Carolina Hurricanes 2010 Preview & Predictions

Carolina Hurricanes 2010 Season Preview, Predictions Picks & Odds

With the NHL Hockey season just around the corner, we are providing season previews for all 30 teams to give you the betting edge. Follow the best NHL Hockey Handicappers as they analyze their teams in this 2010 season preview. Use our comprehensive and insider info to bet successfully on the NHL in our recommend sportsbooks. View the rest of our 2010 NHL Season Previews here.

CAROLINA HURRICANES

2009-10 record: 35-37-10
Shootout Record: 4-5
Division Finish: 3rd, Southeast
Conference Finish: 11th, Eastern
Goals For: 230
Goals Against: 256

Carolina Hurricanes 2010 Preview

In Rod they trusted, but now it’s time for the Hurricanes to turn the page.

The leading scorer since they moved from Hartford in the mid1990s, Rod Brind’Amour announced his retirement in late June, with almost 1,500 games and 1,200 points to his credit, with 111 more in 159 playoff games and a Stanley Cup ring with the Hurricanes.

Just a couple of days after Brind’Amour retired, another loyal veteran, Ray Whitney, headed to Phoenix as an unrestricted free agent, taking the third-most points on last year’s team with him into the sunset.

A number of players, at least those who were among the club’s top 10 scorers at the close of last year, are also pushing 30, which means more pressure on players such as Eric Staal and impact newcomer Brandon Sutter.

Carolina can be a mystifying team, one that’s feast or famine where the playoffs are concerned. When they qualify, they tend to stay around much later than anyone expects, but only once since the early 1990s (as the Whalers) have the Canes put two consecutive post-season appearances together.

That exercise began in earnest in the closing weeks of the ’09-10 schedule, when it became clear the club’s early 14-game winless streak wouldn’t translate to a chance to repeat its trip to the Conference Final. But as soon as Maurice changed gears, switching to a youth-oriented lineup in part because of so many injuries, he started getting the results that had been expected in October and November.

Eleven of the players who suited up in Game 82 at the end had spent some portion of the season in the American Hockey League.

Two games into the season, scoring winger Erik Cole broke his leg, reliable defenseman Tim Gleason broke his foot and a freak cut put star goalie Cam Ward on the shelf, as well as blueliner Joe Corvo.

The new crew included Sutter, who lived up to his famous surname with 21 goals and a brief stint as Staal’s alternate captain, and a promising collection of rookie defensemen: Brett Carson, Jamie McBain and Zach Boychuk.

There was ample opportunity for some older players to make an impression last year, with left winger Jussi Jokinen among others coming to prominence. Jokinen was the only Cane to hit 30 goals, edging out Staal and Whitney with six game winners to their five.

2010 Carolina Hurricanes Offense:

Jokinen never scored 30 in the Finnish League and had just 23 the previous two seasons as he bounced from Dallas to Tampa to Carolina. But he picked up the slack for a number of sidelined or slumping forwards and continued as one of the League’s best shootout specialists. Staal’s 277 shots were 100 more than anyone else here and yet he missed 12 games, a reason his goal total dropped from 40 to 29 since 2008-09. But watch out if the Canes get back in the playoffs, where he has 43 points in as many games. Thomo Ruutu played just over half a season after his career-best 54 points in ’08-09 and Sergei Samsonov’s 14 goals were undermined by a personal low of minus-15.

2010 Carolina Hurricanes Defense:

Carolina gave up 256 goals, one of the worst marks in the League last season and certainly their worst showing since Ward became their full-time stopper. But none of its defensemen played more than 71 games (Joni Pitkanen), and with Ward out for so long, the lack of continuity contributed to the high deficit. Pitkanen did get a career-best 40 assists to help at the other end of the rink, and at 27 minutes a night, he averaged more ice time than anyone else in the League, with compatriot McBain sitting in seventh place, at just under 26 minutes. Bridging the gap to the youngsters were Brian Pothier and Alexandre Picard. Gleason’s games played have sunk from 80 to 70 to 61 in an often hard-luck tenure in Raleigh.

2010 Carolina Hurricanes Goaltending:

Ward was the biggest loss of all when the injury bug hit, as he was the backbone of the ’06 Cup team and a potential 40-game winner when healthy. He might like to write the whole year off after winning just 18 of 47 games and seeing his goals-against average up near 2.70. One of the more intriguing questions for training camp is who will be his understudy. The job actually belonged to Michael Leighton for a time before he eventually landed with the Flyers, with veteran Manny Legace and rookie Justin Peters battling it out from there. When Peters had six wins in nine games, it made Rutherford decide not to retain the 37-year-old Legace, whose overall numbers were about equal to Peters’s.

Carolina Hurricanes 2010 Special Teams

With a number of teams seemingly destined to improve this season in an already tight Eastern Conference, it is absolutely imperative the Hurricanes do not reprise their poor start of a year ago. Even so, they will be hard-pressed to make the top eight in the East.

Carolina Hurricanes 2010 Season Predictions

Murray quickly maneuvered Ducks out of a salary cap mess created by his predecessor Brian Burke. Not as deep defensively as Burke’s 2006-07 Cup winner, but should be one of the NHL’s most potent scoring teams.

We predict that the Carolina Hurricanes will finish 3rd in the NHL Southeast.

Carolina Hurricanes Betting

Carolina Hurricanes Stanley Cup Odds: +3000
Carolina Hurricanes Eastern Conference Odds: +1800

Will the Carolina Hurricanes will go all the way to the Stanley Cup? Or, will their season be lackluster? Either way, you can still enjoy Carolina Hurricanes betting at our feature sportsbooks. Carolina Hurricanes Betting is serious business; where you can make a ton of money placing informed, smart Carolina Hurricanes bets. Check out these highly reliable, trustworthy, online sportsbooks.

Join Sportsbook.com Today and Bet on the Carolina Hurricanes and receive a 50% Sportsbook Bonus!