Carolina Hurricanes 2025-26 Season Preview | Steve Dangle Podcast

They were perpetually one of the quieter teams in the NHL who did really, really well. Conference finals, second rounds, it just seems to be the minimum that they at least win one round and that they do well in the regular season. I’m talking about the Carolina Hurricanes who finished last year second in a relatively weak metropolitan division with 99 points. The Midropolitan Division, it truly was last year. Um but uh after kind of dispatching Jersey pretty easily, it didn’t go as as well as I think they would have hoped uh going into um uh you know the Stanley Cup that they’ve been searching for. However, they were very noisy. They made some big trades. They made some big moves. And before we get to that stuff, what do you think? Oddsmakers love uh love the Carolina Hurricanes. What do you think of this? Interesting. 99 points last year. Okay. Oddsmakers have them the overunder at 106 and a half. Wow, that’s a big jump. That’s a big swing in points. But hard to argue that they got worse, right? I want the under there. That’s a lot of points. Really? It’s a lot of points. Now, it was a team in transition last year, Steve, right? Like they added Nick Eers. They obviously Ranton and came and went. Uh so they got um uh uh who the heck did they get for Ranton? Why is that escaping me? Right. Oh, Logan St. Yeah, Logan Stan and those picks that they as well that they can parlay into something else this year at the trade deadline. I mean, Jess, what do you think about 106 and a half? I got the over. You got the over. You’re the over. This is a good team. Such a high over. It’s a good team who’s only improved. So, okay. So, where do you want to start here, guys? Because there’s so much to unpack with the Winnipeg Jets. Is it is it Eric Tolski? Like, I’ve got him as a line item, right? like this is a guy who, you know, Don Modell was very quiet, worked in the shadows, hired great people like Eric Tulski and uh was able to find uh efficiencies, find players on distressed deals, even had an RFA signing with Cockin Emmy. Uh now they’re out there going, we’re making big big swings. The Rantin was one. Uh Eer’s deal is a big deal, too. $8.5 million. What do you think here? Oh, I mean they’re a great team. They’re they’re they’re such a good team. Great regular season team. I’m just talking about Tulski’s influence. They do okay in the playoffs. No, I know. But they’re they are a stereotype of like what the old guard thinks analytics teams are. Okay. Um and they play like it. Um, I like I don’t think most contending teams I don’t think a Dallas I don’t think a I know for sure not a Florida is going out and getting a Yasper [ __ ] and Emmy. Yeah. Right. And and that was born from an offer sheet which is something that typically GMs don’t do. going out and getting someone at the deadline, trying them out, like dating them and then flipping them is something that has been suggested by intelligent nerds for a long time and never actually done. Yeah. So, it’s been interesting. It’s been fun to cover. I kind of wonder how it affects the team. Yes, it can maybe keep you on your toes and maybe that’s a good thing. But I I got to wonder if there’s a little air of I could get traded at any moment. Oh, yeah. I mean, yeah, sure. Why not? Unless you got one of those uh those deals where you you have trade protection. Well, like I I think some I think most GMs have loyalty to their guys um to a fault and I don’t think that is a quote unquote problem for the Carolina Hurricanes if that makes sense. They’re a great team and not a single player on this team makes over $10 million. Uh the highest is Sebastian Aaho at 975. Here’s a crazy deal. Jacob Slavven makes $6.396 million. That is crazy. So those are all very good deals. And I I wanted to point this out about the Hurricane. So, thank you for bringing it up. Those are all good deals. They have $10.6 million in cap space and they always have this outrageous amount of cap space and they’re never able to spend it. Now, I know they wanted Mitch in the worst way and they went out and they spent big on dealers. At some point, you got to use that. Well, I think they tried with Rantin. Yeah. Well, keep keep trying. Keep trying. So, you’re expecting another big swing this year? You know, Jesse, I look at this. I want to talk to you about uh one of their big swings. We’ll talkers in a second. Kandre Miller from New York. Um, big trade, big swing with that extension. That’s a lot of belief in in he’s 25 years old. Did not have a good year last year, but nobody in the Rangers did. What are your thoughts on KA Andre Miller now and his fit with this team? Yeah, it it fills a gap that they had there. Like they needed somebody on that left side to to fill the gaps for their defenseman. So, I’m like very pleased that they went out and did that because I think they’re going to be a good team and I think he makes them better. Plus, it provides some offensive ability on the back end because this is a team like I’m just asking them to to score a little bit more. And KAR Miller from the defensive side of it should help uh with their offense, which replace some of what they lost with Shay and Peshy, right? Yeah. And like even Brett Burns a little he’s he’s up in there in age, but on the back end, he’s still I think can affect things offensively. So, I’m hopeful that you see that part of the game out of Miller because that’s where they need assistance. Big room guy, right? Like that. That’s got to be the the room has to be different without Brent Burns and probably not for the better. Yeah, I’m I’m not saying I’m not saying it’s a bad room. I’m just saying like this is Brent Burns. It’s one of the loudest personalities in the And he rocks. Everybody loves he rocks. He’s awesome. Okay, guys. I want to I want to get your thoughts on the actual Nick Eer swing. 