Carolina Hurricanes

Hurricanes might have their offensive upgrade already on roster

Published May. 13, 2015 12:26 a.m. ET

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News flash: The Hurricanes were not good offensively this past season.

Despite finishing 13th in the league in goals against (219), they finished with the fifth-worst record in the NHL, thanks in large part to the paltry 183 goals they managed over their 82-game schedule. With that in mind, there's no question that they need to increase their scoring output next season if they're going to close that 36-goal gap and compete for a playoff spot.

But increasing their scoring output doesn't necessarily mean having to throw themselves into the trade market or free agency, as pointed out by The Hockey Writers earlier this week. A couple things to consider: Eric Staal has had four 30-goal seasons in the past decade and could still return to that level, the talented Alexender Semin seems likely to recover somewhat from an inexplicably terrible six-goal season, and Jeff Skinner has shown 30-goal ability (twice in five years, in fact) when not suffering from concussions, as he did this past season while tallying 18 goals.

Even an increase of, say, 10 goals from each of those three players, which doesn't seem at all unrealistic, would almost completely close the Hurricanes' goal-differential deficit, and that's without taking into account the possibility of continued offensive progression from young players such as Elias Lindholm and Victor Rask.

Additionally, the Hurricanes might be able to find an instant-impact forward in the draft. They will have some promising options with the fifth pick, likely including high-scoring center Mitch Marner of London (OHL), physical forward Lawson Crouse of Kingston (OHL) and top-ranked European forward Mikko Rantanen of Finland.

Given the quality goaltending and defense they already have in place, the Canes aren't as far away from playoff contention as many other teams picking in the top 10. And if they can get the sort of bounceback years that might be expected of three of their most talented and/or highly paid players, next season could look a lot different from (and end a lot later than) this one.

(h/t The Hockey Writers)

Photo credit: Jeff Haynes-Associated Press

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Carolina Hurricanes

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