Dobber’s offseason fantasy hockey grades – Carolina Hurricanes

For the last 17 years (12 with The Hockey News) Dobber has reviewed each team from a fantasy-hockey standpoint and graded them.

The 18th annual review will appear here on DobberHockey throughout the ~~summer~~…er, winter. This is not a review of the likely performance on the ice or in the standings, but in the realm of fantasy hockey both for the season ahead as well as the foreseeable future. Offensively, will the team perform? Are there plenty of depth options worthy of owning in keeper leagues? What about over the next two or three years? These questions are what I take into consideration when looking at the depth chart and the player potential on that depth chart.

Enjoy!

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Gone – Trevor van Riemsdyk, Anton Forsberg, Justin Williams, Joel Edmundson, Brian Gibbons, Sami Vatanen

Incoming – Drew Shore, Joakim Ryan, Jesper Fast, Sheldon Rempal, Jeremy Bracco

Impact of changes – This was a good, underrated team last year with good, young depth up front and on the blue line. The goaltending continues to be a question mark, as the Hurricanes again roll with Petr Mrazek and James Reimer – two goalies who are good at times, weak at others. But the team is growing together and theoretically improves with experience. Dougie Hamilton is healthy and ready to pick up where he left off as a top five scoring defenseman, and Andrei Svechnikov will continue his quest to become the next high-scoring power forward. Carolina is under the salary cap and not in a crippling position for next summer in that regard. So GM Don Waddell was just looking to supplement their talent with experienced depth.

Fast is an excellent addition to their checking line and Ryan provides a solid No.7 option on the blue line. Bracco and Rempal are prospects with some upside and if one or both pay off – great. If not, well no harm done. But as far as fantasy hockey is concerned, no impactful moves were made this offseason.

Ready for full-time – Morgan Geekie transitioned very well to pro hockey, and has proven to be a clutch performer when it's needed most. Last season he seemed already have the AHL figured out as a sophomore there and the Canes brought him up for two games. In typical clutch-Geekie fashion, he scored three goals and one assist in those two games. It is likely that he never becomes a regular in the top six, as his game is best suited for the third line. But he's also the type of player you never want to count out. Meaning…I wouldn't be money against him.

Jake Bean really came into his own last season with Charlotte, leading the AHL in scoring from blueliners and making the All-Star team. If he doesn't make the Hurricanes as a regular, he'll get enough call-ups to compile at least a dozen games or more. The former 12^th overall draft pick is very close.

Alex Nedeljkovic is Carolina's top prospect goaltender and although he isn't the No.2, he's behind Reimer who is a Band-Aid Boy. Nedeljkovic also has to clear waivers in order to be sent down so Carolina will likely keep him around for a bit rather than lose him. (Read out fantasy scouting profile on Nedeljkovic here)

Carolina Hurricanes prospect depth chart and fantasy upsides can be found here

Fantasy Outlook – Carolina's offense is still on the rise. After finishing 23^rd in goals scored in 2017-18, they jumped to 16^th and then 11^th last season (exactly the spot I projected they would finish last year in this very feature!). And they ain't done yet. Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen each have another gear yet, and Svechnikov is just scratching the surface. Meanwhile, Dougie Hamilton was finally showing us what we saw in him 10 years ago when he was derailed by injury. Now the team just needs to see Warren Foegele and Martin Necas to each take another step. It would be nice if Nino Niederreiter and Vincent Trocheck could figure out why things have been going steadily downhill for them these last two years, but fantasy owners would be wise to assume that they won't.

On defense, it's not just Hamilton for fantasy owners. Nope, Jaccob Slavin is looking better and better each season. His appeal is more for 'real' hockey though, but he does have some fantasy upside. And while Jake Gardiner has a good track record for production, last year he showed that he could only produce when Hamilton was out of the way. The prospect pipeline is pretty good, with Seth Jarvis and Noel Gunler joining the organization at this year's draft, and Dominik Bokk, Ryan Suzuki, Patrik Puistola, Jamieson Rees, Stelio Mattheos and Bracco in the mix as well. All eight of those aforementioned players are in the top 160 on my Fantasy Prospects List.

Fantasy Grade: B+ (last year was B-)

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2020 Offseason Fantasy Hockey Grades

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