Carolina Hurricanes Goaltending Unit Faces Uncertain Future

Five times in the last five NHL drafts, the Carolina Hurricanes have drafted a goaltender in hopes of finding a long-term replacement for Cam Ward.

They appeared to have finally found one in 2013-14 when free-agent addition Anton Khudobin put together one of the better season-long performances in recent franchise history.

But the 2014-15 season, from the NHL to the AHL to the ECHL to the OHL, has tossed the Hurricanes' long-turbulent netminding situation back into the blender.

Chris O'Meara/Associated Press

The first two months of the season saw Khudobin lose his first 10 appearances and slide back firmly into the No. 2 role. Ward, meanwhile, overcame a shaky start to launch into arguably the best stretch of his career since the 2008-09 season.

In 23 appearances since the start of November, Ward has posted a .927 save percentage and 2.06 GAA. 

However, there still exists plenty of reason to believe that Ward, who turns 31 next month, can't keep this up.

His career regular-season save percentage is just .910—sixth-worst among 29 active goaltenders with 200 or more career appearances—and, prior to this season, had declined for four straight seasons. Ward allowed three goals in the third period of Tuesday's 3-2 loss to the Nashville Predators after holding the Preds to just one goal in five periods previously; it could be a sign that No. 30's luck is about to change somewhat.

Ward's spectacular November and December were so out of pattern, and even out of character for his career as a whole, that it seems highly likely that a regression to the mean is due, and soon.

Gregg Forwerck/Getty Images

After all, the same thing happened to Khudobin over the 2014 summer.

After turning eyes from all around with a .926 save percentage and 19-14-1 record in his debut 2013-14 campaign in Raleigh, Khudobin suddenly devolved into a total mess for the first several months of 2014-15, starting 0-7-2 with a horrendous .892 save percentage.

Yet the 28-year-old Kazakh may be turning things around at last. He's allowed just one goal against in three consecutive starts, good for a .957 mark and two shootout wins.

Dennis Pajot/Getty Images

The team's cast of goalie prospects, despite plenty of attention and attempted fixes over the years, does continue to lack a clear, guaranteed future star.

The team's only certainly successful goaltender draft pick of the past decade is currently leading the Anaheim Ducks to the best record in the West. Frederik Andersen, 2010 'Canes seventh-rounder, ditched the 'Canes in 2012 and is now 22-6-5 this season in Anaheim.

Sixth-round fliers Matt Mahalak (2011) and Collin Olsen (2012) never went anywhere, and once-promising OHL stars Daniel Altshuller (2012 third round) and Alex Nedeljkovic (2014 second round) are both in the midst of terrible 2014-15 seasons.

Neither of the AHL Charlotte Checkers' goaltenders, career minor leaguers Drew MacIntyre and John Muse, offer any NHL potential moving forward.

Player	Age	Level	Record	Save %	GAA
Cam Ward	31	NHL	10-15-2	.915	2.37
Anton Khudobin	28	NHL	2-8-2	.906	2.55
Drew MacIntyre	31	AHL	10-11-2	.917	2.56
John Muse	26	AHL	2-7-2	.908	2.83
Daniel Altshuller	20	ECHL	6-1-0	.886	3.19
Alex Nedeljkovic	18	OHL	9-14-3	.905	3.43

So with the trade deadline beginning to approach and the Hurricanes still last in the Eastern Conference, general manager Ron Francis is left with a difficult question.

Should he keep an aging but resurrected Ward and his $6.3 million cap hit around?

Or should he sell high on Ward and put his confidence in a barely recovered Khudobin and a hit-or-miss collection of kids?

A decision on Carolina's netminding future is one of several key choices with major long-term influence to be made in the coming months.

For now, however, the unit's future leader remains perhaps more cloudy than ever.

Mark Jones has covered the Carolina Hurricanes for Bleacher Report since 2009. Visit his profile to read more, or follow him on Twitter.