What If the Hurricanes Are Just Getting Started?!

aI keep coming back to the same thought watching the Hurricanes: if they’re already winning like this without Seth Jarvis, how good could this team be once he comes back?

Because that’s a pretty exciting thing to think about.

Carolina put together a six-game winning streak with Jarvis still out and while every win matters, it’s what those wins could mean for the rest of the season that has me looking ahead.

This team is finding ways to win without one of the players you’d normally count on to help make that happen. Now imagine adding him back into the lineup.

What if this is just the beginning?

The part that gets me excited is how much easier Jarvis could make things for everybody else. Another scoring threat for opponents to worry about. Another option when Carolina needs a goal. Another player Rod Brind’Amour can turn to when a game gets tight.

You can spend all night trying to contain Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov. Having Jarvis back gives the other bench one more problem to solve. There are only so many favorable matchups to go around.

And there’s something to be said for the players getting more opportunities while he’s out. Those minutes matter. You hope guys build confidence, get comfortable making plays and show they can handle more responsibility. If that carries over when Jarvis returns, Carolina could come out of this stretch with a stronger lineup all the way through.

That’s the possibility I keep thinking about. Jarvis comes back, and the guys who stepped up keep giving you something, too

Of course, I’m not expecting him to return from shoulder surgery and immediately look like he never missed a shift. He’ll need to find his timing. There could be some uneven games. I’d rather give him room to get comfortable than expect him to carry the offense his first night back.

The way Carolina has been winning should help with that. There’s less pressure to make his return feel like a rescue mission. He can work his way back into a team that already has confidence.

Nobody wins anything in October, and a strong stretch doesn’t answer every question about a season. There will be nights when the goals dry up and games when this team looks a lot less convincing but I think it’s fair to get excited about what we’re seeing, and what we haven’t seen yet.

The Hurricanes are giving us reasons to believe in the group taking the ice right now. Somewhere ahead of them is the chance to put Jarvis back in that group.

If they’re this much trouble with him watching, I can’t wait to see what happens when he’s playing.