Franchise Player? All-Star? Five Canes Earn Recognition in The Athletic's Player Tiers

RALEIGH, N.C. – Hockey is widely regarded as the ultimate team sport, but the hottest debates always seem to revolve around individual players.

On Tuesday, The Athletic published its annual “NHL Player Tiers” ahead of the 2024-25 season – a look at their ranking of the current top 150 players in the league, separated into five echelons – with five Hurricanes named to this year’s list. The publication’s tiers are listed as follows: MVP, Franchise, All-Star, Star, and Support, with players within those tiers grouped into three subsections – i.e. tier 1A, 3C, etc.

Sebastian Aho (Tier 2B – Franchise), Jaccob Slavin (Tier 3B – All-Star) and Andrei Svechnikov (Tier 4A – Star) each earned recognition in the list for the fourth straight year, while Brent Burns (Tier 4C – Star) appeared for the second year running and Seth Jarvis (Tier 4B – Star) made his debut in the rankings.

Appearing alongside names like Sidney Crosby, Elias Pettersson and Brayden Point in the Franchise tier, Aho has been ranked in the second tier in each of the last four years. The Canes' top center recorded a career-best 89 points last season to move into third among the organization's all-time leading scorers (557), trailing only Eric Staal (775) and Ron Francis (1,175).

His two-way game has always been his calling card, but now with three 80-plus-point seasons under his belt, Aho has the tools to turn more heads with his production in 2023-24.

"A dip to 67 points in 2022-23 didn’t deter us — we always had faith in Aho as a franchise player. He rewarded that faith with a career-best performance, scoring 89 points and outscoring opponents by a 58-31 margin," said The Athletic in the story.

Slavin, who was named the 13th-best defenseman in the NHL by NHL Network earlier this summer, brings his steady shutdown game to the All-Star tier. While he often flies under the radar without the eye-popping point production of more offensive-minded defensemen, Slavin's defensive acumen remains as reliable as ever.

Last season also saw the Denver, Colo. native receive the Lady Byng Trophy - given annually to the player "adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability" - for the second time in his career.

"He is the backbone of the Hurricanes thanks to his elite shutdown game, and his discipline makes it all the more impressive," offered The Athletic.

Svechnikov clocks in at the top of the Star tier after notching 52 points in 59 games last season as he returned from an ACL injury sustained during the 2022-23 campaign.

The 2018 second-overall selection ranked fourth in team scoring last year despite missing 23 regular-season games and has hit the 50-point plateau in three straight seasons, setting the stage for a big year from the 24-year-old. But Svechnikov brings even more to the table than just scoring - to borrow a baseball term, he's a five-tool player.

"There aren’t many players in the league with his combination of size, skill and skating," noted The Athletic.

Plus, it doesn't hurt to be the only person in NHL history to do this three times:

Continuing to defy Father Time, Burns' 20th NHL season and second in the City of Oaks featured yet another 10-goal, 40-point campaign from the bearded blueliner. Appearing in every game for the 10th straight year, Burns logged an average of 21:30 per night while pushing his league-leading active ironman streak to 843 consecutive games played.

Other standouts appearing alongside Burns in tier 4C include Morgan Rielly, Lucas Raymond, Moritz Seider and Kyle Connor.

"While his scoring faded a bit at five-on-five last year, he still helped bolster the Hurricanes’ expected and actual goal generation relative to his teammates. The top pair was steady and reliable back in their own zone," said The Athletic on the former Norris Trophy winner.

One of just six players aged 22 or younger to rank in the middle of the Star tier (4B) or higher, Jarvis enjoyed a breakout campaign in 2023-24 with the second-most goals (33), assists (34) and points (67) among all Hurricanes skaters. His production came at an opportune time, helping the budding star earn an eight-year, $63.2 million contract that will keep him in Carolina for the foreseeable future.

Making just his first appearance in The Athletic's player tiers, Jarvis has plenty of runway to climb to even greater heights.

"Few players generated more discussion than Jarvis, who put up 67 well-rounded points and an elite defensive rating in his third full NHL season. We initially decided to go all in on that optimism and place him in Tier 3C, where he had his defenders," said The Athletic. "Ultimately, we dropped him a bit due to his lack of track record (though that’s not quite his fault). The players ahead of him have been part of more productive lines for a longer period of time. That’s the next step."