No longer favorites: Five questions as Hurricanes again begin quest for Stanley Cup

A year ago, the Carolina Hurricanes were the trendy pick to win the 2024 Stanley Cup.

It was the right team and the right year, many of the prognosticators believed. And when the Canes added forward Jake Guentzel before the NHL trade deadline, all the pieces seemed to be in place for a deep playoff run.

We all know what happened. The Canes lost in the second round to the New York Rangers. Guentzel was traded and soon signed with Tampa Bay. Brady Skjei, Brett Pesce and Teuvo Teravainen left in free agency. The band was broken up.

With a new season about to begin, Friday against Tampa Bay at the Lenovo Center, there are some who believe the Hurricanes may not qualify for the playoffs or could strain to make it, that too many key pieces have been lost.

A panel of writers and editors for the NHL’s web site (nhl.com) recently made their season predictions. Some did not have the Canes finishing among the top three in the Metro or a wild card in the Eastern Conference, missing the playoffs for the first time since 2018.

“That’s more for the media to decide, who’s the underdog and who’s not,” Canes center Sebastian Aho said during preseason camp. “I don’t really pay attention to that stuff. I know we’re a good group and obviously we have a lot of confidence in this room.

“The belief is high. Obviously the standard hasn’t changed any. The only goal we have is to win the Stanley Cup.”

The Hurricanes, with Rod Brind’Amour as head coach, has become a playoff perennial and twice reached the Eastern finals in Brind’Amour’s first six seasons. They twice won the Metropolitan Division and were second in the Metro last season with 111 points, three behind the Rangers.

And this season? Canes captain Jordan Staal acknowledges the team has a new look with the addition of such players as defensemen Shayne Gostisbehere and Sean Walker, forwards William Carrier and Jack Roslovic and others.

“It’s a part of the business to lose some guys, but there’s always an excitement to start every year,” Staal said Tuesday. “We obviously have a great, young core with a good team, and I think the pieces we brought in are going to be very good for us, too.

“We’ll see how it all unfolds, how it all plays out, the ups and downs and all the stuff you go through in a season. It’s just another battle we’re going to get into.”

Five pressing questions going into the season:

What about that top line?

The Canes hoped to re-sign Guentzel, who said he enjoyed playing with Aho and winger Seth Jarvis after the trade from Pittsburgh. That didn’t happen. When preseason camp began, Andrei Svechnikov was the left wing on Aho’s line. That didn’t last.

Svechnikov was moved to Jesperi Kotkaniemi’s line opposite Martin Necas, and Jack Roslovic was slotted on the Aho line.

Is that the answer, Roslovic with Aho and Jarvis?

“I think it’s still up in the air,” Brind’Amour said this week. “Is he going to fit with the guys we put him with and be a threat? If you play high up the lineup, that means you’re playing against the other team’s best players, so you have to be able to handle that.

“That’s still, I think, in question, about how that fit is. But he’s clearly a very talented player.”

Roslovic, who signed a one-year, $2.8 million contract with Carolina, had nine goals and 22 assists in 59 games with Columbus and then the Rangers after a trade. He faced off against the Canes in the playoffs and was “noticeable,” Brind’Amour said.

“He’s got great speed,” Staal added. “I played against him every shift in that Rangers series and he’s a very tough player to play against. Really surprised me with his speed. He can skate quick and he thinks the game quick, too. He can complement a lot of players.”

Who will be missed the most?

Skjei and Pesce logged a lot of minutes together the past few seasons and were such an effective, gritty D pair. They also did a lot of the grunt work on the penalty kill.

There didn’t seem to be as much fanfare about Teuvo Teravainen leaving after last season, signing with the Chicago Blackhawks. The winger played more than 600 regular-season and playoff games in his eight years with the Canes, was crafty on the power play and teamed with Aho, his Finnish alter ego, to be opportunistic penalty killers capable of creating shorthanded chances.

“Losing ‘Turbo’ is a big hole,” Staal said. “He played a lot more minutes than you might think, and in a lot of key roles.”

Who could have a breakout year?

It would be easy to point to Necas or Svechnikov, with their goal-scoring potential, but what about the guy between them, Kotkaniemi?

One pressing question before preseason camp began was if Kotkaniemi, 24, would start as the second-line center, and would be there when camp ended. The answers: yes and yes.

The Canes will go into the season with “KK” at that spot and expected to consistently produce. The No. 2 center has too often been a hole in the lineup since Vincent Trocheck left for the Rangers, with Kotkaniemi and Jack Drury given a shot.

“That line is going to have to be really noticeable. We’re banking on it,” Brind’Amour said this week.

It’s KK’s shot again as Drury will be centering the fourth line — to start.

“You’re always surprised by how young he is and he’s starting to find his way,” Staal said. “I think this is going to be a big year for him, to see what he can do.”

Freddie or Pyotr?

There was no clear edge in training camp, and Frederik Andersen likely will be the starting goaltender on opening night against the Lightning.

To keep both fresh and hopefully avoid injuries, Andersen and Pyotr Kochetkov again could be used in a rotation, maybe evenly splitting games this season. Brind’Amour got away from that in the heat of the playoffs last season, riding Andersen and maybe too much.

Andersen, 35, has a stoic, veteran steadiness about his play and Kochetkov, 25, has stretches of brilliance mixed in with some unorthodox play in net. It’s an interesting, if unpredictable tandem.

Can the Canes win the Cup?

Could this be the right team and right year, perhaps when fewer are expecting it?

The Canes again will need to be among the NHL leaders in special teams — Carolina was second on the power play and led the NHL in penalty killing last season. They will need their young core of skilled forwards — Svechnikov, Jarvis, Necas — to keep maturing as players, be more consistent and all be dependable point producers.

Will the defense be as good without Skjei and Pesce? Dmitry Orlov, who had a spotty preseason, and Jalen Chatfield will need to handle more minutes as the second defensive pairing. Brent Burns, at 39, needs a third season with the Canes more like his first (61 points) than his second (43).

So much goes into winning a Stanley Cup, as Brind’Amour well knows. It’s the ultimate challenge. But first comes the 82-game grind to get the chance.

It’s time to start anew.