As the calendar flips to November, the Carolina Hurricanes finish a wild month in October. From a game being postponed to a literal Hurricane, to a 12-day road trip expanding from the east coast to the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia, Canada, the team had a memorable start to the season. As October 2024 comes to a close, the Hurricanes are on a five-game winning streak and are 7-2-0 in the first nine games of the 2024-25 season. That being said, who stood out for the team as they get ready to begin the second month of the season? In the first edition of the “Three Stars of the Month” series at The Hockey Writers, let’s dive into the three Canes players who will take the honors.
3 Stars for October
Third Star: Frederik Andersen
Coming into the season, there were questions about how the Hurricanes would be deploying their goaltending. The team moved on from Antti Raanta who went back to Europe and kept Spencer Martin who they claimed off of waivers last season on a one-year deal. That being said, they started the season with Frederik Andersen and Pyotr Kochetkov.
Kochetkov is going into the second year of his four-year deal while Andersen is in the final year of his two-year, $3.4 million contract. Andersen missed over 40 games last season due to a blood clotting issue but came back at the trade deadline and finished the season with a 13-2-0 record with a 1.84 goals-against average (GAA) and a .932 save percentage (SV%). Furthermore, he had a seven-game winning streak with three shutouts during that span.
Andersen has started off the 2024-25 season with a 3-1-0 record with a .941 SV% and a league-leading 1.48 GAA after four starts. In the four games he started, every one of them saw him finish with a .900 or more SV% and not give up more than two goals a game. Even in the season-opening game versus the Tampa Bay Lightning, he only allowed in two goals while carrying a .905 SV%. His last game saw him get a win over the Seattle Kraken saving 18 of 19 shots faced and a .947 SV%. What a great start to the season for the guy the team and fans call “The Great Dane”.
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However, during that game in the Pacific Northwest saw him come up “gimpy” as head coach Rod Brind’Amour calls it. It was announced on Oct. 31 that Andersen will be out “week-to-week” with no real date of when he will be good to go again. The team in a move a day prior recalled Martin from the American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate Chicago Wolves. Hopefully, it’s a quick and safe recovery for Andersen who is on the best start to a season for him. It does not take away from a great October from him and why he deserves to be part of the first edition of the three stars of the month for the Hurricanes.
Second Star: Shayne Gostisbehere
If there is anyone to talk about coming back and not missing a step, it’s defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere. There were a lot of ghost sightings as the team’s resident “Ghost” himself had a start of a season to remember. After spending the 2023-24 season away with the Detroit Red Wings tallying 10 goals and 56 points, he has come back for a second run and has been one of the catalysts for the Hurricanes’ start to 2024-25. Ghost signed a three-year, $3.2 million average annual value (AAV) deal back on July 1 and is already living up to his contract. There was a stretch during the six-game road trip where he had three power-play goals in three straight games. He slid right onto the first power-play unit, replacing Brady Skjei who went to the Nashville Predators, and has hit the ground running.
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After nine games into the season, Gostisbehere has four goals (tied for third) and nine points (tied for third) which leads all Hurricanes defensemen while averaging 18:48 minutes of ice time. All of this after being gone for a season and being paired with a newcomer in Sean Walker who signed a five-year deal on July 1 as well. Those two have been playing like they’ve been defensive partners for multiple seasons. Ghost carries a plus-3 on the season and has been playing some shutdown hockey as well. Pretty impressive for a guy who is mainly all offense but has bought into the two-way defensive game thanks to Hurricanes defense coach Tim Gleason. However, the Canes know to let Ghost play his game and he has done that plus more.
He is carrying a 66.70 goals-for percentage (GF%) along with a Corsi-for percentage (CF%) of 69 in nine games while being a point-per-game player. He is the only defenseman on the team to be at a point-per-game and one of four current Hurricanes players to be doing that so far this season. Being able to come back and play like how is right now deserves a lot of praise while being thankful that he is with a stacked Canes blue line for the next three seasons with hopefully more to come.
First Star: Martin Necas
It was a foregone conclusion that Martin Necas would be the first star for October. The 25-year-old Czech forward is on the hottest start to a season in his career with five goals and 15 points in the team’s first nine games. That gives him a 1.67 points per game average while having a GF% of 60% and a CF% of 55.70%. Outside of Jack Roslovic having six goals to lead the team, Necas leads the Hurricanes in assists (10) and points (15). During the six-game, 12-day road trip, he accumulated 10 points in those six games to lead the team as well. Not bad for a guy who just signed a two-year deal back on July 29 to stay in Raleigh.
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The reason for the hot start for Necas is that he is back on the first power-play unit after spending much of 2023-24 on the second unit. Furthermore, he has averaged 17:55 minutes of ice time this season compared to 17:21 last season. It might seem small but over an 82-game season, it does add up, especially for a guy like Necas who thrives on more overall ice time. His 27.8% shooting percentage is the best so far of his career, significantly better than the 18.2% back in 2019-20. His career highs in goals (28), assists (43), and points (71) came during the 2022-23 season before he dropped off last season.
While his current pace of around 66 points by the 4 Nations break might drop a bit, there is a chance that he could set new highs this season. As long as he does not go on a long dry spell and see his production drop off, we could be in for a fun season watching Necas prove why he was worth the $6.5 million AAV of his new deal. Talk about starting a season hot after a huge payday for Marty Necas.
Flipping the Calendar to November
The Hurricanes begin their November with a division matchup with rival the Washington Capitals on Sunday, Nov. 3. It will be an earlier puck drop than usual with the game set to begin at 5 p.m. Eastern. Per usual it will be shown on Fan Duel Sports Network South on TV with the radio call with Mike Maniscalco on the call with Tripp Tracy doing the color commentary. Carolina will be looking to go for a sixth straight win against a Washington team that has started the season hot as well with an 8-2-0 record in 10 games. An early heavyweight bout against Alex Ovechkin and the Caps will be a tone-setter for the first week of games to kick off November and to see where the Canes stack up in an already competitive Metropolitan Division. Fans won’t want to miss this one.
