Who was the most valuable player of the regular season?

[ookhaab]

The most valuable Carolina Hurricane?

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[Bunch of Jurcos]

I'm going with Curtis McElhinney. As fans we were burned pretty badly by Darling's play. You could tell the team actively played worse in front of him. When the switch was made to Mcbackup it was like night and day. He was calm in net, made timely saves, and most importantly was not the specific reason why we lost games through backbreaking soft goals. Before Mrazek went out of his mind, Curtis changed the direction of this franchise from lose for Hughes to the hottest team in the NHL for almost two months and helped fill our building again.

Curtis plays solidly -> Team has confidence to win games they shouldn't -> They recover from the awful start -> Fans start to come back and gives team energy -> The rise of Mrazek

I don't fault him for his body breaking down. We knew what we were getting when he arrived. I wholeheartedly believe that we're not able to play tomorrow if he doesn't start the ball rolling to save our season. I don't think he was the most impactful, that probably goes to Nino, or the best, that goes to Aho, or even the most underrated, which goes to Teuvo. But for a two month stretch he's the most valuable Hurricane we've had in years.

 

[NotOpie]

I'm going with Curtis McElhinney.

Exactly this...and the rest of your post as well @Bunch of Jurcos . He literally picked us up off of the floor, dusted us off, and said, "....get back in there and play the game"...as he gently pushed us back on the ice.

 

[Anton Dubinchuk]

He tussled our hair and said “I love you, kid.” And we loved him back.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Aho. He gets thrown into center, canes lose Rask before the season even starts, then lose Staal for an extended period of time and Aho is carrying the load of a 1c.

Solid Cases can be made for a lot of guys, but since Aho made the transition look so easy, we sometimes don’t give enough credit for how difficult that was.

 

[emptyNedder]

All and none. They truly were a team.

• McElhinney did heavy lifting early in the season.
• I remember Williams remark taking responsibility when Mrazek had a bad period.
• Greg McKegg and Saku Maenalanen helping the team finally beat the Islanders.
• TT proved he wasn't just a product of Aho.
• Niederreiter arrived and created a true scoring 1st line.
• Faulk and Pesce took the majority of the shifts in keeping Crosby, McDavid, and Seguin pointless.
• And since the Canes needed every point--Nedeljkovic kept the team on a roll before the playoffs.

I don't think it minimizes any players contribution to say it truly was a season when the sum was greater than the parts.

 

[Svechhammer]

Majority of the year - Aho

Stretch run at the end - Mrazek

I mean come on last off-season we openly talked about how 1C was our most pressing issue and biggest hole on the roster. We talked about dealing Hanifin, Slavin, or Pesce to get one because we didn't have one. Instead, Aho fills it beautifully and we look to be set there for the long haul. And of course goaltending. While Mrazek had his bad moments when we needed him the absolute most he found the next gear. .950 save percentage over his last 10 starts when we were in a playoff chase was crucial. And now we are in the playoffs confident about our goaltending after having the worst duo in the league (by a wide margin) last year. Mac was great early, but Mrazek pushed us over the edge.

 

[MinJaBen]

There was a similar thread on the main board. This is what I wrote then:

I’m surprised to see myself typing this, but for the Canes my answer would be Williams. He’s second on the team in goals, but what really stands out is the way he’s led the young guys all season and is teaching them how to win. On some of the games down the stretch, he’s scored big time goals to salvage a lost game and take the team to a win. I’m convinced that if we replaced him with another young guy that duplicated his numbers, we’d be on the outside of the playoffs talking about who we would take with the 12th pick.

Easily our MVP.

 

[RodTheBawd]

I voted for Aho, but could have easily gone with Williams or Mrazek or McBackup.

 

[Finnish Jerk Train]

Once we realized McElhinney was going to be a viable option, I remember writing a comment on The Athletic saying that he was (surprisingly) our steady Eddie, but that we could only ask so much of a career backup in his mid-30s. This was during the time when we were carrying all three goaltenders and two of them looked pretty terrible.

I remember saying if we could get 30 quality games out of him, I would take that and run. It felt like I was asking for a lot, but that's exactly what he gave us. And it got us out of the Scott Darling-sized hole that had been dug for us.

It's hard to pick just one guy, and I'm really not sure who I'd pick, but he held down the fort while we sorted out our goaltending issues. Without his contributions, our season absolutely would have been toast.

 

[CanesFanBudMan]

Its hard to not pick Aho, but you could look at half the team and if they had not stepped up when they did there would be no playoffs

 

[The Faulker 27]

Definitely Justin Faulk. AINEC

 

[Unsustainable]

There’s 3:

Aho, Pesce, and Mzarek

 

[A Star is Burns]

Greg McKegg. 29-12-2 after his recall.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

Don't forget Hamilton's solid play from January onward, but specifically in March and April.

 

[A Star is Burns]

Don't forget Hamilton's solid play from January onward, but specifically in March and April.

But don't forget that time he almost scored on his own goalie or something. He'll be shipped out soon.

 

[Tryamw]

And he (Hamilton) is a grade A jerk.

 

[spockBokk]

Different guys in different stretches...Aho, Williams, Hamilton and Mrazek are the ones that really stick out to me.

 

[TheBigKahuna]

Slavin or Mrazek.

 

[DaveG]

Depending on when we're talking it could be 4 different guys.

Pre all star break? Curtis or Aho

Post? Petr or Dougie
Hm to Turbo and Staal

Full season? Aho