Carolina Hurricanes Moving Forward: Defense Showing Potential

With the Carolina Hurricanes' season winding down and playoffs all but out of the question, it's time for the 'Canes organization and followers to begin looking forward.

The Hurricanes have already shown that it is what they want to do. Several trade deadline moves back in early March that rid the Hurricanes of four players 31 or older and the acquisition of three prospects and seven draft picks in return are sure signs that Carolina is looking towards tomorrow.

This new series put out by the Hurricanes Community will cover all parts of the Hurricanes roster and farm system, as we look towards next season and then the years after that.

Sterling Eby started off the theme analyzing some of the Hurricanes' top AHL prospects earlier in the week, a pool of talent that's just growing deeper by the day. You can check out his article at the link below:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/365406-from-old-to-new-a-fresh-perspective-of-the-new-carolina-hurricanes

In this edition, we begin to focus on certain units of the Hurricanes team. This coverage will be focused on the back end, the most important part of keeping the puck out of your own net, and eventually the factor that wins championships: the defense.

After several years of insecurity and mediocrity, the Hurricanes defense has finally begun to build a sturdy, talented, and young core around a few key players and have another boatload of prospects ready to come in and work their way up, too.

For now, the Hurricanes "D" is all either American, Canadian, or Finnish; but there's still plenty of diversity among the crew, as well as a good combination of attributes.

Central players Tim Gleason and Joni Pitkanen earned medals in the 2010 Winter Olympics with USA and Finland, respectively, and recently-acquired veteran Brian Pothier and offensive specialist Alexandre Picard are also finding a fit in their new home in Raleigh.

Add into that Brett Carson, Jamie McBain, Brian Rodney, Casey Borer, Jay Harrison, recently-signed former Hobey Baker finalist Kyle Lawson, and unsettled current-KHL starter Anton Babchuk, and you have a fairly good-looking group.

A fairly good-looking group comprised of only one player above the age of 27 (Brian Pothier is 32). The current NHL-level group (Carson, Gleason, Harrison, McBain, Picard, Pitkanen, and Pothier) is also all at least 6'0" and 200 lbs. or more.

Furthermore, the defense is also providing a scoring touch. Pitkanen has found quite a knack on the Hurricanes offense this year, boasting six goals and a whopping 37 assists to date, good enough for fourth on the team with 43 points. Jamie McBain also has recorded two helpers and, more importantly, an overtime buzzer-beating goal to beat the Penguins in his first three NHL games ever, and Brian Pothier recorded an overtime winner in another game against Pittsburgh in only his sixth game as a 'Cane.

"Tough guy" Tim Gleason has also upped the ante on the scoring side, recording five goals and 19 points, far from his scoreless 14-total-point full season last year. Brett Carson also hit home in the third period with a goal that ended up being one of the difference makers in a 4-3 OT win against Washington this week.

Physical play hasn't been lost this year, either, and seems another sure bet for the future. Tim Gleason has plenty of fights left in him for years and years to come, and hard hitting from Pitkanen, McBain, Carson, Rodney, and even forwards Tuomo Ruutu and Tom Kostopoulos should contribute plenty of stats to that category.

Moving forward, it seems likely that the Hurricanes will probably be able to shed a couple players from the pack to set the stage for a talented and developing top seven. With Pothier leading the way as the only true veteran, a diverse and excited group should be ready to quietly take the stage as one of the NHL's most balanced defensive units.

In the upcoming offseason, the Hurricanes seem likely to trade or let go of inconsistent Jay Harrison, who wasn't expected to contribute as much as he was eventually asked to when he was originally signed from Toronto last offseason, Casey Borer, and already half-gone powerplay specialist Anton Babchuk.

With the defense shaved down to a solid bunch, it likely will go down to a late-summer training camp battle to see which players win out for the NHL jobs. The others will likely go down and spend some time with the then-Charlotte Checkers of the AHL, and Hurricanes faithful should keep an eye on them as well.

Now that the Hurricanes have begun to focus on the future, the defensive picture for upcoming  seasons is getting clearer by the day. With such a skilled crew with so potential growth available, it's hard to envision just another middle-of-the-pack defensive unit amounting from the Hurricanes current assembly of back-end talent.

Mark Jones is currently Bleacher Report's featured columnist for the Carolina Hurricanes. In his 19 months so far with the site, he has written over 175 articles and received over 115,000 total reads.

Visit his profile to read more.