One of the most important parts of a head coach’s job is to put their players in the best position to succeed. You can have all the talent in the world, but if your coach only plays you in the defensive zone, you will struggle to create scoring chances and generate points. It’s also important to know that you will play with the same linemates to build a rapport. Familiarity and understanding will greatly help a team’s success.
How the Carolina Hurricanes deployed their lineup on opening night defies this. In a 5-3 win at PNC Arena over the Ottawa Senators on Oct. 11, the team went with a 7-11 lineup. There’s a joke here about certain convenience stores if you want the low-hanging fruit, but the seven defensemen and eleven forwards the team deployed is what this is about. Carrying an extra defenseman instead of running a complete four-line rotation up front is rarely seen from head coach Rod Brind’Amour. But it seemed to work out.
Why Did 11-7 Work for Hurricanes?
Dressing Jalen Chatfield instead of Brendan Lemieux was bold. It helps that the Hurricanes can ice Chatfield in certain defensive situations when they might have had to send someone like Tony DeAngelo over the boards, who is far from the most solid in his own end. On the flip side, it allowed the team to call on DeAngelo on the power play, and the Sewell, New Jersey native has provided a lot of offense to start the season despite his critics and one of the major reasons the Hurricanes kept all their defensemen on the 2023-24 opening-night roster.
Conversely, if Chatfield is playing with Dmitry Orlov, DeAngelo can play mostly on the power play or when the Hurricanes need to create offense. That way, he can still be sheltered defensively without exposing someone like Orlov to the wolves. DeAngelo’s production so far has lived up to expectations. It’s the defensive side where he and Orlov have struggled, so playing all seven d-men and giving someone like Chatfield that role to ease Orlov into the system made a lot of sense.
It also allowed some wingers to get more ice time than usual because there was an opening when the fourth line took to the ice. This gave Teuvo Teravainen an extra shift to help to a blistering start to the season. It does demand more from the wingers who have to double shift. At the expense of the seventh defenseman, it’s generally viewed as suboptimal because you’re still chopping and changing the lineup, missing the consistency you want when you put a lineup together.
Why 12-6 is Better
If the Hurricanes run four lines, they will have much more flexibility and will give the top nine a chance to relax and breathe before returning to the ice or trying to win a close game. When that fourth line scores, like Brendan Lemieux did against the LA Kings on Oct., they get that bonus production from players they might not be expecting it from. Production from depth players is always a big positive and often decides whether or not a team wins a playoff series.
Related: Hurricanes Release Opening Night Roster for 2023-24 Season
It also means a consistent pairing for all six defenders. This works well for the Hurricanes because it means they can keep Jaccob Slavin next to Brent Burns, but if a pairing starts to have pains like the Orlov and DeAngelo pairing did, they will be forced to ride it out for the game. While they could mix up the pairings, their options are limited. Having Chatfield in the lineup instead would likely provide an extra sense of stability defensively that the team needs, as we saw in the game against the Anaheim Ducks on Oct. 15.
Andrei Svechnikov Complicates Things
There is another complication, and he currently resides on long-term injured reserve (LTIR). Andrei Svechnikov is fighting back from surgery on his anterior cruciate ligament and is getting closer and closer to returning. He was at training camp but wasn’t quite ready. The expectation is that it will not take too long. That’s great for a Hurricanes roster that has historically lacked offensive firepower. Having one of the best players available should simplify things. Should.
In reality, life isn’t so easy. Running with the 11-7 format works because they can rotate Lemieux and Chatfield. When Svechnikov is back in the fold, Lemieux is the logical choice to come out anyway, so which forward do you take out if you want to run seven defensemen? Keeping the four centers is important so they never find themselves short-handed on the dot. Stefan Noesen could come out, but he had 30 points last season. Sacrificing that for an extra defenseman seems superfluous.
Coaches make much more money to weigh the pros and cons of the lineup than I do. It’s been debated forever, and it largely depends on the system and the deployment of the players to determine which is better for a team. At the end of the debate, is the result. One may look better on paper, but if the results are not where the team needs them to be, it doesn’t matter.