The NHL season is under two weeks away and the Carolina Hurricanes will be competing in a different division than usual. Leading up to opening night, I’ll be looking at how the Hurricanes’ lineup compares to each team in their new division. First up: the Chicago Blackhawks.
FORWARDS
Carolina’s top line of Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov and Teuvo Teravainen is deadly, while the Hurricanes also have great depth in their bottom-six. The Hurricanes’ biggest issue when it comes to their forward group is that they need one more top-six winger. They could use a bit more secondary scoring, however, when you have a top line that can produce just about every night and a bottom-six that can compete well against almost any other team’s third or fourth line, their forward group is in a good spot.
Chicago, on the other hand, isn’t necessarily in as good of a position. Jonathan Toews is out indefinitely, while Kirby Dach and Alex Nylander both had surgery and could miss the entire season, plus the team dealt Brandon Saad in the offseason. The Blackhawks still have Patrick Kane who can be a game-changer but the majority of their top forwards, like Alex DeBrincat, Dominik Kubalik and Dylan Strome don’t have the same consistent offensive upside as Carolina’s top forwards. The Blackhawks did add Carl Soderberg and Mattias Janmark in the offseason but I’d say the Hurricanes are still deeper up front as well.
Advantage: Hurricanes
DEFENSE
The Hurricanes have one of the best defense groups in the league and the top pairing of Jaccob Slavin and Dougie Hamilton is top-notch. In addition, Brady Skjei and Brett Pesce form a strong second pairing, while Haydn Fleury, Jake Gardiner and potentially Jake Bean will provide great depth.
For the Blackhawks, they’ll likely be relying on Duncan Keith to log a lot of minutes once again. Calvin de Haan and newly acquired Nikita Zadorov should make up the depth on the left side, while Connor Murphy will probably be the key veteran on the right side. Brent Seabrook is likely to take on a reduced role, while Adam Boqvist should see an increase in ice time and Ian Mitchell could potentially start in the NHL as well.
That said, the Hurricanes have the Blackhawks beat in this area as well. Carolina’s top-four is quite strong and they’re also deep enough to make changes if needed.
Advantage: Hurricanes
GOALTENDING
Chicago may be one of the few teams who Carolina actually has an advantage on when it comes to goaltending. Petr Mrazek and James Reimer are far from a rock solid tandem but they have experience and can keep a game competitive most nights. The Blackhawks, however, are entering the season with Malcolm Subban and Collin Delia, a duo that has played a combined 84 career NHL games. Subban played 21 games last year, posting an .890 save percentage, while Delia played the entire year in the AHL, finishing with a .912 save percentage. Perhaps Chicago’s inexperienced tandem will surprise and end up like the Joonas Korpisalo/Elvis Merzlikins duo in Columbus last year, but I wouldn’t bet on it.
Advantage: Hurricanes
The Hurricanes have more star power and the depth than the Blackhawks in every area of their lineup. Carolina should be the better team this season.
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Here’s today’s poll question (results and discussion will be posted in a future article):
Do you believe the Hurricanes will finish ahead of the Blackhawks in the 2021 standings?
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