In 2024-25, the Carolina Hurricanes’ particular groups had been a combined bag. Particular groups are the core necessities of our sport, usually deciding shut video games and playoff sequence. It’s uncommon to see a staff boast the most effective energy performs and one of the best penalty kills in the identical season, and that’s no small success from the Hurricanes roster. Regardless of being dominant in a single aspect, the opposite is the downfall of the Canes within the crucial moments. They’ve been components in deciding the end result of the Hurricanes’ seasons not too long ago. They’d some success within the playoffs in 2024-25, however the brand new season brings new challenges.
After one other summer season of change, the Hurricanes will probably be in search of the identical excellent outcomes from a bunch of recent faces. They’ll be in search of progress and growth on the particular groups entrance. Carolina’s distinctive method to the sport will make the transition to the brand new system difficult for a few of the new additions, and the listing of exits will considerably change how this group strains up on the particular groups entrance.
The Penalty Kill
For years, the Hurricanes’ penalty kill has been among the many greatest within the NHL. It has been one of the best within the league in three of the final 5 seasons, together with the earlier two consecutively. It’s not been beneath the third greatest within the league since 2019-20, the place it was fourth. Below Rod Brind’Amour, the penalty kill has by no means completed outdoors the highest 10 within the common season. It’s the Hurricanes’ forte, usually being simpler for energizing the staff than an influence play could be. It usually supplied the spark to show video games round.
To keep up their elite standing as a shorthanded unit, the Hurricanes will face important roster turnover. Veteran penalty killers like Brent Burns and Dmitry Orlov have discovered new properties within the Western Convention. It follows gamers like Brady Skjei and Brett Pesce departing the elite shutdown unit final offseason. Veterans like Sean Walker and Shayne Gostisbehere got here in to exchange them, however this season, there’s been a unique method. To switch Burns and Orlov come Alexander Nikishin and Ok’Andre Miller.
Each Miller and Nikishin will be nice defensemen, however they’re not supreme matches to play shorthanded. Miller can do it, and did with the Rangers, however Nikishin will probably be a rookie. Is it price a trial by hearth on one of the best shutdown unit within the league? If it goes properly, it seems like a genius transfer, but when he has rising pains, it might injury the ever-dependable crutch the Hurricanes depend on.
As for the forwards shorthanded, it’s principally the identical unit as final season. Jordan Staal, Jordan Martinook, Seth Jarvis, Sebastian Aho, and Eric Robinson headline the unit that killed a league-leading 83% of its penalties final season. It’s not the just about 90% of some seasons earlier, but it surely’ll be one other yr of studying underneath Tim Gleason, the Hurricanes’ shorthanded guru. With younger guys like Logan Stankoven and Jackson Blake turning into extra reliable, the penalty-killing forwards ought to be okay.
The Energy Play
If the PK has been the power of the Hurricanes, the facility play has been the Achilles heel. The Hurricanes’ energy play ranked twenty fifth final season, regardless of being the second-best within the league the season prior. A part of that’s because of the quantity of expertise that left the ahead core, as Teuvo Teravainen, Jake Guentzel, and Stefan Noesen, who had been all key elements of Carolina’s energy play, discovered new properties elsewhere. Now, the Hurricanes have an identical difficulty with no Martin Necas, Mikko Rantanen, or Jack Roslovic. Roslovic may not appear to be a giant miss, however he recorded extra 5-on-5 factors than anybody else on the Hurricanes final season, in order that could be a miss. His expertise struggled to shine on the facility play with only a single level final season, however he was additionally on the second unit predominantly.
Rantanen was solely a Hurricane for just a few weeks, however that disjointed power-play method began to rear its ugly head after the Hurricanes tried to accommodate him. Shedding Necas’ zone entries was one other difficulty, so maybe a preseason to gel and get on the identical wavelength as a unit might assist the Hurricanes unit start to know one another once more. Carolina’s energy play was expensive in its underwhelming performances final season. Altering that would change their fortunes within the playoffs.
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To switch what was misplaced, Carolina landed a giant fish free agent in Nikolaj Ehlers. It’s additionally going to be the primary preseason for Taylor Corridor and Stankoven with the Hurricanes, in order that interval of adjustment for each would possibly assist Carolina. Relating to the lineup of the models, that doesn’t matter. The Hurricanes love to combine their combos up, and those who miss out on the highest unit will get pictures there at numerous factors. Carolina badly missed the zone entries of Necas after his commerce to the Colorado Avalanche in January, so this will probably be a time for the Hurricanes to give you an answer for stepping into the zone.
For the backend, the facility play quarterback from final season is gone. Burns was the go-to man for the Hurricanes’ energy play, so there’ll now be a gap. The logical resolution is that Shayne Gostisbehere takes the reins on the primary unit, however that leaves a niche on the second. With Miller and Nikishin now on the roster, there’s a justifiable case for each to take that second slot. Nikishin was an offensive monster within the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), however the stress of an influence play unit could also be pointless this early into his NHL profession. Miller manned the second unit in New York, so maybe that’s the choice Carolina runs.
Jaccob Slavin and Sean Walker each obtained time on the facility play final season, which can converse extra in the direction of why it struggled than these two being the answer. In the end, the struggling energy play comes right down to the problems Carolina endures in its scoring. Including extra high-end expertise is the last word resolution, however that received’t cease the Canes from making an attempt to get extra out of what they have already got.
Total, the Hurricanes’ particular groups models ought to each transfer extra in the direction of the imply than final season. Carolina’s suffocating defensive lineup has shifted in the direction of a extra balanced method for the 2025-26 marketing campaign. Whether or not the Hurricanes can construct upon the success of previous generations will probably be a key issue of their playoff success within the coming season. Nobody will care how the common season goes for Carolina, so long as they make the playoffs. Will the revamped particular groups make a distinction within the stress of the postseason? Solely time will inform.
