Can the Carolina Hurricanes’ rebuilt defense still be dominant?

RALEIGH, N.C. — Much of the attention from this year’s Carolina Hurricanes training camp has been on the forwards. Can one of the team’s top prospects — Jackson Blake, Bradly Nadeau or Felix Unger Sorum — steal a spot in the opening-night lineup? How will William Carrier and Jack Roslovic fit in Carolina? Is this finally the year Jesperi Kotkaniemi becomes a second-line center?

All of that has made the defense a bit of an afterthought. As coach Rod Brind’Amour is fond of saying, defense is the backbone of the Hurricanes, and this year’s team features two familiar pairings and a couple of (mostly) newcomers.

How will the defense fare this season? Let’s dive in.

There might not be more of a “you know what you’re getting” pairing in the NHL than Jaccob Slavin and Brent Burns.

Slavin — who won his second Lady Byng Memorial Trophy last season for gentlemanly play, joining Red Kelly as the only defenseman to win the award multiple times — is a pillar of consistency for Carolina. He hasn’t missed more than six games in a season since becoming a full-time NHL player and can be counted on for roughly 30 points a year.

The 30-year-old lefty — who signed an eight-year extension that will kick in next season — is arguably the best defensive defenseman in the game, and the numbers bear that out. His possession numbers, expected goal and chance differential, and plus/minus have all been excellent throughout his career, and he’s proven to be an excellent partner for offensive-minded defensemen such as Dougie Hamilton and Tony DeAngelo.

But his best numbers have been with Burns the last two years. His Corsi For percentage has been over 60 percent in both seasons playing alongside Burns — approximately five percent higher than other seasons — and other underlying numbers have seen a bump since the pairing was formed.

Which brings us to Burns. No active player has defied Father Time as well as Burns. Last season at age 38, Burns finished with 10 goals and 43 points in 21 1/2 minutes per night. To put that in perspective, only seven other defensemen have scored double-digit goals with at least 40 points at age 38 or older, according to Hockey-Reference (three of them did it twice). It’s an impressive list.

If you’re keeping track at home, those are all Hall of Fame defensemen and make up a good chunk of the best of all time on the blue line.

There is, however, some cause for concern. After putting up 300-plus shots on goal throughout the prime of his NHL career, Burns went from 255 in his first year with Carolina to 185 last season — a 3.1 SOG/game to 2.3 SOG/game drop. He had 50 fewer shots at five-on-five in 2023-24 than the season before, and just 17 of his 43 points last year came at full strength.

With Shayne Gostisbehere quarterbacking the top power-play unit at the start of camp, a dip in Burns’ overall numbers can be expected. Burns could get a bump in goal scoring if his shooting percentage — just 3.73 percent at five-on-five last season — is closer to the 6.52 percent he had his first season in Raleigh.

Slavin and Burns can also expect more of a defensive burden with the departure of Brady Skjei and Brett Pesce, but Carolina’s top pairing remains formidable.

Dmitry Orlov and Jalen Chatfield proved to be an elite third pairing last season.

Everyone knew what Orlov — a top-four defenseman his entire career — was capable of, but Chatfield blossomed in his second full NHL season.

Chatfield had the best Corsi For percentage of any full-time defenseman in the NHL last season (61.08 percent), and Orlov was fourth (60.07 percent, behind Slavin and Burns).

Chatfield was also on the ice for just 35 five-on-five goals against while being on the ice for 50 goals for — numbers that match up with anyone in the NHL other than Florida’s Gustav Forsling (69-34).

The 28-year-old — who signed a three-year, $9 million extension in the offseason — has also gradually added offense to his game, finishing with eight goals and 22 points after having six goals and 14 points in 2022-23.

“When you can skate,” Brind’Amour said, “the game opens up.”

Like Burns the year before, Orlov took some time to adjust to Carolina’s attacking system last year. There was a bit of panic at the start of last season when Orlov — first paired with DeAngelo — struggled and was minus-11 through the first seven games of the season.

But the now-33-year-old settled in and, as mentioned above, found chemistry with Chatfield.

“(Orlov), I think the second half of the year last year, kind of rounded into shape, and we’re gonna need, I think, a little bit more from the start,” Brind’Amour said. “We can’t wait. We don’t have that runway, I don’t think, that we’ve had in the past.”

The duo will have tougher assignments this year as the de facto second pairing, but Chatfield and Orlov showed they could handle the workload in last year’s postseason when Pesce was out.

“When (Pesce) went down in playoffs, me and (Orlov) played a lot more minutes,” Chatfield said. “We got some tough matchups, especially against New York. And I thought we held our own. Orly’s obviously done it for years, and I just want to continue to prove that I can do that.

“And if that opportunity comes and they need me and Orly to do that, I think we’re more than ready.”

After breaking in one defenseman each of the last two seasons, the Hurricanes will have to two additions to this year’s top six.

The good news is this isn’t Shayne Gostisbehere’s first go-around in Raleigh. Carolina clearly liked what they saw from Gostisbehere in a combined 38 regular-season and playoff games after the 2023 trade deadline. The Hurricanes couldn’t strike a deal with Gostisbehere that summer, and the 10-year veteran had 56 points last year with the Red Wings.

But Carolina circled back this offseason and brought him back into the fold. Gostisbehere struggled at times last year with Detroit, leading to some early-season healthy scratches, but he again proved to be one of the best point-producing blueliners in hockey.

The Hurricanes hope he can be that for them — he’s quarterbacking their top power-play unit this preseason — and also help ease free agent signing Sean Walker’s transition.

Walker isn’t only trying to adopt the 2023-24 Orlov role of being a top-four defenseman in a third-pairing situation, he’s also auditioning for a bigger job down the road.

While Burns has remained effective, he’s also in the final year of his contract and will turn 40 in March. Walker, soon to be 30 and on a five-year deal, would be a logical fit next to Slavin once Burns rides off into the sunset.

It’s just preseason, but the early returns have been promising. Walker seems to have the aggressive nature Carolina looks for in its defensemen, but he’s done so without making reckless errors.

There’s also a chance the late bloomer has even more upside than the 10-goal, 29-point season he had a year ago with the Flyers and Avalanche.

“I didn’t know that much about him before he got here,” center Sebastian Aho said earlier in the week, “but he’s a really good player. I mean, the guy can rip the puck and he’s good skater, good hockey IQ. … He’s a smart player. He kind of sees the second wave and sees the open ice.”

In camp, Walker has been working with the second power-play unit, an opportunity he hasn’t gotten thus far in his career, which could further boost his numbers this season.

It’s possible all six Carolina defenders could eclipse 20 points this season, something that’s only happened 21 times since 1976-77. One could even argue that the Hurricanes could have four with 30 or more, which has happened just seven times in the last decade.

Most important, however, will be when Walker gets up to full speed, how Orlov and Chatfield handle tougher minutes, and if Burns can ignore the hands of time for yet another year.

(Photo of Jaccob Slavin: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)