The Carolina Hurricanes have finally broken through to the Stanley Cup Final. Will this be the year? We’ll have an answer within a few days. If it is, they’ll lift the Stanley Cup in a year that fits the roadmap timeline. As we noted in the March Metropolitan Division Notebook though, they Hurricanes are well positioned for the long term regardless of this season’s final result.
While the Hurricanes roadmap fits the Stanley Cup timeline nicely, the cohorts on their roster don’t fit with their timeline like we typically see. There is a significant void between a veteran cohort and an early prime cohort rather than the prime aged contention cohort that we’d expect. From a long term perspective, that’s not a bad thing. The early prime cohort led by Seth Jarvis, Logan Stankoven, and Jackson Blake give the Hurricanes a solid group to focus their longer terms plans around.
The state of the Hurricanes prospect pipeline provides more reason for optimism for their long term sustainability. It’s not bursting at the seams, but it is stocked well enough to expect some capable NHLers will emerge on a consistent basis. The Hurricanes flip of Mikko Rantanen a year ago has bolstered their future draft outlook and gives them some good trade chips as well if they decide the trade market is the best avenue to improve the roster.
The Hurricanes have locked in much of their roster for the medium to long term, so their biggest challenge may be to ensure they regenerate value from their veteran cohort rather than continuing to run it back for the next few seasons. Jordan Staal, Jalen Chatfield, Jordan Martinook and Shayne Gostisbehere all have just one more season on the books. Looking at that group as potential trade chips this summer could provide a means to convert a veteran roster player into a younger piece that can help sustain the Hurricanes long term success.