29 years old, $8.5 million. uh he is perennially when given the opportunity in Winnipeg uh because he wasn’t always given the ice time to do it. He’s like a point a game player uh very quietly. Um this is a a guy that was drafted one spot after William Knander. Um what do we think of him at 29 years old and a fit in this lineup which is a little bit more defensively minded I would say than the Winnipeg Jets? Eight and a half million bucks for a guy who hit his career high last year. in that career. Actually, no, sorry. Second careerhigh and it was only 63 points. He is Eer still. Are you saying he’s overrated? No, I’m saying I’m saying he was not given a lot of opportunity, especially under Boness. Yes. Yes. Yes. I agree with that. I’m saying, you know, this is a Carolina hurricane made in a lab. Um like he’s been a hurricane his whole life. He just played for the Jets. Um, he is a smalish guy who was always under underutilized by the old school and now he’s in Carolina. Yeah, that’s a hurricane made in a lab. They’re going to score. They’re going to be an impossible team to get the puck off of. Yep. They’re going to score so many goals. They’re going to outshoot everyone. Like one of the one of the funniest things throughout any season, you know, you’re flipping through the games and you turn on the Hurricanes game and uh they’re outshooting their opponents 40-6. It’s a two- two tie. Yeah. Like that’s that’s the Hurricanes in a nutshell. Like I don’t imagine they’re going to change that philosophy at all going into this year. It makes for a really good regular season team and that’s what we’re evaluating here. Um, it’s regular season is our prediction. So, when they get to the playoffs, it’s going to be a whole different animal. Just to back up what you’re saying though, Steve, they had the second most shots on goal last season. I can’t believe it’s game. It’s Edmonton had more shots. Oh, yes, I can. They finished ninth in goals four and on the power play, they’re only 25th uh in terms of goal score. So, they only that they’re 25th in the power play percentage. And then, um, shooting percentage, they’re 26th. So, like those are their goal sets. They pepper the shots. They’re able to be like pretty up there in goals four. They can’t do the high danger stuff on the power play when they have the opportunity and they’re up the second in shots. So, they’re getting a bunch of shots. They don’t usually go in, but it’s great for the Corsy numbers. It applies to the regular season and it doesn’t really translate to playoffs. So, their problem for me, like I think it can be solved with coaching. Like for me, like if you can just figure out how to get your guys to get more shots that are shots that are going to go in the back of the net cuz you’re getting shots, but convert those limit maybe the number you take and wait for the right opportunities. If they can coach that into their players, I think the things you’re missing in terms of the players you have can just be solved by like having a better power play. Going to throw it out there. Don’t take 10 shots on the power play. Take five that are more high quality. Going to throw it out there. 13.8 8% was Eer shooting percentage last year, the second high, highest of his career. Again, he got he doesn’t take a step back. He got an opportunity, though. I I really think that he was being held back in Winnipeg. I don’t expect him to take Now, listen, I know this isn’t this is a regular season preview. It’s not a not a playoff preview, but they did beat the Devils 4 to1 and then they beat the Caps 4 to1, but they lost four to one to the Panthers. And I look at this lineup uh in in in the way it looks right now, it looks really strong. But what was very clear was when they played the Panthers after their first two lines finished matching up, that third line, Luc Rinan and and Marian ate them alive like they did the Leafs. And the Carolina Hurricanes put up way less of a fight than the Leafs did against the Panthers. So, I look at um I look at this and I go, man, they’re going to have to find a way to augment this forward group. I wonder what this looks like if Rantin is in the lineup. He had such a monster playoff for Dallas. You know, if he’s in the lineup, do they win an extra game? I think they got to go deeper than that. I don’t think it can be Jordan Stall uh going up against, you know, the Marian line. Got rocked. Like, they just look the same to me, which is why like they’re such an excellent team. They might be a top five team in the league. And I’m looking at them in sort of a hoham way cuz they’re it’s it’s like, “Oh, the Leafs won the division. Why wouldn’t you bring MNER back?” Yeah. You know what I mean? Like we know how this ends. Um and hilariously, who wanted him in the worst way? And by the way, it ends better than it does for the Leafs. That’s the answer. 100%. Right. Yeah. Um I I I tell you what, I haven’t done this through all the teams that we’ve recorded so far. Mhm. I changed where I have them mid recording cuz I realized I was ridiculous. I’m because you’re like Jesse said a 100 times and I needed that. This is a regular season evaluation, not a playoff evaluation. So So I changed where I have What is it? Second. Where did you have them before? Third. What? Yeah. Behind the Wow. Jesse, what about you? I have them winning the division. I think for this team, like if I can see, hey, fix your damn shooting percentage. Just get it a little higher. The way you play hockey is really efficient. Just [ __ ] put some pucks in the back of the net. We didn’t consistently. Fix your power play. Like, if I can see this [ __ ] you can too, Carolina. You’re really good. It’s all there. You’re going to have a good regular season. I do I do want to mention uh their goalending is a complete wild card. Freddy and Kachchov. Yeah, Kachchov is night in night out a bit of a wild card. And Freddy is going to give you 20 of the best games you’ve ever seen. All right. Or 58. I agree with Jesse Blake. Carolina Hurricanes are going to win the division this year. What happens though? I want to change my pick now. No. Ah, damn it. Trade deadline though. Tulsi. Wait, do you actually I don’t know. I don’t want to be just siding with Adam here. He doesn’t He doesn’t trust me. It can’t Oh, can’t be good. Go third. Make me look stupid. No, I’ll stick with it. Uh Carolina Hurricanes are winning the division this year for sure. Uh but the question is what do they do at the trade deadline because that’s going to be

