Seven days away from Carolina's opening night against the Ottowa Senators, I thought it would be fun to take a look at the movement we can expect in the team's record book.
Sebastion Aho is 104 goals short of the most goals in Carolina Hurricanes history. Eric Staal, the former captain and wonder kid holds the crown at first. No one thinks Aho will dethrone Eric this season. However, it's only a matter of time for the Finnish center. I'm guessing it will take Sebastian around two and a half to three more seasons to usher in his era atop the Hurricanes record book.
Caroline's current captain, Jordan Staal ranks seventh in goals scored. It's reasonable to believe that Jordan will score 15+ goals this season. Meaning he'll move past Eric Cole. While we respect Cole on this site he's not the fun part. If Staal is able to score at least 20 goals this season he'll pass Rod Brind'Amour and enter the top five. Jordan has come close to notching 20 goals in recent seasons but fell short. Reaching 17 goals in his last two seasons and 16 in just 53 games in 2020-21.
Jordan plays a shutdown role for the Hurricanes and hasn't been a member of the 20-goal club since 2015-16. Yet, I think this is more than just a possibility. Staal is a selfless player who knows his role and doesn't stray from it. The question isn't if Jordan Staal is still capable of notching 20 goals in a season. It's whether he'll take the opportunities for himself over giving them away to other members of Carolina's core.
Lastly, I want us to look further down this list for a unique race between teammates this season. Ron Francis currently sits in tenth place. (He's highlighted in purple.) While Francis far and away holds the franchise record. Most of his goals were scored for Hartford, not Carolina. So he sits in tenth for the purpose of this race. It's next to impossible that he won't get pushed down this season. Teuvo Teravainen with one more goal than Svechikov ranks eleventh. Andrei Svechnikov currently ranks twelfth. Creating a friendly race between former linemates to not only overtake a franchise legend but also move higher and higher on the list.
Svechnikov seems the likely winner of this race... but in sports, you never know. That's what makes it fun. Who's to say Teravainen dosen't find some magic in an old top hat? There's also a currently unknown timeline for Svechnikov to join Carolina's lineup following his knee injury last season. What I'm trying to say is don't count Turbo out just yet.
100 career goals could be on the horizon for Martin Necas this season. All he has to do is maintain or improve on the momentum from last year's breakout season.
Throughout this season make sure to check in on Turbo's and Svech's race up the chart. Keep an eye on Jordan Staal's goal total as he aims to overtake the team's current bench boss. Get ready to celebrate Necas' career milestone when it arrives. Sorry Aho, you're just too far out for fans to get excited yet.
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