Tyler Yaremchuk was joined by Frank Seravalli to discuss the changes that are likely on their way to the Carolina Hurricanes on the latest episode of Daily Faceoff Live.
Tyler Yaremchuk: The Carolina Hurricanes made a move to get Jake Guentzel and their season ends in the second round. Frank, in the last six seasons they’ve made the conference finals twice, they’ve made the second round three times. They get to the playoffs, they win rounds, but they haven’t been able to go over the top. What’s going to come in Carolina this summer? On their CapFriendly page you see a lot of RFAs and UFAs.
Carolina Hurricanes left wing Jake Guentzel (59) looks on against the New York Rangers during the third period at PNC Arena
They’ve got to get Seth Jarvis and Martin Necas signed. On the UFA front they have Teravainen, Martinook, Guentzel. On the blue line it’s DeAngelo, Pesce, Skjei, and Chatfield. It’s going to be a very busy summer for Don Waddell in Carolina.
Frank Seravalli: There’s lots of changes coming in Carolina and rightfully so. You mentioned the last six years and what that’s looked like for them. Those two conference finals, multiple rounds won, the fourth-most wins in the league over that period of time. They’ve been arguably one of the most consistent teams in the entire NHL but they don’t have anything to show for it. And the reason for that is that I think they have something a little off in their calculus.
A lot of people talked about the way that they play in their defensive zone, would that be able to hold up compared to a lot of teams that have gone to this hybrid zone defense. That might be a small part of it but also I think for a team that has a process of acquiring players that is better than anyone else in terms of actually and effectively targeting players that they believe fit the way they want to play.
I think they need to redo or tweak their model because the guys that they’re bringing in haven’t delivered in that sense and when you have an opportunity now. You’ve had one of the best defense corps’ in the league, it was smart, they paid for all of the best years of Pesce and Skjei but now they’re hitting 30, time to move on. They’ll probably re-sign Jalen Chatfield, he skates really well and they like that.
But they need to find flexibility upfront and say goodbye to Teuvo Teravainen. Probably find a way to keep Jordan Martinook because he’s been a clutch player and part of the fabric and leadership of the team. He’s not going to cost them a huge amount to bring back.
At the end of the day, I don’t think there’s anything to make of the fact that Rod Brind’Amour doesn’t have a contract yet. I have zero doubt that that’ll get done but I think they need to look at changing the chemistry and core of the team. The model just hasn’t worked out.
