Who Will be the Canes Leading Scorer in 2023-24?

The Carolina Hurricanes are one of the NHL's premier clubs with many riding them as Stanley Cup favorites, but who will be leading the charge for them this season?

Last year, it was Martin Necas' 71-point season that led the Canes, but before that, Sebastian Aho had led Carolina in scoring for five straight seasons.

Will Aho reclaim his title, or could this be the season that a healthy Andrei Svechnikov puts it all together and has a breakout year?

Projections

The Hockey News recently projected point totals for every NHL player and the publication had Sebastian Aho back on top in scoring for Carolina with 80 points, followed closely by Andrei Svechnikov (78) and Martin Necas (74).

ESPN's 2024 Fantasy Projections has Necas taking the crown for a second straight year with 73 points. However, Aho and Svechnikov are both right on his heels projected at 72 points.

BetMGM seems to have Aho as the Carolina Hurricanes' leading scorer with the line set at 72.5 points. No other Hurricanes have scoring odds, so we'll just go with him.

Fan Vote

I also ran a poll on my socials (Twitter/X: @RyanHenkel_ / Reddit: @RyanHenkel on r/canes) asking who fans thought would lead the Hurricanes in scoring. 

Here are the results:

After nearly 1,000 votes (997 to be exact), the fan opinion heavily favored Aho regaining his title as the Hurricanes' top scorer.  

Surprisingly enough, there wasn't a ton of love for Necas to repeat his success as he ranked well below even Svechnikov in second place.

My Thoughts

At the end of the day, this is a good 'problem' to have, if you even want to call it that. 

I mean, how long has it been since the Hurricanes had three forwards that legitimately could lead the team in scoring - and we're not talking about the race to 50 points back in pre-Dundon era.

I think it's fair to say that Aho still deserves to be the favorite. He's the team's number-one center who will command the most ice time.

He probably would have still led the team in scoring last year if not for the injuries that kept him out of the lineup for a handful of games. 

In fact, Aho had the highest points per game played total on the team at 0.89 compared to Necas' 0.87. Svechnikov who went down in March had a rate of 0.86.

While I do think Aho will be on top after Game 82, I don't think the other two will be that far behind.

Necas has grown tremendously as a player and I don't think him breaking 70 points was an aberration. He's gotten better in every facet of the game and I see a more complete and mature player in him. 

On that same note, Svechnikov has gotten better every year too. My only hesitation is there may be a slight sluggishness to start the season after his knee surgery to repair a torn ACL.

However, Necas and Svechnikov will more than likely play on a line together again this coming season and the two will be able to feed off of one another's talents. 

Along with that, Jesperi Kotkaniemi was perhaps one of the Hurricanes' best and most consistent players in the second half of the 2022-23 season. If the three of them all get going at the same time, their line is going to be a game-changer for the Hurricanes this season.