Brind'Amour wants consistency from Svechnikov: 'He disappears' at times

If Andrei Svechnikov were a magician, his disappearing act might rival that of Harry Houdini. But as the Carolina Hurricanes' third-highest paid player, the team is looking for more out of him.

"He needs to be a little more impactful, shift in, shift out," Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind'Amour told The Athletic's Cory Lavalette and Michael Russo last week. "He's certainly shown signs of it. The consistency, it's kind of, you know, he disappears a little bit sometimes. So we've got to just get him on track, and we'll get him dialed in.

"We're gonna need him. We talked about what we're at the end (in the playoffs). You gotta have everybody contributing, otherwise it's not gonna work."

Svechnikov has failed to register a point in eight games entering Tuesday's tilt with the Vegas Golden Knights. He's averaging 14:43 per contest, which would be his lowest mark since he was an 18-year-old rookie.

The 25-year-old has managed 15 total shots and five hits this season. He averaged 223 shots and 167 hits per 82 games in his career entering 2025-26.

Svechnikov set career highs with 30 goals and 39 assists in 2021-22. He tallied 20 goals and 28 assists last season before adding 12 points in 15 playoff appearances.

He says he isn't overly concerned with his early-season slump.

"If you go negative, then it's going to get worse and worse. So I try to stay positive. It's fine," Svechnikov said Monday. "Maybe for some it's a bigger deal, but for me, it's not that big of a deal. I've been there - maybe not in the start of the year, but I've been there many times, so it's fine, totally fine. I could have scored last game. I didn't.

"I've just got to find my game, that's all. I don't worry about the points or goals."

The Hurricanes drafted Svechnikov second overall in 2018. He's in the fifth season of a eight-year contract carrying an average annual value of $7.75 million.