We knew he could score — that wasn’t ever a question. It was just a matter of how long the adjustment would take for Valentin Zykov as he looked to graduate from leading the American Hockey League in goal-scoring to finding twine in a Carolina Hurricanes sweater.
As it turns out, good players will find ways to succeed in any situation, and Zykov is no different. It obviously helps to play with the Hurricanes’ two MVPs of this season in Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen, but Zykov brings his own offensive skillset to a team hungry for scoring help.