The 2016-17 season is winding down for the Carolina Hurricanes. At the time of this writing, the team has 12 games to play. While a 4-0-3 record in its last seven games has made a miracle run to the postseason at least possible, the team’s playoff odds remain long, as it currently sits eight points back of the Toronto Maple Leafs for the East’s second wild card.
Just because a trip to the postseason remains unlikely does not mean there are no positives to take from this season. Far from it. A definite bright spot for the Canes this year and building block for the future is the strong group of four young defenseman on its roster, those being Jaccob Slavin, Brett Pesce, Justin Faulk and Noah Hanifin. Those four give the Canes a very bright future on the back end, with more quality young defenders on the way.
Slavin and Pesce have been rock-solid for the Canes all season. The sophomore duo has brought strong play all season playing big minutes against the league’s best. They rank first and third, respectively among current Hurricanes skaters in ice time per game.
As a pairing throughout the first half of the season, Slavin and Pesce faced off against some of the top players in the NHL, and thrived doing so. On a Hurricanes team that has a -21 goal differential, Slavin and Pesce rank first and second on the team in individual +/- with a +17 and +14, respectively. That means that, playing primarily against the Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin and Patrick Kane types of the NHL, the young pairing has been on the ice for far more Hurricanes goals than goals against, an impressive feat.
Since the departure of veteran Ron Hainsey at the trade deadline, however, Slavin and Pesce have been split up. Slavin has played mostly with Faulk, an offensive weapon tied with Slavin for the team lead in points from the blueline with 30. Slavin’s offensive game has taken off after being paired with Faulk, as he has racked up three goals and 10 points in the month of March, bringing him to a career-best five and 30 on the season.
In the recent run of games, Slavin has showed off a strong passing ability, both in rifling long feeds from his own zone to stretch the ice, or finding Hurricanes forwards in scoring positions in the offensive zone. The Colorado native’s big month included his first-career hat trick in an 8-4 win over the New York Islanders on March 13.
Faulk has continued to show his dynamic offensive ability throughout the year. The four-time All Star’s heavy shot from the point makes him a threat to score every time he’s on the ice; his 14 goals rank him sixth among NHL defensemen. Since pairing with Slavin, Faulk’s game seems to have taken another step after a slow start to the season, with three goals and five points since being paired with Slavin at the start of the month.
Pesce has paired up with Hanifin since the deadline. While the University of New Hampshire product has been his usual solid self since the switch, it definitely seems to have brought out a change for the better in Hanifin’s game. The former Boston College Eagle struggled in the early part of his sophomore season, spending most of it on the third pairing and being prone to some misreads defensively and turnovers that have led to goals against. Since pairing with Pesce however, Hanifin has performed much better.
Getting a better partner seems to have stabilized Hanifin’s game both offensively and defensively, and given him more confidence. He has played much more steadily in his own zone, and showed off his considerable talent offensively. Hanifin has started to show flashes of the smooth-skating offensive ability that made him the fifth-overall pick of the 2015 NHL draft. At the ripe age of 20, Hanifin should have more developing to do and his game should only grow stronger from here.
It’s not just the blueliners on the roster now, however, that give the Hurricanes such a bright future on defense. There are others in the pipeline on the way. 2014 seventh-overall pick Haydn Fleury, along with Roland McKeown, acquired in a 2015 trade with the Los Angeles Kings, have turned pro with the Canes’ AHL affiliate in Charlotte this year, gaining valuable experience with the Checkers. Those two, along with third-year AHLer Trevor Carrick could challenge for spots next year.
2016 first-rounder Jake Bean adds to the Canes’ abundance of riches on defense; he has enjoyed another strong season with the Calgary Hitmen of the WHL, putting up eight points and 45 points in 43 games. While Bean is probably a few years away, he could provide the Canes with another strong offensive defenseman and power play quarterback a few seasons down the road.
Young, talented defenseman are probably the most valuable commodity in the NHL at the moment. Fortunately for the Carolina Hurricanes and General Manager Ron Francis, the team is set in that area at the moment. Whether the Canes decide to feature a stacked homegrown blueline, trade a few to bolster their forward corps, or some combination of the two, the team is in a good place on the backend. The state of the Canes’ defense is in a very strong position, both now and for the long haul.
