also do our best to project how things will go for each team throughout the campaign. Today, we’re previewing the 2024-25 Carolina Hurricanes.
2024-25 Carolina Hurricanes
2023-24 Season
The Hurricanes 2023-24 season was reminiscent of their 2022-23 season in many ways. They finished with 111 points, third best in the NHL and second in the Metropolitan Division. Their penalty kill remained at the top of the league at 86.4%, two percent better than last season. Meanwhile, their power play drastically improved. They finished at 26.9% on the man advantage which was good enough for second in the league. The overall numbers worked themselves out in the regular season but the team’s start was fairly rocky to say the least. Frederik Andersen missed a bunch of time with a blood clotting issue but came back and played pretty well late in the season. As things settled themselves out, Carolina finally made the big trade deadline move to get a noted goal scorer in Jake Guentzel. But in the playoffs, the team failed to make it further than the second round. It was a disappointing exit for a team with high hopes.
2023-24 Offseason
The Carolina Hurricanes might have had one of the most newsworthy offseasons of any team in the NHL. But not necessarily in a good way. Everyone knew Carolina was going to have some heartbreaking departures after the 2023-24 season due to the salary cap. Free agency came and leaving the Hurricanes were Brady Skjei, Stefan Noesen, Teuvo Teravainen, Brett Pesce and Jake Guentzel. A little less expected was Evgeny Kuznetsov‘s return to the KHL. And then there was recent news that Jesper Fast had neck surgery and would miss the entire 2024-25 season. But maybe in the most somewhat surprising move, general manager Don Waddell left to take over in Columbus. Eric Tulsky stepped in as the new general manager.
But not everyone on the team left. Jordan Martinook and Jalen Chatfield, both pending UFAs, re-signed. All of Carolina’s RFAs in Seth Jarvis, Jack Drury and even though many speculated a trade, Martin Necas, returned. Jaccob Slavin signed a long-term extension while head coach Rod Brind’Amour re-signed to stay behind the bench. New additions include Sean Walker, Shayne Gostisbehere, William Carrier, Jack Roslovic, Eric Robinson and Tyson Jost. Needless to say, Carolina lost some firepower but made work to efficiently fill some holes. With the changes, there should be opportunities for a new direction for the team and specifically for some younger players like Scott Morrow, Jackson Blake, Felix Unger-Sorum and Bradly Nadeau.
Projected Lineup
Forwards
Svechnikov – Aho – Jarvis
Roslovic/Nadeau/Unger-Sorum – Kotkaniemi/Drury – Necas
Martinook – Staal – Carrier
Robinson – Drury/Kotkaniemi – Jost/Blake
Top Six
The top-six forward group for Carolina presents a lot of options. The top line seems pretty set in stone with franchise centre Sebastian Aho centring breakout winger Seth Jarvis and power forward Andrei Svechnikov. This line has worked well in the past and don’t be surprised to see Brind’Amour start the season with this heavy firepower up front.
The second line gets a little more interesting. At centre, the options are honestly endless. Most likely they start with Jesperi Kotkaniemi who is absolutely due for a rebound year. But Jack Drury could also be a good option. This also assumes they don’t look to experiment with Necas or Roslovic at centre, but they are options too. Necas should be a lock for this line (whether at wing or centre) and with his new two-year deal, should be hungry for a big season. On a pure skill level, Necas may be one of the top on the team. The other winger spot may be an experiment too. They may start with more of a veteran like Roslovic but depending on training camp, don’t be surprised to see someone like Nadeau or Unger-Sorum get a look. Nadeau is more of a pure scorer while Unger-Sorum is a playmaker (almost like a younger Teravainen) so depending on chemistry there are options.
Bottom Six
Much like the top six, the bottom six forward group has one line that likely has some consistency and one that is up in the air. The third line will likely feature another possesion heavy, hard forechecking, defensively responsible line. Captain Jordan Staal will centre the line with previous linemate Jordan Martinook on his wing. With Fast now out, Carrier slides in perfectly on this line as another great play driving, physical bottom-six winger. Not that we won’t see some movement on this line ever, but it seems pretty set initially.
The fourth line gets a little more interesting. One of Drury or Kotkaniemi likely centres the line. It also possible that Ryan Suzuki could come in and make a case for this spot but he needs to show up in camp to make a case. Newcomers Eric Robinson and Tyson Jost seem like the likely candidates to take the wing spots. Depending on how the second line shakes out you may see Roslovic slide down to line three or four if they look for a little more offence on those lines. Typically, putting a rookie that projects as a more skilled player on a fourth line with sheltered minutes isn’t my favourite. But I would not be surprised to see Jackson Blake step up and take some shifts here at times. Of the rookies mentioned above his is the oldest and probably a little stronger in physicality and in his two-way game.
Defence
Slavin – Burns
Orlov – Chatfield/Walker
Gostisbehere – Chatfield/Walker
Top Four
Carolina lost their middle pairing of Pesce and Skjei in the offseason but did fairly well, given the circumstances, to find replacements. The top pair will remain the same with Slavin and Brent Burns filling the role. Slavin is an elite shutdown defenceman with underrated transition abilities while Burns is more of an offensive defenceman who loves to shoot the puck. Together they typically make a strong pair who will drive play and excel in analytics such as Corsi and Fenwick.
