Sardarian Arrives, But Carolina's Depth Problem Hasn't Gone Away

The Hurricanes picked up forward Stiven Sardarian from Buffalo on Monday for future considerations — a quiet move that nonetheless tells you something about where this front office's head is at. Seth Jarvis and Eric Robinson are both still out, neither showing improvement as of late August, and the team is clearly still hunting for bodies to fill the forward group before camp opens.

Jarvis is the one that stings. He scored 22 goals in just 40 games last season — the team's leading goal scorer, playing nearly 19 minutes a night — and his 4–6 month timeline puts his return somewhere around midseason at the earliest. Logan Stankoven and Jackson Blake are capable of absorbing some of that workload, and Nikolaj Ehlers and Andrei Svechnikov give the top six real secondary scoring. But there's no one on this roster who replicates what Jarvis does at center, and Sardarian isn't being acquired to solve that problem so much as to add a warm body to a group that's running thin.

The goaltending situation is quieter but just as unsettled. Frederik Andersen left for Edmonton in early July, and Brandon Bussi is now the name at the top of the depth chart. Bussi handled a significant share of the workload last season, but inheriting a crease on a defending champion is a different ask than splitting time.

My read: Carolina is a legitimate contender even with these holes — Sebastian Aho and Shayne Gostisbehere give this team a foundation most clubs would take — but the next two months matter. If Jarvis comes back closer to the four-month mark than the six, this looks manageable. If he doesn't, the Sardarian acquisition will feel like exactly what it is.