Hurricanes
A preview of the 2025-26 NHL season for the Carolina Hurricanes, including predictions from VSiN NHL Expert Jonathan Davis. For all other NHL team previews, check out our NHL page.
Key Additions: Nikolaj Ehlers, K’Andre Miller
Key Departures: Brent Burns, Dmitry Orlov, Jack Roslovic, Scott Morrow
Overview
The Hurricanes cruised through the first two rounds of last season’s Stanley Cup playoffs needing just 10 games to knock out the Devils and Capitals. Carolina has won just one game (1-12) in their last three conference final appearances. Head coach Rod Brind’Amour summed up the difference between the Canes and the Florida Panthers, “You can’t have any weak links if you want to beat them. We just had more holes in our lineup than they did.”
Offense
Carolina scored the ninth-most goals overall and at 5-on-5. To bolster their offense, the Hurricanes signed Nikolaj Ehlers, the most sought-after forward on the free agent market. He has been a model of consistency, scoring 20 or more goals in eight consecutive seasons when playing 47 games or more.
Andrei Svechnikov recorded his fifth 20-goal season, but Brind’Amour believes “Svech needs to be more selfish”. The Hurricanes have been criticized for being too small upfront, something that Brind’Amour rebuffs. “Everyone wants bigger guys, but your small guys must play big, and our small guys do.”
Defense
For the second consecutive offseason, the Hurricanes made significant changes to their blue line. They said good-bye to Brent Burns and Dmitry Orlov to get younger and faster on the back end. The Canes swung a deal with the Rangers for K’Andre Miller, who joins a group that includes mainstays Jaccob Slavin, Jalen Chatfield, Sean Walker and rookie Alexander Nikishin. Carolina owned the top penalty-killing unit during the regular season and were one of five teams to score 10 or more shorthanded goals.
Goaltending
I have heard coaches say that goaltending is 70% of a team’s success and a 100% of why teams miss or get eliminated from the playoffs. Former head coach Alain Vigneault had the saying, “My goalie is better than yours, I win. Your goalie is better than mine, you win.”
At the end of the day, Carolina’s No. 1 goalie, Freddie Andersen, either hasn’t been good enough or can’t stay healthy. Backup Pyotr Kochetkov hasn’t shown the consistency to take over the starting job. The Canes were the only playoff team to make the playoffs that finished in the bottom 10 in save percentage. Outside of John Gibson, who was traded to Detroit, the options to upgrade at the position were slim and none, so their decision to stay the status quo with their goaltenders is understandable.
Player to Watch
All eyes will be on Nikolaj Ehlers. Fans will look to him to put up big numbers. He has never scored more than 29 goals or exceeded 64 points, but he will have an opportunity to surpass both those totals playing on Carolina’s top line and No. 1 power play unit. But it will be the post season where Ehlers will need to improve (9 goals in 45 games) for this contract to truly pay dividends.
Outlook
In their 29 losses as a favorite in the regular season, they lost by two goals or more 22 times, making a reverse puck line play on the Canes opponent a very profitable wager. Something to keep in mind when considering Carolina future bets – in the last seven years, they’ve been eliminated in Round 2 of the playoffs four times and the Conference Final three times.
With that in mind, DraftKings is offering the round that teams may be eliminated. I am on Carolina to be eliminated in the second round (+320) and the Conference Final (+450) to go with Carolina winning the Central Division (+130).
Team Futures
Regular Season Points: 105.5
To Make the Playoffs: -1200
To Miss the Playoffs: +700
To Win the Metropolitan Division: +130
To Win the Eastern Conference: +380
To Win the Stanley Cup: +800
2024-25 Recap
Record: 47-30-5, 99 points (2nd Metropolitan Division)
Over/Under: 34-42-6
Home Favorite: 31-10 // Home Dog: 0-0
Road Favorite: 14-19 // Road Dog: 2-5
Win Score 4 or more: 35 of 47 // Lose Give Up 4 or more: 25 of 35
Puck Line Wins: 35 of 47 // Puck Line Losses: 26 of 35
Front End Back-to-Back: 8-7 // Back End Back-to-Back: 8-7
Points Leader: Sebastian Aho – 74
Goal Leader: Seth Jarvis – 32
Assist Leader: Sebastian Aho – 45
Shots on Goal Leader: Sebastian Aho – 207
Blocked Shots Leader: Jaccob Slavin – 136
Depth Chart
Forwards
Nikolaj Ehlers / Sebastian Aho / Andrei Svechnikov
Taylor Hall / Seth Jarvis / Jackson Blake
Jordan Martinook / Jordan Staal / Logan Stankoven
Will Carrier / Jesperi Kotkaniemi / Eric Robinson
Defense
K’Andre Miller / Jaccob Slavin
Alexander Nikishin / Jalen Chatfield
Shayne Gostisbehere / Sean Walker
Goalies
Freddie Andersen / Pyotr Kochetkov
Power Play Unit 1
Andrei Svechnikov, Sebastian Aho, Nikolaj Ehlers, Seth Jarvis, Shayne Gostisbehere
