theScore is previewing each team leading up to the 2016-17 season.
The Carolina Hurricanes are in a rebuild and, after last season, it appears to be heading in the right direction.
The club boasts a very young squad, but managed to exceed expectations by finishing 10 points out of the playoffs. The offseason saw them add some experience in Lee Stempniak and Bryan Bickell while locking up young talent in Teuvo Teravainen, leaving them in good stead for the future.
Here is how the team should stack up this season:
Forwards
| LW | C | RW |
|---|---|---|
| Jeff Skinner | Jordan Staal | Andrej Nestrasil |
| Joakim Nordstrom | Victor Rask | Lee Stempniak |
| Sebastian Aho | Elias Lindholm | Teuvo Teravainen |
| Bryan Bickell | Jay McClement | Viktor Stalberg |
- Don't be surprised if any number of young players are able to snag a bottom-six spot, especially Sergey Tolchinsky.
Defense
| LD | RD |
|---|---|
| Jacob Slavin | Justin Faulk |
| Noah Hanifin | Brett Pesce |
| Haydn Fleury | Ron Hainsey |
- Ryan Murphy should challenge for a full-time roster spot, as he always seems to. As is the case with the forwards, the Hurricanes are young enough overall that positions in the bottom pairing could be earned by rookies.
Goalies
| G |
|---|
| Cam Ward |
| Eddie Lack |
- The Hurricanes somewhat surprising move to re-sign Cam Ward means the club will go into the season with the same goaltending duo that had the 35th- and 47th-best save percentages of goalies with 25 games played last season.
NHL Depth Charts
ANA | ARI | BOS | BUF | CGY
CAR | CHI | COL | CBJ | DAL
DET | EDM | FLA | LA | MIN
MTL | NSH | NJD | NYI | NYR
PHI | PIT | OTT | STL | SJ
TB | TOR | VAN | WSH | WPG
