About Last Season: Teuvo Teravainen Performance Review and Grade

Teuvo Teravainen 2019-20 By the Numbers

• Age: 25
• NHL Seasons: 7
• Games Played: 68
• Scoring: 15 goals, 48 assists, 63 points
• Average TOI:19:12
• Contract Status: Four years left on five-year contract with $5.4 million AAV

After putting up career highs in points and assists in 2018-19, Teuvo Teravainen came back in 2019-20 and was arguably even better for the Canes. Teravainen excelled at what he does best; pinpoint passing to set up goals game after game.

Teravainen led the Canes with 48 assists when the season got shut down, 11 more than anyone else on the team. His 63 points were second on the squad to only Sebastian Aho, as Teravainen continued to show that he’s an elite NHL passer who is just as important to Carolina’s top line as Aho and the young phenom Andrei Svechnikov.

When COVID-19 shut down the 2019-20 season, Teravainen was on pace to set a new career high in assists and to tie his career-best point total of 76 from a year ago. The shutdown put an end to maybe the best regular season of his now seven-year old NHL career, a season in which he fully displayed what he is capable of while playing every single game for the Canes. In Carolina’s 68 games, Teravainen had at least a point in 44 of them.

Teravainen’s season started out hot, as he put together a five-game point streak right out of the gate. It was one of three separate five-plus game point streaks of the season for Teravainen, who delivered assists in Carolina’s first four games and found the net himself in games four and five of the year.

Teravainen’s hot start extended well beyond the opening five games of the year, as the Finnish winger tallied at least one point in 20 of the Hurricanes’ first 24 games. His points mostly came from assists during that stretch, including a three-apple game against Florida in late November, but he did find the net himself seven times in the Canes’ first 24 games.

Let’s take a little break here and watch Teravainen deliver some absolutely fantastic passes, as well as score a few himself.

A big chunk of the success of the Hurricanes’ season came when Teravainen, Aho and Svechnikov were playing together on the top line. The chemistry between Teravainen and Aho is absolutely unreal, as the two seem to be able to find each other whenever they want.

Aho had a huge goal-scoring outbreak in the 2019-20 season, and a lot of the credit should go to Teravainen for delivering beautiful pass after beautiful pass to his countryman and teammate. Here’s a bunch of Teravainen to Aho goals, and be warned; most of these are nasty.

Let’s take another look at that one from a different angle. I mean, this is ridiculous. What a pass. It took Svechnikov scoring two lacrosse-style goals and an EBUG getting a win for this not to be my favorite Canes’ highlight of the season.

As we get caught up in Teravainen’s absurdly good passing, let’s not forget he can score as well. While his goal numbers were a bit down, as he was only on pace for 18 goals which would have been his lowest output since 2016-17, Teravainen still found the net and put together some nice scoring highlights of his own.

Teravainen’s play was consistent and spectacular from start to finish in 2019-20. He along with Aho and Svechnikov put together one of the most exciting lines in hockey, and he dazzled everyone with his passes game in and game out.

There’s a strong argument to be made that Teravainen should have been an All-Star. He lost out in the “Last Men In” voting to T.J. Oshie, just missing out on what would have been his first All-Star Game experience.

Still, Teravainen was fantastic. The Hurricanes’ top line is not one to be taken lightly, and it’s Teravainen who really helps facilitate things. When the NHL season resumes next month, fully expect Teravainen to pick up right where he left off.