Heading into the 2025-26 season, the Carolina Hurricanes have made some major additions to the group (i.e. Nikolaj Ehlers, K'Andre Miller), but for the most part, the group is primarily the same. 

But will the power play stay the same?

Last season, the Canes had an up and down power play.

When Martin Necas was still in Carolina, the Canes sort of rode his coattails for a while on the man advantage. For instance, until Jan. 1, the Hurricanes had 30 power play goals and the Czech winger had 20 power play points in that span.

The team had the fifth best power play percentage at the point (25.6%), but after the trade, things didn't really work out too well.

From the start of the new year to the end of the regular season, Carolina had the second worst power play percentage at just 12.4% and scoring just 16 PP goals in 45 games.

However, the team bounced back in the postseason, scoring 12 goals in 15 games and converting at a 23.1% rate.

While the personnel moved around a bit, the power play players stayed mostly the same: Sebastian Aho, Seth Jarvis, Andrei Svechnikov, Shayne Gostisbehere, Jackson Blake, Taylor Hall, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Jack Roslovic, Brent Burns, Sean Walker, Logan Stankoven.

The Canes' two units looked primarily like this by the end of the season:

Blake
Jarvis Aho Svechnikov
Gostisbehere

Stankoven
Roslovic/Walker Kotkaniemi Hall
Burns

Rod Brind'Amour routinely stated that his top unit was composed of his best five offensive players, so with the addition of Ehlers, I could see the unit change a bit.

There's no doubt that Ehlers is a top talent, so the Canes will definitely want him on PP1.

Beyond him, Aho and Jarvis should remain PP1 staples, so it's a matter of who else will complement the unit best. 

Gostisbehere was fourth in the league in power play points last season amongst defensemen for the regular season (27) and second for the playoffs (6), so he'll most definitely be on PP1 as well, although I know a lot of fans are clamoring to get Nikishin up there as soon as possible.

So for me, it's between Svechnikov and Blake as the potential odd-man out.

I like Svechnikov's size and scoring touch more than Blake's as a net-front option, so I give him the edge, at least for this offseason exercise.

That leaves my PP2 with Blake at the net front, Kotkaniemi at the high slot (I get that he hasn't had the most offense, but you need a faceoff guy on the power play unit and he has size and strong passing numbers) and Stankoven and Hall on the wings/half-wall. 

I wrote a bit more about who could be the PP2 QB here.

Svechnikov
Jarvis Aho Ehlers
Gostisbehere

Blake
Stankoven Kotkaniemi Hall
Nikishin/Walker

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