Grade: B-

Grading the Carolina Hurricanes’ 2016-17 season is a difficult task. On the one hand, the team met the expectations of most preseason predictions. Poor goaltending, an overall lack of scoring, an inability to win on the road and inconsistency kept the team from snapping its playoff drought. Putting up a one-point improvement in the standings from the year before, the Canes finished eight points out, on the outside looking in for an eighth-straight year.

For those that watched the team throughout the year, however, it’s easy to see progress. The Canes have some strong pieces to build around going forward. Leading goal-scorer Jeff Skinner broke through for a career-high 37 tallies, ranking sixth in the league and establishing himself as one of the NHL’s premiere snipers. Rookie forward Sebastian Aho enjoyed a standout season, with 24 goals and 49 points putting him fifth in scoring among a loaded rookie class. Swedish forward Elias Lindholm set a career-high with 45 points, finding a higher level as a playmaker.

The sophomore duo of defensemen Jaccob Slavin and Brett Pesce broke through as an elite shutdown pair, playing huge minutes against the opposition’s top players while ranking tied for first on the Canes in individual plus/minus at plus-23. All-star blueliner Justin Faulk set a team record for goals by a defenseman with 17.

The most encouraging sign for the Canes as a team came with the team’s franchise-record 13-game point streak to end the month of March. Seemingly dead and buried at the beginning of the month, the Canes found a groove, rattling off a baker’s dozen games with a point in the standings. That brought the Canes into the thick of the playoff chase, as the team got as close as four points out at the end of the run.

While the Canes did not reach their ultimate goal with the late push, the young team showed it was capable of playing in big, meaningful games down the stretch, gaining valuable experience in doing so.

The Canes’ growth as a team through improvement of its young players gives them a grade of B-, with the team slightly exceeding expectations with its late push. The aforementioned issues keep the grade from pushing higher. Improved goaltending, scoring and a trip to the playoffs will be needed to earn a higher mark next year.