The Carolina Hurricanes made all the right moves to build a Stanley Cup contender, but couldn’t seem to find the chemistry to put together a successful season. A trail of injuries and unfulfilled expectations made the Hurricanes one of the biggest disappointments in the NHL.

A quick look at the roster makes you wonder how they have missed the playoffs the past five seasons. Eric Staal is one of the most underrated and consistent (last year notwithstanding) productive centers in the league.

Cam Ward turned 30 in February, but was obviously nicked up. He’s never been considered “elite”, but last season he was downright bad. He spent the bulk of the season being outplayed by the likes of Justin Peters and Anton Khudobin. 

Bill Peters (no relation to Justin) takes the reins as the Canes head coach looking to turn the fortunes of a franchise that has had a considerable amount of success during their time in the Carolinas. The 2005-06 Stanley Cup seems like such a distant memory considering the recent struggles.

Sadly, coach Peters inherits a club with no significant roster upgrades over last season’s team. While there may be improvements in chemistry among the Hurricanes, they stood pat while several other teams in the Eastern Conference got better.

Offense

The Hurricanes will never be confused with an offensive juggernaut, though they do possess skill players that can put the puck in the net. Eric, the senior of the two Staal’s. had an off year by his own high standards. Jeff Skinner led the team in scoring with 33 goals in 71 games. His durability had been a question mark after a couple of concussions, but the “Clearasil Kid” showed his toughness last season.

Jordan Staal was brought in to center the second line behind his brother, but is not nearly as gifted offensively as he is defensively. Alexander Semin will need to start earning some of the big bucks he signed for last summer. Beyond Semin, Jiri Tlusty and Nathan Gerbe provide the bulk of the optimism for the offense.

Defense

Justin Faulk and Andrej Sekera are equally isolated on the defensive corps. Statistically it’s a graveyard after Carolina’s top defensive pairing. Ron Hainsey, Tim Gleason, Ryan Murphy, John-Michael Lilles and Jay Harrison comprise the rest of Carolina’s mediocre blue line.

Goaltending

It gets a little tricky here because as much as the Canes owe Ward in salary ($6.3 million for the next two seasons), Khudobin played extremely well. They each will be given an opportunity to keep the starting job, but it won’t sit well with the Carolina front office if they have that kind of money warming the bench.

Special Teams

The lack of depth on offense hurt the Canes and their 28th ranked power play. Sekera quarterbacks the first unit, but injuries definitely hurt the extra man unit with chemistry. While there weren’t a ton of man games lost, it seemed like Carolina was rarely ever able to put their top players on the ice at the same time last year. Assuming that everyone comes in to camp with a clean bill of health, their power play will be much better.

The penalty kill was surprisingly average given that the top two centers, Staal one and two are excellent playing shorthanded. The Canes finished near the middle of the pack on the penalty kill, which is an area that they need to improve. Given the mediocrity of the offense, the defense has to be challenged to simply perform at a higher level.

Coaching

Bill Peters got his coaching start in the WHL with the Spokane Chiefs before moving on to the AHL’s Rockford Icehogs. He spent the last four seasons with the Detroit Red Wings, specializing on defense and the penalty-killing unit. He has been successful at each level along the way during his coaching career and will certainly try to continue the positive results in Raleigh this year.

Outlook

It could be a long and tough year for Carolina unless they can stay healthy and get a lot of good breaks. They are top heavy in the talent department, which doesn’t bode well if one of their top five players breaks down along the way. Even if they manage to stay healthy, Carolina must overcome one of the top teams in the Metropolitan Division, which is something I just don’t see them doing. Projected finish, missing playoffs.