The Carolina Hurricanes are only ahead the Edmonton Oilers by one point when it comes to having the worst record in the National Hockey League. The Hurricanes are 9-19-3 for 21 points and have a solid hold on last place in the Metropolitan Division.
The Hurricanes are only averaging 2.1 Goals Per Game, good for 28th place in the NHL. Injuries have hit the Hurricanes hard as they lost Jordan Staal before the regular season and Eric Staal, Jeff Skinner, and Jiri Tlusty have all missed extended time and the offense has had a hard time jelling under new Head Coach Bill Peters.
Defenseman Justin Faulk leads the team in scoring with 19 points in 31 games and Jiri Tlusty leads the team in Goals with 10. Only three players that have played in games for the Hurricanes have a + rating and that is Andrej Nestrasil with a +3 in 8 games played.
I do not know if an element of toughness would help the Hurricanes or not but they traded away team tough guy, Defenseman Jay Harrison, to the Winnipeg Jets yesterday for a 6th round draft choice. Harrison had two of the Hurricanes five fighting majors this season. The Hurricanes last fighting major the Hurricanes logged was a month ago when Brad Malone went against Brayden McNabb of the Los Angeles Kings. The Hurricanes need someone to protect the top scorers.
The big question is how do the Hurricanes open up their scoring? I would love to see the Hurricanes develop "Fast Break" hockey like the NHL had in the 1980's with almost every team having a scorer that topped 100 points. I don't see that happening anytime soon especially with the Hurricanes.
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