If anyone thought that four straight years of First or Second Round exits was acceptable for the Carolina Hurricanes front office, they are 100% wrong. The Hurricanes have just ‘played their hand’ by acquiring San Jose’s Brent Burns and Vegas’ Max Pacioretty for a deep Cup run.
The Hurricanes have been on the verge of Stanley Cup success for what seems like forever now. Year after year of constant playoff failure has obviously frustrated GM Don Wadell so much so that he has allowed Vincent Trocheck, Ian Cole, Max Domi, Brendan Smith (and potentially Nino Niederreiter and Derek Stephan) to walk in free agency, and traded fan-favorite Tony DeAngelo to free up enough cap space to acquire two (albeit aging) superstars: Brent Burns and Max Pacioretty.
The Burns trade really shocked me. I didn’t think that any team had the cap room or the assets to acquire Burns. Especially considering his stats have declined in his last years in San Jose.
From his stellar Norris-winning 2016/17 season, where he put up 29 goals, 47 assists for 76 points, the Sharks defender has seen his play steadily decline as the Sharks as a team have also faltered. With San Jose missing the playoffs for a third straight season, Burns only managed to produce 10 goals, 44 assists, and 54 points.
“Pretty good stats for most defenders,” you may be thinking. And you would be right. Those are good offensive statistics for most defensemen, though Burns isn’t really like most defenseman. Burns has been used as a forward and a defenseman his whole career, as his offensive instincts are probably the greatest amongst all active NHL defenseman.
No, the stats that have not looked so great for Burns have been his +/- ratings. Last season, Burns had a -15, a -13 the season before, and a -22 in 2020. In fact, Burns has a -35 for his entire career, with 11 of his seasons finishing in the negatives.
To put this into perspective, the 2015/16 Norris Winner (year before Burns), Drew Doughty, has a +33 for his career and only 5 seasons with a negative +/-. The 2017/18 Norris Winner (year after Burns), Victor Hedman, has a +147 and only 2 seasons with a negative +/-. So, what I’m saying is that Burns has never been an elite defender.
But that does not mean Burns is bad, or that Carolina has just picked up a washed-up player. Actually, it is quite the opposite.
With Carolina’s stalwart defenders more than capable of covering up Burns’ defensive deficiencies, the former Sharks defender can devote even more of his game to his offensive instincts. I would be surprised if Burns doesn’t score over 60+ points next year, with him being liberated from his daunting defensive responsibilities that San Jose put on him.
It is a similar case for Max Pacioretty.
The much-maligned Vegas goal-scorer has also seen a decrease in his productivity, but for an entirely different reason. Unlike Burns, Max Pacioretty has never played a full season with the Golden Knights due to injury. In fact, the closest he got to completing a full game schedule was in the 2019/20 season, where he played in 71 games before the COVID-19 shutdown.
Pacioretty has been stricken by injuries practically since he has been in the NHL. Unfortunately, that has given way for his Vegas critics to malign his goal-scoring capabilities because he has been injured so much for the Golden Knights. As long as Pacioretty can stay healthy, I can see him reaching 35-40 goals with Sebastian Aho dishing him the puck.
As for the Carolina Hurricanes, these offseason moves clearly put them, in terms of talent and potential, above the rest of their Metro Division rivals. If they don’t make it to the Conference Finals with this roster now, then they never will.
Images Source: Featured Image:
