Continuing with our 2011-12 player projections, we move onto Jeff Skinner. He had a wonderful rookie season where he recorded 31 goals, 63 points and took home the Calder Trophy for his efforts. The general idea among fans is that he is only going to get better, build on his strong rookie campaign and shatter his point total from this year. In theory, yes but there's some things you have to consider about Skinner's 2010-11 season before we start talking about him putting up 80-something points.

One thing I have been looking forward to doing all off-season is individual player projections. I know that it's difficult to do this in hockey but us bloggers make use of player comparables, shooting percentages, a player's past history and how his scoring patterns have changed over time to give an idea of what to expect from him in a season. Also, a projection is not the same thing as a prediction. What we are doing here is using a player's career numbers, comparing him to similar players and use that information to come up with a projection for what this player's season may look like. A prediction would be more of a statement and is not always based on knowledge or past experiences.

We're going to start off this project by looking at Eric Staal since he is the best skater on the team and should be leading the Canes in goals and points annually given his talent. Some say that 2010-11 was a "down" year for him when in actuality, he had more goals and points than he did the previous season but he missed 12 games in 2009-10 so that has to be taken into account. You could say that every year has been a "down" year for Staal in comparison to his 2005-06 campaign where he scored 45 goals and recorded 100-points. Realistically, there is very little chance he is going to get back to that mark but he has been around a point-per-game player since that year and you can expect a minimum of about 70 points from Staal every year. Is there a chance he can go above an beyond that?

A couple of weeks ago, I added an organizational depth chart to the menu at the top of the page so that everyone can see how deep the Canes are at a certain position. Most of that is subject to change with training camp being just around the corner and there's a few roster spots which are up for grabs, especially on the wings. Which players have the best shot of starting the season in Carolina and who will likely see themselves in Charlotte? Who has the best chance of being called up mid-season should an injury occur? Let's find out. I will mainly look at players on the AHL roster as guys still in junior, college, Europe or the ECHL will probably not be on the Canes this year.

Carolina's 2008 first round pick Zach Boychuk was quoted in a Canes Now article saying that this coming season is a "huge year for him" and that he wants to "make that next big step" by making the Hurricanes right out of camp and permanently joining the Hurricanes. Boychuk has played 56 games with the Hurricanes over the last three seasons and has accumulated only 7 goals and 16 points during that time. That isn't the best reflect of his abilities as he received fourth line minutes during a lot of those games but I do believe that this coming season could be what makes or breaks Boychuk in terms of how successful his NHL career will be.

Boychuk will be 22 by the time this season starts and most high draft picks who turn into great players make their leap into the NHL by that age or earlier so this could be "the year" for Boychuk to take that next step if the Canes want him to be the guy they drafted in the first round three years ago. I know a lot will say "but he has talent and will figure it out eventually" but you know what other high draft picks had talent? Zach Hamil, Alex Picard, Robbie Schremp, Mikhail Yakubov, Kamil Kreps and numerous others who did not turn into starts despite being hyped and drafted early. I am not saying that Boychuk will end up like any of these players, but I do think that this year will be the most important of his career to prove he can be a top-six forward in the NHL.

I'll explain why after the jump.

I've already looked at where Carolina's forwards and defensemen stand in comparison to their Southeast Division foes and determined that they sit at the middle of the pack in both categories. Goaltending should be a different story because the Canes rank near the top in this category thanks to Cam Ward's play over the last few seasons. In fact, if we're ranking goalies by how we expect them to perform this coming year, Ward could very well be the best in the Southeast even with Tomas Vokoun still in the division. It's a bold statement but I do believe that Ward will outperform Vokoun this season. Unfortunately, if we're ranking teams by their entire goaltending corps (which we are), the Canes won't be in the #1 spot.

We're going to go about this in a different direction than the last two comparisons. Instead of going through each team's goaltending corps and analyzing them, I am going to rank the top 10 goalies in the division, give an explanation why and determine a ranking out of that. Makes things a little easier.

I got the defensemen covered the other day, so now it's time to see how Carolina's forward corps matches up against the Southeast Division. The Canes have one of the best centers in the league in Eric Staal and an extremely promising rookie in Jeff Skinner but the rest of the cast looks kind of weak, especially compared to Washington and Tampa Bay. To compete in this division, you need to have top-level forwards up front and Carolina is kind of lacking in that area. Aside from Staal, Skinner and possibly Ruutu and Jokinen, most of the forward corps is depended on for secondary scoring, defensive forwards and unproven younger players. How does that look compared to the rest of the Southeast? Well, they might look weak compared to Tampa and Washington but the Canes should at least be a little stronger than Florida and Winnipeg for now. One thing the Canes forward corps has their their defense doesn't is a good set of young talent that should be ready to produce within the next year or two. The big question is whether or not some of those young, promising prospects will get their shot this season or not.

Comparing forwards is going to be tougher than defensemen because you have to consider the different roles certain players have, position changes (Tuomo Ruutu, Brooks Laich) and how a lot of goal-scorers are depended on for defense. In the end, I decided to separate the forwards by which ones get top-six minutes (aka guys who are relied upon for scoring) and those who are third and fourth liners who are generally depended on for defense, penalty killing, etc. It's a bit rough but I think it works.

