RALEIGH, N.C. - It's a great time to be a Carolina Hurricane.
Following six consecutive playoff berths and a 13-4 start after a summer that was supposed to see the team "take a step backward", the team continues to earn recognition from the hockey world.
Earlier this week ESPN's panel of hockey contributors put their heads together to come up with a "Future Power Rankings", considering how teams are set up for success this season as well as the next three seasons.
The panel rated each team in four categories -- roster (with an emphasis on players 26 and under); prospects; cap situation and contracts; and front office, ownership, and coaching -- using this scale:
- 100: A+ (elite)
- 90: A (great)
- 80: B (very good)
- 70: C (average)
- 60: D (very bad)
- 50: F (disastrous)
Guess which team came out on top?
Earning a league-high score of 86.2, the grouping of personalities gushed over how Carolina is competing now and set up to compete for years to come as well.
"Carolina is a perennial Stanley Cup contender for good reason. Coach Rod Brind'Amour constantly gets the most out of his roster, and it's a great one with enviable forward depth (led by Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov and newcomer Jack Roslovic, having his best season in years) and a booming back end that stays stingy," Kristen Shilton wrote.
Breaking it down by the aforementioned four categories, Carolina ranked third in 'Owner/GM/Coach', sixth in 'roster', 11th in 'prospects' and 13th in 'cap/contracts'.
"Carolina is built to win now and so it does, sitting top five in offense (averaging four goals per game), top 10 in defense (giving up fewer than three goals per night) and boasting solid special teams. Even scarier? Carolina has a strong prospect pool -- think Alexander Nikishin, Bradly Nadeau and Jackson Blake, who could all make an NHL jump sooner than later."
To read the full article and see where all 32 teams rank, the article is available here for ESPN+ subscribers.
