What's happening to Carolina Hurricanes, dark horse darlings?

By most measures, the Carolina Hurricanes should not be the worst team in the Eastern Conference.

The Hurricanes were a team expected to surprise the East this season after playing a bit over their heads last season and placing just 10 points out of the wild card. There was admittedly a lot to love about the team: Jeff Skinner and Victor Rask anchoring the offense; Justin Faulk and Noah Hanifin on the blueline; the additions of Teuvo Teravainen and Sebastian Aho. And head coach Bill Peters, one of the rising stars in the East, especially among the analytic punditry.

A strong possession team under Peters last season, they’re even stronger this season: Fifth in the NHL in adjusted Corsi percentage at even strength (53.91 percent). Their power play is 10th in the NHL (23.3 percent). Their penalty kill is ninth (86.2). They’re 13th in the NHL in goals per game (2.78).

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Ah, there’s the problem: They’re 27th in the NHL in goals-against per game at 3.56. Which is brutal, considering they ended last year with the Eddie Lack and Cam Ward battery at 2.70.

So is it as simple as “bad goaltending,” with an adjusted save percentage of .900 through nine games? Matthew Barlowe of Cardiac Cane believes so, in lobbying for a Jaroslav Halak trade:

No kidding.

But then, perhaps the situation goes beyond the crease and into the calendar. At least that’s the theory shared by GM Ron Francis with Chip Alexander of the News & Observer:

Six straight games on the road to start, and eight of the first 10? That’s tough. “With a young team, that’s not an ideal situation for us,” Canes general manager Ron Francis said as the season began. “But it is what it is. And hopefully we get out there and get a few wins under our belt.”

That the Canes have gotten only a few, that they’re 2-4-3 after nine games, is not what they wanted. It has them last in the NHL’s Eastern Conference, with another road game Saturday against the Nashville Predators before the schedule becomes more favorable — six of seven games at home.

Home cookin’! And Carolina was in fact four points better at home than on the road last season.

Look, it’s super early. They’re three points out of the last wild card. They’re not even the worst team in hockey, thanks to the Arizona Coyotes. And as Shane O’Donnell, writing on ESPN.com, puts it, the future isn’t necessarily now:

Though it’s taken some time, the Hurricanes’ rebuild appears to be coming to an end. Though there are still some pieces that need to be added (such as a goaltender), general manager Ron Francis has built quite the future for Carolina.

That future is built on the back of an impressive defensive corps. Not many teams can match the depth that the Hurricanes have on the back end, and depending on how some prospects develop, the rest of the league could be stuck playing catch-up to the amount of talent Carolina can flaunt on its blue line. Or, Francis could elect to flip one of his high-level blueliners to a defenseman-needy team in exchange for more help up front; as we saw with the Adam Larsson-Taylor Hall trade this past summer, teams are willing to give up quite a lot for such a player.

This is true. But in the short-term, the Hurricanes appear to have a couple of tasks to fulfill: Get home and steady the ship as the month rolls on, and perhaps take a longer look at a goaltending battery that’s somewhat inexplicably locked up until 2018. Unless the motivation is to continue to build through the draft, that is.

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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

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