Steve Dangle, Adam Wylde and Jesse Blake preview the 2025-26 Carolina Hurricanes. How big of a boost will Nikolaj Ehlers be to their lineup? Will they compete for top spot in the Metropolitan division? Find out all that and more here!

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25 comments

  2. I like Rod Brindamour and a lot of the players, but the Canes benefit immensely from the weakness of the Metro. In the Central, Carolina would probably wrestle with WPG for 3rd or 1st wildcard over STL.

  4. Steve: "$8.5M is too much for Ehlers, he only had 63 points last year!"

    Also Steve: "9.7M is a steal for Aho, he had 74 points last year!"

    Jesse is the only voice of reason here. Steve was actually going to put the Canes THIRD in the Metro?! And he thinks 106.5 points is too much when the last four years for the Canes have been 116, 113, 110, and 99 points (and Brind'Amour sat his eight best players for the last 10 games last season)?

    I've never seen a group of people more ignorant of a team. It's like last year when they acted like Jesse choosing the Canes to win over the Caps was a spicy choice, then they won in five games.

  6. Seriously screw this organization. From the owner to the gm to the coach to their play style I hate this team. Not to mention literally wanting to sign the most degenrate loser of the 2018 canadian wj team.

  7. I can’t believe people still think so highly of this team when they continue to disappoint in the post season. If the coach of Leafs or NYR had a press conference after getting swept and said “oh well if you actually watched the games we didn’t really get swept” they would be mercilessly ridiculed. But RBA does it and no one bats an eye.

    Edit: it’s KEY-Andre Adam. His nickname is Key for a reason.

    2nd Edit: wait what happened to all of the fancy graphics that these videos had?

  8. “They always have cap space” what a year ago they lost multiple players because they were spent to the cap. Stop speaking on a team you know nothing about and blindly hate

  12. I do agree that Carolina needs something to change in the coaching, Jeff Daniels as their power play coach has NOT been working, wild that he isnt gone yet.
    will give them credit though, last year was their "down year" and they made it to the eastern finals, if they ever get consistent scoring depth to actually reward them for their suffocating pressure there's no way this team loses.

  14. Burns is a great guy, and I am sure that translates to the room. However, a 40 year old breaking down body, loss of skill, and an ironman streak that is years away from fruition has to take a toll on the room too. So maybe it is better that Burns moved on.

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