Can the Carolina Hurricanes’ rebuilding defense still be dominant?

RALEIGH, N.C. – Much of the attention at this year’s Carolina Hurricanes training camp focused on the forwards. Can one of the team’s top prospects – Jackson Blake, Bradly Nadeau or Felix Unger Sorum – earn a spot in the opening lineup? How will William Carrier and Jack Roslovic fit in Carolina? Is this finally the year Jesperi Kotkaniemi becomes a second-tier midfielder?

All of this has meant that the defense has taken a bit of a backseat. As coach Rod Brind’Amour likes to say, defense is the backbone of the Hurricanes, and this year’s team features two familiar pairings and a few (mostly) newcomers.

How will the defense perform this season? Let’s dive in.

There may not be a stronger, know-what-you-get pairing in the NHL than Jaccob Slavin and Brent Burns.

Slavin — who won his second Lady Byng Memorial Trophy for gentlemanly play last season and joined Red Kelly as the only defensemen to win the award multiple times — is a pillar of consistency for Carolina. He hasn’t missed more than six games in a season since becoming a full-time NHL player and can be counted on to score around 30 points per year.

The 30-year-old left-hander, who signed an eight-year extension that kicks in next season, is arguably the best defensive player in the game, and the numbers back it up. His possession numbers, the difference between expected goals and chances, and his plus/ Minus have been excellent throughout his career and he has proven to be an excellent partner for offensive-minded defensemen like Dougie Hamilton and Tony DeAngelo.

But his best success came in the last two years at Burns. His Corsi-For percentage was over 60 percent in both seasons he played alongside Burns – about five percent higher than in other seasons – and other underlying numbers have seen an increase since the pairing formed .

That brings us to Burns. No active player has defied Father Time as well as Burns. Burns finished last season at age 38 with 10 goals and 43 points in 21 1/2 minutes per night. To put that in perspective, according to Hockey-Reference, only seven other defensemen age 38 or older have scored in double figures with at least 40 points (three of them have done it twice). It’s an impressive list.

If you’re keeping track at home, these are all Hall of Fame defensemen and make up a good chunk of the all-time best players on the blue line.

However, there is cause for concern. After taking over 300 shots on goal in the prime of his NHL career, Burns went from 255 in his first year with Carolina to 185 last season – a drop from 3.1 SOG/game to 2.3 SOG/game. In five-on-five play in 2023-24, he had 50 fewer shots than the season before, and only 17 of his 43 points last year came at full strength.

With Shayne Gostisbehere quarterbacking the top power play unit early in camp, Burns’ overall numbers are expected to decline. Burns could improve his scoring chances if his shooting percentage – just 3.73 percent at five-on-five last season – is closer to the 6.52 percent he had in his first season in Raleigh.

Slavin and Burns can also expect a heavier defensive load with the departures of Brady Skjei and Brett Pesce, but Carolina’s top pairing remains formidable.

Dmitry Orlov and Jalen Chatfield proved to be a quality third pairing last season.

Everyone knew what Orlov – a top-four defenseman his entire career – was capable of, but Chatfield thrived in his second full NHL season.

Chatfield had the highest Corsi For percentage of any full-time defenseman in the NHL last season (61.08 percent), and Orlov was fourth (60.07 percent, behind Slavin and Burns).

Chatfield was also on the ice for just 35 five-on-five goals while he was on the ice for 50 goals-against – numbers that match those of no one in the NHL other than Florida’s Gustav Forsling (69-34).

The 28-year-old, who signed a three-year, $9 million contract extension in the offseason, has gradually added more offense to his game, finishing with eight goals and 22 points after scoring six goals and Had scored 14 points.

“When you can skate,” Brind’Amour said, “the game opens up.”

Like Burns the year before, Orlov took some time to adjust to Carolina’s offensive system last year. There was a bit of panic at the start of last season when Orlov – initially paired with DeAngelo – struggled and was minus-11 points in the first seven games of the season.

But the now 33-year-old has settled in and, as mentioned above, found chemistry between himself and Chatfield.

“(Orlov), I think the second half of last year kind of rounded out, and I think we’re going to need a little bit more right from the start,” Brind’Amour said. “We can hardly wait. I don’t think we have the runway that we’ve had in the past.”

The duo will have more difficult tasks to handle this year as the de facto second pairing, but Chatfield and Orlov showed they could handle the workload in last year’s postseason when Pesce was sidelined.

“When (Pesce) went down in the playoffs, me and (Orlov) played a lot more minutes,” Chatfield said. “We had some tough duels, especially against New York. And I thought we held our own. Orly has obviously been doing this for years and I just want to continue to prove that I can do it.

“And if that opportunity comes along and they need me and Orly to do it, I think we’ll be more than ready.”

After adding a defenseman in each of the last two seasons, the Hurricanes need to add two more players to the top six this year.

The good news is that this isn’t Shayne Gostisbehere’s first appearance in Raleigh. Carolina clearly liked what they saw from Gostisbehere in a total of 38 regular season and playoff games after the 2023 trade deadline. The Hurricanes were unable to complete a deal with Gostisbehere this summer, and the 10-year veteran had 56 points with the Red Wings last year.

But Carolina came back this offseason and brought him back into the fold. Gostisbehere struggled at times with Detroit last year, resulting in some healthy scratches early in the season, but he once again proved to be one of the highest scoring blueliners in hockey.

The Hurricanes are hoping he can be that for them — he’s the quarterback of their best power-play unit this preseason — and also help smooth Sean Walker’s move to free agency.

Not only is Walker trying to fill the 2023-24 Orlov role as a top-four defenseman on a third pairing, he’s also in the running for a bigger job in the future.

While Burns continues to be effective, he is also in the final year of his contract and turns 40 in March. Walker, soon to be 30 and on a five-year contract, would be a logical addition to Slavin once Burns rides off into the sunset.

It’s only the preseason, but the first results have been promising. Walker appears to have the aggressive nature that Carolina looks for in its defenders, but he has done so without making careless mistakes.

There’s also a chance the late bloomer has even more potential than the 10-goal, 29-point season he had with the Flyers and Avalanche a year ago.

“I didn’t know much about him before he came here,” center Sebastian Aho said earlier this week, “but he’s a really good player. I mean, the guy can rip the puck and he’s a good skater and has a good hockey IQ. … He’s a smart player. He sees the second wave and the open ice, so to speak.”

In camp, Walker has been working with the second power play unit, an opportunity he has yet to take advantage of in his career, which could further increase his numbers this season.

It’s possible that all six Carolina defensemen could top 20 points this season, which has only happened 21 times since 1976-77. One could even argue that the Hurricanes could have four with 30 or more, which has only happened seven times in the last decade.

Most important will be when Walker gets up to speed, how Orlov and Chatfield handle more difficult minutes, and whether Burns can ignore the clock for another year.

(Photo by Jaccob Slavin: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)