With the offseason chugging along and the excitement of the NHL Entry Draft and free agency waning, hockey fans are left anxiously awaiting next season. Here at Last Word on Hockey, we have been exploring some different “bests” from teams during the long, hot days of summer. Best players by number for a few teams, top captains, best and worst sweaters, and top first-round draft picks are some of the select rankings our writers have been exploring. As an ode to the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, here for the Carolina Hurricanes, we are looking at the all-time best starting lineups based on nationality. Each of the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Ottawa Senators did similar series.
A few parameters to this list to get us started. This will be a starting lineup, so two wingers, one centre, two defencemen, and a goalie. The player must have played in the NHL with the Hurricanes (not looking at Hartford Whalers or prospects). The assessment comes from the players best performance with, and impact on, the Hurricanes, not over his career if he played with other teams. We have looked at the Canadian, Finnish, Swedish, Russian, Czech and American starting lineups. And today we take a look at the rest of the world to put together a final all-time starting lineup.
The Carolina Hurricanes All-Time Rest of World Starting Lineup
With all of the other countries mentioned above, we were able to field a starting lineup. Some, like Canada and the United States had numerous options while others like Czechia had just enough. But there have been some notable players to suit up for the Hurricanes that have come from some more non-traditional countries. So, to lump them onto one team, let’s take a look at the Hurricanes best players from the rest of the world.
| LW | C | RW |
| Nino Niederreiter | Alexei Ponikarovsky | Andreas Nodl |
| LD | RD | |
| Dennis Seidenberg | Sandis Ozolins | |
| G | ||
| Arturs Irbe |
Alexei Ponikarovsky
The forward group for the Hurricanes best players from the rest of the world is just enough to get a starting lineup. Alexei Ponikarovsky takes the centre slot on our list. Born in Kiev, Ukraine (formerly part of the USSR), Ponikarovsky was a decent middle six forward for a big portion of his career. Most of his time was in Toronto but he did play one season for Carolina in 2011. During a time when Carolina was looking to build an identity (albeit unsuccessfully), Ponikarovsky did okay to help give Carolina some depth down the middle. He put up seven goals with eight assists over 49 games played. Three of these goals and four of these assists came on the power play.
Ponikarovsky’s stint with Carolina was short lived and at the end of the day a little underwhelming. But he had some talent and pitched in offensively. Most notably, however, is what came of Ponikarovsky to Carolina. The Hurricanes traded him to the New Jersey Devils in 2012 for a fourth-round pick. Seems like not much right? Well that fourth-round pick turned into Jaccob Slavin who is now almost untouchable for Carolina. So in the end, Ponikarovsky provided Carolina a lot.
Nino Niederreiter
In one of arguably the best moves of Don Waddell‘s tenure as the Hurricanes general manager, Carolina acquired winger Nino Niederreiter from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for Victor Rask. The Swiss forward was a former top-ten draft pick but was struggling in Minnesota. Rask too was struggling in Carolina. So the two sides decided to make a one-for-one hockey swap to try give these players a change of scenery. For Rask, not too much changed. But for Niederreiter, his game turned around.
Probably the Hurricanes best player up front on this list, Niederreiter came to Carolina and almost instantly was a hit. He plays a power forward game with enough skill to provide very solid offensive support in the middle six. He was especially effective playing alongside other possession heavy forwards like Jordan Staal. He hit the 20 goal mark every year he was in Carolina except for the shortened COVID-19 year. Like others that came to the team in 2018-19, he was part of that spark that brough the team out of the dark days and back into the playoffs. It was his solidifying goal that marked the return to the playoffs for the organization after a decade.
Nino Niederreiter scored one of the biggest, most emotional goals in Hurricanes franchise history: the dagger in the win that clinched them a playoff spot for the first time in a decade in 2019. I'm sure that created a lifelong memory for everyone in the building that night. pic.twitter.com/lJDyu5Lpmg
— Andrew Schnittker (@aschnitt53) July 21, 2022
His four years in Carolina were so good that he priced himself out of Carolina. Great for him but tough for the Hurricanes.