The middle pair has some options. Last season, Dmitry Orlov and Jalen Chatfield formed a pretty good bottom pairing with developing chemistry as the season rolled on. Orlov is likely to slide up into the second pair but who his partner is is less certain. Sean Walker seems like the next best defenceman based on pure ability (although Gostisbehere is right there too). BUT chemistry and fit is huge and playing two players together who play similar games may pose some risks. Playing Orlov and Walker together also poses a size issue (both right under six feet), but sometimes the importance of that can be slightly overstated. One thing that we do know is each of Walker, Orlov and Gostisbehere can skate and move the puck quickly which should translate well for Carolina’s game.
Bottom Pair
As much as Orlov and Chatfield developed chemistry last season, the same can be said for the pairing of Gostisbehere and Chatfield the season prior. The Orlov – Chatfield pairing took some time to develop chemistry but the Gostisbehere – Chatfield pairing showed chemistry fairly quickly. While this is Gostisbehere’s second stint with Carolina, his first was just a brief few months following the trade deadline. How this bottom pair shakes out will largely depend on who shows chemistry with Walker. Then there is the wild card of Scott Morrow but I’d expect to only see him come in when injury strikes. We have seen Chatfield’s chemistry with Gostisbehere and Orlov. But how Brind’Amour decides to establish the pairs will be interesting to see.
Goalies
Frederik Andersen
The goalie situation in Carolina for the 2024-25 season looks like more of the same. But it might not be so much at the end of the day. Antti Raanta is gone but Spencer Martin is still on board as a reliable third option. However, who takes over as the starter between Andersen and Kochetkov is not entirely clear.
Both played well last year at the end of the year. At the beginning of the season, that was not so much the case. Andersen was out with injury and Kochetkov struggled. But as the season moved on Kochetkov really picked it up. Carolina’s goaltending was especially sharp at the end of the year when they consistently rotated starts between Andersen and Kochetkov. This rotation stopped in the playoffs with Andersen taking the starter role. Maybe it shouldn’t have but that’s a story for another day.
Most likely, Brind’Amour will start with the veteran Andersen. However, this will likely look like a 1A, 1B situation. I wouldn’t be surprised to see fairly consistent rotations in starts. But I also wouldn’t be surprised if Kochetkov has a breakout year (see below). He has the looks of Carolina’s goalie of the future and with this being somewhat of an adjustment year, we may see him get the opportunity for a bigger role.
Players to Watch
Pyotr Kochetkov
Since we just talked goalies, let’s start with Pyotr Kochetkov as our first player to watch for the 2024-25 Carolina Hurricanes season. Last season, Kochetkov finished with a .911 SV% and a 2.33 GAA which is pretty respectable. What’s more impressive is how these stats looked through the first few months of the season compared to his final numbers. While it was just his second NHL season (not including three games two years ago), he showed progression in both statistics with almost twice as many games played. His four shutouts also had him tied for third in the league with other notable goalies like Igor Shesterkin.
With Andersen still on board, and likely looking like the de facto starter, this may be a big season for Kochetkov to show that he is in fact ready to be Carolina’s number one goalie. While nothing is certain, his statistical progression has been positive and he shows the tools needed to be a starter in the NHL. Mix this with his fiery personality on the ice that has all fans loving the Russian netminder, keep an eye on Kochetkov this season.
Martin Necas
The Martin Necas saga in Carolina this offseason was an almost daily story. At one moment he’s staying in Carolina. The next moment he’s for sure being traded. Rumours of his wanting a bigger role on the team, or any team, fueled these trade rumours. Then trades were vetoed or simply fell through. And if he did return, questions swirled as to where he would fit. But finally at the end of the day, Necas and Carolina signed a two-year deal. And like last year, he is a player to watch.
With one 70-point season to his name already, the Czech forward has nothing but high expectations. His skill is undeniable with lighting fast straight away speed, nifty hands and a booming shot. But his ability to play to Brind’Amour’s defensive standards and overall fit on the team has raised some questions. Now with all of the uncertainty of his 2024-25 home gone, Necas should be ready to take a step forward and show Carolina that he can be a go-to guy on the team. Necas even provided that he has spoken with Brind’Amour and knows he needs to prove that he can be “the guy” to earn his opportunities. With Carolina losing some firepower up front, they will need a productive Necas. But that also gives Necas even that much more of an opportunity.
Prediction for the 2024-25 Carolina Hurricanes
The Hurricanes will come into the 2024-25 season a little different than the last two-years. This offseason was more than a tinker with the lineup as a pretty significant piece of the team changed. But even with that previous group they never made it to the ultimate goal so maybe a little change could be good. With many seeing Carolina as taking a step back this offseason, the team will likely have a chip on their shoulder and “something to prove.” Or something to prove wrong maybe.
While this could be a good year to get new players adjusted and explore what some of Carolina’s younger players and prospects may have in store, the expectation will be a little less than the recent past years. Not to mention the Metropolitan Division could be difficult to get through itself as the New Jersey Devils look to have significantly improved while last year’s Division Champion New York Rangers are largely the same team. Carolina has shown in years past they don’t mind being the surprise team to make a little run, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be more of a challenge this year. At least on paper.
Prediction: Third in Metropolitan Division, Second Round Playoff Exit
Main Photo Credit: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports
