The Carolina Hurricanes are the best hockey team in the nation right now. This might be seen as an opinionated statement by most, but they have amassed a record of 53-22-7 over the course of their regular season, totaling to 113 points of the league standings.
Now, astute standings readers are probably chomping at the bit to let everyone know that the Avalanche are actually at the top of the league standings with a total 119 points, and while that is true, the Hurricanes are actually the better team.
Carolina has two of the top 50 scorers in the league right now, Sebastian Aho with 80 points and Nikolaj Ehlers with 71. While yes, Nathan MacKinnon has the third most points with 127, he’s the only player on his team to be in the top 50.
Plenty of other teams know all about only having one good scorer, like the Toronto Maple Leafs with Austin Mathews, who has led the league in points for three of the last five years, but they never made it out of the second round of the playoffs during those years.
The main advantage that the Hurricanes have over any opponent is depth. In almost every stat comparison, the Avalanche have one really good guy at the top while the Hurricanes have 2-4 in the top middle section of the list.
Depth in a hockey roster is incredibly important, especially when going into the playoffs, where players are expected to go 100% every other day for a seven game series.
But we may be getting too far ahead of ourselves, as the Hurricanes still have to make it to the Stanley Cup Final to play any of the other highly ranked Western Conference teams.
In the first round, the Canes take on the Ottawa Senators. The Senators are one of the hottest teams in the league, after going 2-4 across their first six games and having a four game losing streak in early January, they turned their season around, going on a 8-1-1 run to end the season and secure a spot in the playoffs.
While any playoff series can be a tough fight, the Hurricanes lead Ottawa in almost every stat, so hopes are high for a quick finish by the Canes.
Their first game of the series will be in Raleigh, Saturday April 18, at 3 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN, and tickets are still available but at a steep charge for the playoff atmosphere.
