The NHL season begins this week 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.
We’ve already released three articles in this series, which you can view here:
In today’s article, we’ll be assessing how the Hurricanes compare to the Detroit Red Wings.
FORWARDS
Dylan Larkin wasn’t able to replicate his 2018-19 point pace last season and it’s still hard to tell what kind of production Anthony Mantha will be able to provide on a consistent basis. Tyler Bertuzzi has also turned into one of Detroit’s top forwards but he was still only on pace for about 55 points (per 82 games) last season, while Robby Fabbri had a great bounce-back year but he’ll still need to prove himself as a top-six forward. Vladislav Namestnikov will provide some secondary scoring and Filip Zadina could take a big step this year as well, but none of Detroit’s young players can match Carolina’s top line of Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov and Teuvo Teravainen. Their depth also weakens after that and Carolina’s bottom-six is certainly stronger.
Advantage: Hurricanes
DEFENSE
Filip Hronek led the Red Wings in ice time per game last year at just 23 years old and is already a key part of the team’s defense group. That said, while Hronek and Danny DeKeyser played big minutes, they weren’t great in their own end, though Patrik Nemeth did provide defensive reliability. It’s also worth noting that Christian Djoos, Jon Merrill, Marc Staal and Troy Stetcher were added in the offseason, however, it’s clear that Detroit’s defense group isn’t on the same level as Carolina’s defense. The Hurricanes have a strong top-four group along with quality depth, meaning this area isn’t very close.
Advantage: Hurricanes
GOALTENDING
Thomas Greiss was signed by the Red Wings this offseason and has managed at least a .913 save percentage in three of his last four seasons. Jonathan Bernier also posted a .907 save percentage last season which looks bad, but remember, he had a higher save percentage with the worst team in the NHL than Petr Mrazek did with the Hurricanes. Mrazek’s partner, James Reimer, did have a .914 save percentage with Carolina but he can be wildly inconsistent from year to year. As a result, while I won’t say the Red Wings have better goaltending, I’m not willing to give the advantage to the Hurricanes either.
Advantage: N/A
Despite Carolina's weakness in net, the Hurricanes have the better group of skaters by far. Carolina should contend for the top spot in the division, while the Red Wings are still rebuilding.
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Here’s today’s poll question (results and discussion will be posted in a future article):
Do you think the Hurricanes will finish ahead of the Red Wings in the standings this season?
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