*Photo from ESPN*
For the Carolina Hurricanes, they had an offseason that featured a lot of big names head out of town, and a lot of guys come in to replace them. In other words, it's been a very busy offseason in Raleigh. Last season, the Hurricanes won the Discover Central Division with a 36-12-8 record, and were eliminated in the second round by the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Starting off with some departures, there are a lot of big contributors to last year's team that are now gone. The 3 biggest are in goal. Breakout star and playoff starting goalie Alex Nedeljkovic is gone, traded to the Red Wings for a 3rd round pick and the rights to goalie Jonathan Bernier, who signed with the New Jersey Devils when free agency opened. Number two goalie Petr Mrazek has signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs, and James Reimer has left as well, signing with the San Jose Sharks.
They also lost one of the best defensemen in the NHL. Right shot D and all around stud Dougie Hamilton is gone, signing a big 7 year deal with a $9 million AAV with the Devils. That's a massive loss for the back end. They also traded forward Warren Foegele to Edmonton.
Now, we get into the additions. They tried to replace one player in Hamilton by adding a bunch of players. First, right shot D Ethan Bear came from Edmonton in the Foegele trade. Then came right shot D Tony DeAngelo and left shot D Ian Cole in free agency. Left shot D Brendan Smith was also signed by the Hurricanes.
In terms of the offensive attack, it got a boost as the Hurricanes were able to re-sign Jordan Martinook and keep a team leader around the club house. Then came LW Josh Leivo from the Calgary Flames to bolster the bottom six. Then came some center depth in Derek Stepan as a buy low acquisition to see if he can regain some value.
The biggest change has been in goal. They lost their top 3 goalies and figured to be players in the market to get some big names back. They came back with some very intriguing, although risky candidates. Antti Raanta was signed away from Arizona, and Frederik Andersen from Toronto. Both goalies are in fact good in a platoon, but both have been marred with injuries, and Andersen is coming off of a few down seasons. If they can rebound, it will be a boon for Carolina.
The Hurricanes look to be in playoff contention once again, although I wouldn't peg them as division winners, simply because they lost a lot of talent and replaced it with some gambles in the hope they work out.
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