The Carolina Hurricanes have the deepest blueline in the entire NHL and their third pair may just be better than other teams' top pairs.
The Carolina Hurricanes are deep on the blueline.
I mean like Mariana's Trench level of depth talent-wise.
Brent Burns, Jaccob Slavin, Brady Skjei and Brett Pesce make up their top four, but keep going and you still have Dmitry Orlov and Jalen Chatfield, who could easily be in probably 31 other team's top fours.
The Canes have an embarrassment of riches at defense. It's what the team hangs their hat on and a big reason for their overall success.
But even still, how often can you say a team's third pairing is perhaps just as good as the other two?
Because that's what's been happening in Carolina.
Orlov and Chatfield have the third best Corsi For % (60.5%) among defensive pairs that have played at least 300 minutes together this season behind only Thomas Harley - Miro Heiskanen (61.3%) and Slavin - Burns (61.1%).
They also have a 58.2% expected goals percentage (fourth best in the league) and a 59.3% actual goals for percentage.
But it's really been since the All-Star break that the two have taken off.
In those 20 games, the pair has the best Corsi For % in the league (61.9%), the best expected goals percentage (65.59%) and have outscored opponents 14-4 at 5v5 while they've been on the ice.
Their game against the Ottawa Senators was just the culmination of just how good they've been as of late.
Orlov had a two-goal, four-point night — the second four-point game of his career — and Chatfield had a goal and an assist, setting a new career high for goals in the win (7).
Chatfield has now seen a new career high in every scoring statistic in just 59 games played and in his last eight games, he has two goals and seven points while averaging just 15:00 of TOI per game.
Chatfield has really taken off this season and perhaps that's because he's paired alongside an actual high-talent blueliner who can help bring out the best in him.
That's what he has now with Orlov.
It's well known that it takes time to adjust to the Hurricanes' blueline. Burns went through it, Skjei went through it, Dougie Hamilton went through it.
Plenty of high-end players have come through Carolina, and it's taken them all a bit of time to adjust.
Orlov started off the season rough and was a -9 through the month of October, but now, he looks like an elite player on both sides of the puck.
A big part of that is confidence. Before, Orlov looked hesitant and unsure in his decision making process which resulted in a lot of blown plays.
Now though? He's making head fakes, going coast-to-coast and absolutely howitzering pucks (Orlov is in the 95th percentile in the league for shots between 90-100 mph).
"Orlov's been playing really well," Brind'Amour said. "He's been coming along and really hasn't gotten any breaks. He's had a lot of really good opportunities and hopefully this springboards him because he has been playing well."
You always hear that depth is key come playoff time, but when your depth has some of the best numbers in the entire league, you've certainly got a good thing going.
