The Carolina Hurricanes need more from Andrei Svechnikov, their third-highest paid player who’s struggled to find his scoring touch early this season.
“He needs to be a little more impactful, shift in, shift out,” Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour told The Athletic’s Cory Lavalette and Michael Russo last week. “He’s certainly shown signs of it. The consistency, it’s kind of, you know, he disappears a little bit sometimes. So we’ve got to just get him on track, and we’ll get him dialed in.
“We’re gonna need him. We talked about what we’re at the end (in the playoffs). You gotta have everybody contributing, otherwise it’s not gonna work.”
Svechnikov entered Tuesday’s game against Vegas without a point in eight games.
The 25-year-old forward is averaging just 14:43 of ice time per contest. That would mark his lowest total since his rookie season at age 18.
His shot production has dropped significantly. Svechnikov has managed just 15 shots and five hits through eight games.
Those numbers represent a sharp decline from his career averages of 223 shots and 167 hits per 82 games entering this season.
Svechnikov’s best campaign came in 2021-22 when he set career highs with 30 goals and 39 assists. He scored 20 goals and added 28 assists last season before contributing 12 points in 15 playoff games.
The Russian winger isn’t letting his slow start affect his confidence.
“If you go negative, then it’s going to get worse and worse. So I try to stay positive. It’s fine,” Svechnikov said Monday. “Maybe for some it’s a bigger deal, but for me, it’s not that big of a deal. I’ve been there – maybe not in the start of the year, but I’ve been there many times, so it’s fine, totally fine. I could have scored last game. I didn’t.”
“I’ve just got to find my game, that’s all. I don’t worry about the points or goals.”
Carolina selected Svechnikov second overall in the 2018 NHL Draft. He’s in year five of an eight-year contract with an average annual value of $7.75 million.
The Hurricanes will need their high-priced forward to break out of his slump as they push for another playoff appearance.