Andreas Nodl
The last forward on this list is there simply because there is no one else to fill the spot. The Austrian forward came to Carolina after the Hurricanes picked him up off of waivers. He was never really more than a depth fill for Carolina but did manage to put up three goals and five assists in 56 games played. In 2011, this was the type player Carolina was taking flyers on and it was a low risk move. But he did not do too much for the team and after a few games in 2012 signed back with a team in Austria.
Dennis Seidenberg
Moving to the defence, there are three names that come up that realistically compete for these two slots. But we have to pick two. To start with we give the nod to German defenceman Dennis Seidenberg. Seidenberg was a reliable two-way defenceman while with Carolina. Not overly noted for any one aspect of his game, he was reliable in most areas.
In 2008-09, Seidenberg put up 30 points in 70 games for Carolina. He was a big piece of that team that made the Eastern Conference Final and put up six points in 16 games. During his Hurricanes tenure he maintained just over a 50% CF% and FF%. This backed up the eye test that he was a solid middle pairing defenceman that gave Carolina the depth on the backend they needed. He moved on to the Florida Panthers after that stint but proved himself as a piece Carolina missed after his departure.
Sandis Ozolins
The next two choices for the final defenceman spot comes down to Sandis Ozolinsh of Latvia and Andrej Sekera of Slovakia. This was a tough choice to figure out who to pick not only between these two, but between all three. In the end though, we give the spot to Ozolinsh.
Possibly one of the best Latvians to play in the NHL, Ozolinsh had under a two-year stint in Carolina. But during that time, he put up 67 points in 118 games. This included 44 points in 72 games in 2000-01. Carolina brought the defenceman in to help bolster their blue line the summer before that season. He had shown success in Colorado helping them win the Stanley Cup, took part in multiple All-Star Games (including one while in Carolina), and almost hit 70 points in 1996-97. His boost to Carolina’s backend helped them reach the Eastern Conference Final in 2001.
The next season Carolina moved him to receive players including Bret Hedican and Kevyn Adams. Both who would be big parts of the Stanley Cup Championship team down the road. Ironically, Ozolinsh would be involved in another trade involving Matt Cullen before he got to Carolina. The hockey trade spider web can be interesting at times.
Arturs Irbe
The final position in our series on the Hurricanes best players from various countries rounds out with the goaltender for the rest of the world squad. And here we have a starter with a very, very close honourable mention. A backup if you will. Which says a lot about how Carolina has found goaltenders from less traditional countries over time.
The starter here will go to another Latvian in Arturs Irbe. After Cam Ward, Irbe is second all-time in games played by a Hurricanes goalie. He put up a 2.49 GAA and .906 SV% over his Carolina career. Noted for his white mask, white pads, and reflex centred style of play, Irbe came to Carolina and led them to their early playoff success. This included backstopping them to their Stanley Cup appearance in 2002. It was no secret that Irbe was a major reason for Carolina’s Cinderalla run that year. His best season in Carolina was his first in 1998-99 as he ended with a .923 SV%. Irbe truly was a spark to an early Carolina team and fans loved him for that.
As an honourable mention, who is very close to Irbe on this list, we look at Frederik Andersen. Originally a Hurricanes draft pick who decided not to sign, re-enter the draft, and then way down the road sign with Carolina, the Danish goaltender has been the de-facto starter for the team for the last few seasons. For all Hurricanes goalies after Alex Nedeljkovic, Andersen leads the list in SV% with .918. While he has had some injury trouble and some tough goals let in in the playoffs, we can’t ignore how big of a presence he has been for the Hurricanes.
Concluding the Series
We hope you have enjoyed our series on the Hurricanes best players from various countries. We saw some superstars, some key players, and some interesting trade webs. But as the offseason comes to an end, stay tuned as we turn our eyes from the past to the future and the upcoming season.
Main Photo Credit: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports
