A Carolina Hurricanes player has never taken home the Hart Trophy, and that drought doesn’t exactly feel like it’s about to end. Eric Staal is the closest this franchise has ever come, finishing fourth in 2006 after a 100-point season and a Stanley Cup win, but even that run barely registered with voters. Still, the first month of this season has given Carolina a few names worth tossing into the conversation, even if the odds are long.
The Hurricanes have built their identity on depth, and this year has followed that same script. Production has come from all over the lineup, with different players taking turns driving the offense or stabilizing the game. As October wraps up, three Hurricanes have made enough noise to at least enter the Hart discussion.
Logan Stankoven and Andrei Svechnikov both deserve a nod as honorable mentions. Svechnikov was on a tear early, posting six goals and 11 points through his first eight games, but his production cooled on the road trip.
He has only two assists in his last seven games, and while he’s still playing well, the Canes could use a little more from him. Stankoven, meanwhile, finished the month as the team leader in goals with nine.
He picked up where he left off in the playoffs and made life miserable for the Vancouver Canucks, scoring five goals, including his first hat trick, and adding an assist across two games. His work in the faceoff circle still needs to improve before he can be considered a true Hart-level candidate.
- Jackson Blake
If last season was Jackson Blake’s breakout, this one has felt like the arrival of a star. He’s been everywhere, buzzing around the ice with the kind of energy Tripp Tracy has called a “waterbug” more than once this season.
“Bulldog” might fit just as well, especially when he’s on a line with Stankoven. The chemistry those two showed last season is still very much alive.
Through 15 games, Blake leads Carolina with 12 assists and sits second on the team with 15 points. He’s on pace to blow past last year’s totals.
The goals haven’t come quite as often, but he does have two in his last four games. He’s also only been held off the scoresheet three times, and he’s put together scoring streaks of seven games and five games, with the latter still active.
If the finishing touch was a little sharper, Blake would rank even higher here. Even so, it’s hard to ignore how complete his game has become.
His contract already looks like one of the better bargains in the league, and this still feels like the beginning for him. He probably won’t keep scoring at a point-per-game clip all season, but he’s making a strong case that Carolina was right to bet on him.
- Pyotr Kochetkov
There’s no topping perfect, and Pyotr Kochetkov was exactly that in October. Yes, he gave up goals, but nobody beat him.
He started nine games and won all nine, setting a new franchise record in the process. Only two goalies in NHL history have won more games to open a season, and that mark is now in play.
After Thursday’s win over the Blue Jackets, Kochetkov also tied the longest win streak in franchise history. His numbers back up the results.
He ranks third in the NHL in goals-against average at 1.66 and fifth in save percentage at .919. Linus Ullmark of Ottawa and Jacob Fowler of Montreal are the only other goalies in the top five in both categories, sitting first and second, respectively.
The one knock on Kochetkov is workload. He ranks 30th in both saves and shots against, facing only about 20 shots per game.
But he’s stopping the ones that get through, and this season hasn’t featured many soft goals or breakdowns. He has handled what’s in front of him, and that has been enough to make his start flawless.
- Sebastian Aho
If the question is who matters most to the Hurricanes right now, Sebastian Aho is the answer. No one has been more important to Carolina’s early-season success.
It’s not just the points, though those have piled up fast. Aho has been at the center of everything.
He already has six multi-point games, including three-point outings against Philadelphia and Montreal. He trails only Stankoven with eight goals and only Blake with 11 assists.
His 19 points lead the team and were tied for tenth in the league as of Friday. On top of all that, Aho has the best faceoff win rate on the roster at 55.8 percent, and he’s taken on even more responsibility with Jordan Staal out.
Of course, players like Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, and Nikita Kucherov tend to soak up the league-wide attention. That leaves Aho, even when he’s playing like the best player on one of the league’s best teams, without the same spotlight.
He’d probably need a 200-point season to really force the issue. For Carolina, that hardly matters.
In Other News...
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Quinn Hughes has put the Minnesota Wild in a familiar kind of spot for any team trying to manage a star players future before it turns into a full-blown deadline problem. His next step is still unclear, with no sign yet of whether he will settle on an extension or drift toward free agency, and that leaves the Wild weighing whether to hold on and hope or cash in while they still can.
Elliotte Friedman pointed out the wrinkle that makes this situation harder to navigate: there is no clear framework yet for a trade market to form around Hughes. For Carolina fans, it is the sort of front-office dilemma that feels recognizable, because the value of a player can change fast when a team has to decide between keeping the talent and protecting itself from losing him for nothing. [Read more 🡒]
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Nikita Kucherovs reported trade request out of Tampa Bay has instantly turned into one of the biggest what-ifs of the offseason, and the Hurricanes are right in the middle of the conversation. Elliotte Friedmans report has put several teams on the board, from Montreal to Dallas, Minnesota and Vegas, but Carolina stands out for a simple reason: it can offer the kind of competitive roster and organizational flexibility that makes a blockbuster feel at least plausible.
For Carolina, the appeal is obvious because this is a team built to chase a championship now, not just stockpile futures. The challenge, of course, is the price tag, and any serious pursuit would likely require a painful mix of young talent, established help and draft capital to even get Tampa Bay to listen. Montreal may have the assets to make a deal, but the divisional wrinkle complicates things, which is why the Hurricanes suddenly look like the cleanest fit if this situation keeps moving. [Read more 🡒]
Hurricanes Win Put A Growing Blue Jackets Roster Question In Focus
The Blue Jackets did not leave Carolina with points, but they did leave with a clearer look at the direction of their young core. In a 3-2 loss to the Hurricanes, Denton Mateychuk and Kent Johnson were among the players who helped drive a strong third-period push, with Mateychuk scoring his fourth goal of the season and Johnson continuing to lead Columbus with seven.
What stood out just as much was the lineup decision around Dmitri Voronkov, who was scratched for the third time this season. Columbus has been evaluating its roster as it tries to sort out which pieces fit long term, and Voronkovs status has become part of that conversation, even if nothing appears close on the transaction front yet. [Read more 🡒]