The Carolina Hurricanes are just 48 days away from their opening-night matchup with the Tampa Bay Lightning at home in PNC Arena. The team has one key move to make before then, that being re-signing forward Seth Jarvis who remains a restricted free agent. Outside of that, the roster appears to be set with a plethora of new names on the team, along with a returning Shayne Gostisbehere for a second run. Let’s take a look at who is projected to lead the team in a few key statistics.
Goals: Seth Jarvis
This will be the category that’ll make things interesting for the Hurricanes this upcoming 2024-25 season. While Sebastian Aho has led the team in goals for the last three seasons (37, 36, and 36), there is a rising star within the organization who can give the Finnish forward a run for his money. Jarvis tallied 33 goals during the 2023-24 season in his third year in the NHL, 13 of those being power-play markers, which led the team.
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He managed to do that while bouncing back and forth from the first line with Aho to the third line with Jordan Staal and Jordan Martinnook. Furthermore, he managed to tie for the team lead in shorthanded goals (two) with defenseman cornerstone Jaccob Slavin. No matter the situation, Jarvis finds a way to put the puck in the back of the net.
With the roster seeing some turnover, it makes sense for the 22-year-old Winnipeg native to see a majority of ice time on the top line with Aho and winger Andrei Svechnikov. If those three click right away and become the lethal line people expect them to be, Jarvis and Aho could be in an offensive stats battle all season, especially with goals and points. It could go to either player, but this could be the season where someone dethrones Aho as the Hurricanes’ goal leader and Jarvis has the best chance to be that guy.
Assists: Sebastian Aho
Obviously, this will be going to Aho to lead the Hurricanes in assists. He led the team in helpers for two of the last three seasons, putting up 44, 31 (4th), and 53 respectively. He is an all-around type of player who can set up teammates while scoring but has the pass-first mentality most times. If he taps into that mindset to set up Jarvis and Svechnikov on the top line plus whoever he is with on special teams, he can run away with the assist stat for the upcoming season.
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Aho led the team in the plus/minus category with a plus-34 so there is a solid chance that the first line of him with Jarvis and Svechnikov will put up a massive amount of points this season. He will put up a battle against Jarvis for the goal lead but if there was a 100% chance of him leading any stat category with no issues, it would be in assists.
Hits: Jordan Staal
While Staal might not lead the Hurricanes in points-based categories, he has the chance to do so in the hits category. He has led or tied for the team lead in hits in the last three seasons with 212, 155, and 142. It makes sense for the captain to make a run for the fourth season in a row that he puts the boom on opposing players as one of the best defensive centers in the NHL. He could have multiple Selke Trophy awards if Patrice Bergeron didn’t play in the league.
Staal is head coach Rod Brind’Amour’s safety net when it comes to keeping the team in the lead while shutting down the opposing team’s best players. The face-off wizard will be a solid two-way player again as he goes into the second year of his current four-year deal with the Hurricanes. The only player who gives him a run for the hits lead is Svechniknov who has been second most of the time outside of last season where he tied Staal with 142.
Save Percentage: Pyotr Kochetkov
The 2024-25 season will be one of transition for the Hurricanes with a plethora of changes on the roster. Furthermore, this could be the season where the baton will be handed off to the future of the starting goalie in the net. Last season saw the emergence of Pyotr Kochetkov being the team’s number-one goalie of the future. While Frederik Andersen was out due to a blood clotting issue and missing 40-plus games, Kochetkov was the rock the Hurricanes needed to push through the storm. The young Russian netminder played in 42 games with a record of 23-13-4 with a 2.33 goals against average (GAA) and a .911 save percentage (SV%). Andersen ended up leading the goalies in SV% last season with .932, which was throughout 16 total games.
If the Hurricanes go with a tandem of Kochetkov and Andersen in a 1A/1B with the Russian taking the most of the starts, he has a good chance of leading the netminders in SV%. Also, he could lead the team in GAA as well (2.33 for Kochetkov and 1.84 for Andersen). Either way, the change of guard in net begins now and it’s with Kochetkov being the goalie of the future.
Team Leaders
The Hurricanes are looking for their seventh straight berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2025. Even with the huge turnover, this team is still capable of making some noise in the Metropolitan Division. These four players will look to lead the way. Jarvis looks to be the new team leader in goals while linemate Aho continues to prove why he is a true superstar in the NHL. Staal will show why he is the backbone of the Hurricanes for Brind’Amour to shut down opposing players and bring physicality. Kochetkov will show that it is truly his time in the net for the future of the Hurricanes in a season of transition. He is well on his way to being an elite goalie if he manages to continue the momentum from last season when he took the bulk of starts.