As I continue to preview the upcoming season, I'm going to take a look at how the Hurricanes size up against their Southeast Division adversaries starting with each team's respective defense corps. Why am I starting with the defense, you ask? Because it seems that every team in the division has a lot of great, young talent on the blue-line....except for the Hurricanes. Aside from Jamie McBain, most of the Hurricanes defensemen are in their mid-late 20's and in their primes or in their 30's and declining. Yes, we have Ryan Murphy and Justin Faulk in the system who are very promising but it will be another year or two before they are members of the Hurricanes. Florida and to a lesser extent, Winnipeg also have this problem. Carolina also lacks an elite blue-liner but I would be hard-pressed to call any defenseman on the Caps, Jets, Hurricanes, Lightning and Panthers "elite." Mike Green is an elite powerplay quarterback but would you consider him an elite all-around defenseman? Guys like Victor Hedman, Zach Bogosian, Karl Alzner and John Carlson are all fantastic players but how many people would consider them elite now? I'm not sure if I would. This is why I'm curious to see where exactly Carolina stands among this group.

With training camp being just around the corner and players are already beginning practice, I think it's just about time to get excited for the start of another NHL season. This is a pretty big camp coming up for the Hurricanes because there are a lot of roster spots up for grabs and there's a few prospects who could really impress the coaching staff and make the team straight out of camp like Jeff Skinner did last year. There are no prospects in camp of Skinner's magnitude, but there's a lot of promising names within Carolina's organization who will have a chance to make the roster to start this season. There are also a lot of things I'm curious about regarding some veterans and how the team will look come October.

My Biggest Questions:

Who plays the wings on Staal's line?

My assumption here is that Maurice will keep the Jokinen-Ruutu-Skinner line together after how successful they were last season and let the others have a chance to play on the first line. What troubles me is that I'm not sure if we have that many first-line quality wingers on the roster. We have a potential first liner in Zach Boychuk, who I would personally like to see get a look and Alexei Ponikarovsky, who was a first line winger on the Leafs two years ago so I'd have to believe that these two would be considered.

Give the younger players a chance?

There are a few spots in the bottom-six up for grabs and players like Drayson Bowman and Jerome Samson played well in those roles at the end of last season but the Canes also signed Anthony Stewart to a two-year deal, so he is equally as likely to get a roster spot, as well. I've already examined Stewart's game and it doesn't look like he is good enough defensively to play in this role but the team would not sign a player to a two-year deal only to have him sit in the press-box so I think he will get a look before Bowman or Samson, even though I would prefer to have Bowman play over him.

What will we do with Zac Dalpe?

Next to Ryan Murphy, Dalpe is the team's best prospect and is almost 22 so his leap to the NHL will come soon and he's got a good chance of making the roster right out of camp this year based on our forward depth. He did that last year but struggled at the NHL level because he was stuck playing fourth-line minutes and that isn't the best for his development. Thus, sending him back to Charlotte where he will get top-six minutes was the better call. He's a natural center but can also play wing so let's say that he's the most impressive player in camp but Boychuk is also impressive. Do we give him a shot on the first line with Staal? Use him to fill the third line winger spot? Or stick him on the fourth line where he can play center? I'm hoping the latter does not happen.

Possible dark horses?

What prospects which we have not talked about could make the team? Guys like Riley Nash, Mattias Lindstrom, Justin Faulk, Justin Shugg, Cedric McNicoll and many others will also be at camp and will have their shot to crack the roster. There's always a few players who most would not expect to make an impact do so in training camp and I'm curious to see if there are any on the Canes this year.

How will Bryan Allen look?

His play last season tells me he is on the decline, which is what is expected from a player coming off a knee injury. What kind of shape will he be in camp and is he still a top-four defenseman? That could be something that drastically effects the Canes roster next season.

What will the third defense pair be?

Pitkanen, Kaberle, Gleason, McBain and Alllen will probably be locks to make the roster so that leaves Jay Harrison and Derek Joslin fighting for one roster spot. Harrison played well against weak competition while Joslin appears to be more versatile but is not as defensively sound as Harrison. Which one of these two gets the spot on the third pair to start the season? Who will play more games this season?

What questions do you have?

One of the lower key signings the Canes made on July 1st was signing right winger Anthony Stewart to a two-year deal worth $1.8 mil (worth about $900k a year). Some may know him as the brother of St. Louis Blues winger Chris Stewart but what's more relevant to us is that he netted 14 goals and had 39 points in 80 games with the Atlanta Thrashers last season. That makes him sound like a pretty good player, doesn't it? I know that Paul Maurice has a way of making the most out of his roster and Eric Staal is a player who can make his linemates better, but my expectations for Stewart aren't nearly as high as some people's and I don't think that he should be used on the first line when there's other options available.

When there's a few open or questionable spots on the roster, I'm usually someone who likes to give the younger prospects a chance at the beginning of the year and the Canes have quite a few of those types of players who could make their leap into the NHL this year. I've already discussed Zac Dalpe and Zach Boychuk, both who will likely have a chance to crack the roster out of camp but another guy I would not look past is former third round pick Drayson Bowman. If you remember correctly, he finished last season with the Canes, played 23 games with them...but failed to net a goal in any of them. So why is this guy worth a look? You'll see why....