The Carolina Hurricanes are in last place in the NHL with a 7-19-6 record. The team seems to be playing better of late, but the end results are the same and they keep falling further back in the standings. Just 10 games into the season we posted an analysis here looking at where the team placed in a variety of different statistical categories. Now that we are 32 games in, let's take another look to see if there is any progress.
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As of Sunday, (12/13/09), the Hurricanes' 20 points is a full nine points behind the next closest teams, Toronto and Philadelphia. They are 13 points out of a playoff spot.
They have the worst road record in the league at 1-12-4.
The team has allowed more goals, (117), than any other team.
Their 77 goals scored is tied at 28th, but both Tampa Bay, (77) and St. Louis (74) have games in hand. The team is 30th in "goals allowed average" per game.
Carolina's "goals for/goals against" differential is -40, the worst in the league.
The powerplay is clicking at 14.3% good for 28th in the league. The penalty kill is ranked 18th and has a 79.4% success percentage.
The Canes "5 on 5 for and against ratio" is also 30th at 0.68.
The team's faceoff percentage has improved a bit and is now 48.4%, at 24th in the league.
Carolina is ranked 16th in the league with an average of 30 offensive shots a game. They allow 30.7 shots and are 18th in that category.
The Hurricanes have improved upon their penalty situation. They went from 30th in the league to 26th and now have a total of 156 minor penalties. The Flyers are currently in last place with 168 minors. The Canes now average 14.6 penalty minutes per game which is 24th in the league. The Flyers average 17.8, again the league's worst.
Individual statistics also need great improvement.
Leading scorer Ray Whitney's 22 points put him in a tie at 77th highest in the league.
Rod Brind`Amour is tied with Brendan Witt for the league's worst plus/minus at -19. Aaron Ward, (-15), Chad LaRose, (-14), Joni Pitkanen, (-13) and Sergei Samsonov, (-11) are all near the bottom of the league as well.
The Canes are in a deep, deep hole, is it too late to climb out?