The Daily Faceoff Show: Why don’t the Carolina Hurricanes get more respect?
When you look at both the overall NHL standings and PointsBet Canada’s Stanley Cup odds, there’s an obvious correlation.
The Colorado Avalanche lead the NHL with a .773 points percentage and also have the best Stanley Cup odds at +450.
The Florida Panthers have the most points in the NHL (69) and have the second best Stanley Cup odds at +600.
But for a team like the Carolina Hurricanes – who at .762, have a higher points percentage than Florida – their Stanley Cup odds sometimes lag behind what seems to be their performance on the ice.
The Hurricanes are tied with the Tampa Bay Lightning and Vegas Golden Knights with +750 Stanley Cups odds and are just a shade better than the Toronto Maple Leafs with +400 odds to win the Eastern Conference.
On Wednesday’s episode of The Daily Faceoff Show, Frank Seravalli and Ryan Clark discussed why they think the Hurricanes sometimes don’t get as much love as other teams of their caliber.
Seravalli: “You look at the standings at the All-Star Break and the Carolina Hurricanes will finish right at the top of the Eastern Conference, in terms of points percentage.
“They’re still well ahead of the Florida Panthers, who have been on fire. And right up there with the Colorado Avalanche in terms of the league lead.
“Yet when we did our Midseason Awards earlier this week, you have not a lot of love for the Hurricanes in the Hart Trophy race. Certainly not in the Norris Trophy conversation. Rod Brind’Amour gets a little bit of love in the Jack Adams. And certainly Don Waddell got a few votes, as well, for GM of the Year.
“But what is it about the Hurricanes? Why are we not we talking about them more? And why does Vegas not respect the Carolina Hurricanes more – they’re still 10-to-1 odds for the Stanley Cup, given that they’ve just been motoring along, consistent all season long.”
Clark: “One of the most underdiscussed facets of this team, as well, yes, they’ve been built from within. They brought in nine new players this year. Whether that be Kotkaniemi, Ian Cole, Tony DeAngelo, Ethan Bear, Frederik Andersen – both goalies.
“There’s been a lot. And all they’ve done is win. As to why they’re not talked about any more than what they are, you have two players that are kind of the perfect example of that, in Sebastian Aho and Jaccob Slavin.
“Sebastian Aho, when you look at his numbers – his underlying numbers – he’s about as good of a two-way player as it gets in this league. He may not be overly flashy, but he’s effective, he’s productive and he’s exactly what you want in a consistent player.
“Where as with Jaccob Slavin. When you look at the rebuild of those previous teams, they all have star defensemen – Ekblad and, of course, Makar and Fox. When you look at where the league is with defensemen, when you look at the numbers of someone like Jaccob Slavin every year in the Norris voting, it’s kind of like: ‘oh yeah, he’s kind of good at this, isn’t he?’
“That’s just it. It’s a team that goes underdiscussed.”
You can watch the full episode of The Daily Faceoff Show here…