Is Jordan Martinook really the fastest Carolina Hurricanes skater? NHL stats say he is

The National Hockey League, now heavy into analytics, recently posted a list of players with the “top maximum skating speed” during the 2022-23 season.

It had the usual suspects: Connor McDavid of Edmonton, Nathan MacKinnon of Colorado, Brayden Point of Tampa Bay.

Those guys.

The Carolina Hurricanes had one player on the list but it wasn’t Martin Necas, who can be a blur on skates. Or Andrei Svechnikov, who won the fastest skater competition at the NHL All-Star Game this past season. Or Jesper Fast, nicknamed “Quickie.”

Jordan Martinook clocked in ninth at 23.81 miles per hour, just behind MacKinnon (24.02) and ahead of Jack Eichel of Vegas (23.80). Among NHL forwards, that ranked seventh.

That also came as no surprise to Necas.

“Straight-line speed? Probably best on the team,” Necas said Sunday.

Martinook’s reaction?

“Fastest guy on the Canes!” he said after Sunday’s practice.

In truth, it’s just another one of the things about the 31-year-old Martinook that most people probably don’t know.

Many see him as a fun-loving, partying guy — “It’s a Marty party!” — who was more than happy to jump up on the stage recently to sing “Rockstar” with Nickelback at PNC Arena. He was definitely into it, bouncing about the stage with mic in hand.

“We all just wanna be big rockstars and live in hilltop houses, driving 15 cars ...”

Truth be known, Martinook is a dutiful family man. He and his wife, Courtney, have two kids.

When NHL teams game-plan for the Hurricanes, Martinook likely is slotted well behind Sebastian Aho, Necas, Svechnikov and other skilled players — he had 13 goals and 34 points in 82 games last season.

But in the Stanley Cup playoffs, Martinook and Aho shared the team lead with 12 points each in the 15 playoff games. In the second-round series against New Jersey, Martinook had three goals and seven assists in the five games and had the TV guys salivating as the Canes won.

“Here comes Martinook! Suddenly he’s Wayne Gretzky!” one shouted on air as Martinook took the puck down ice.

“It was cool,” Martinook said. ”It’d be nice to keep that going.”

Martinook is versatile enough to move around the lines, if Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour decides he wants to do it. He has joined center Jordan Staal and winger Jesper Fast in giving Brind’Amour one of the league’s best shutdown lines – “Three guys who work hard and are pretty detailed in the way we play,” Martinook said of the line’s chemistry.

But Martinook also has played up with Aho and others, if need be. He’s an effective penalty killer, earning a penalty shot off a breakaway and then scoring against the Devils in the playoffs. He likes to describe his style of play as “an engine that doesn’t stop.”

And consider this: Martinook now has played five seasons with the Hurricanes and they have been in the playoffs all five years after not qualifying for nine consecutive seasons. The 6-foot, 196-pound winger has been a part of all that.

Interestingly, much has been made of forward Teuvo Teravainen and defensemen Brett Pesce and Brady Skjei all entering the final years of their Hurricanes contracts this season before becoming unrestricted free agents. The same also is true for Martinook.

Martinook was traded by Arizona to Carolina in May 2018 not knowing what to expect with his new team, new environs.

“I was a little nervous, and for the first three months here I was missing my old team because I didn’t know where I fit in,” he said. “Then all of a sudden it kind of clicked and I got along with everybody, and the rest is history.”

The Canes have become divisional winners and a Stanley Cup contender. Martinook has been an alternate captain and part of the leadership team.

“It has been the perfect place for me,” he said. “I love the way Roddy plays and wants us to play. It kind of fit my game perfectly.”

And about that Nickelback appearance. Martinook said he went to a concert this summer in Edmonton and learned the band held a radio contest and the winner got to go onstage. He said he met with the band manager after the show and said, “When you guys come to Raleigh I want to do that. He said he would make that happen.”

Nickelback came to Raleigh last month. The manager made it happen.

“I think I did pretty good, got the crowd going pretty good,” Martinook said, smiling.

Hustle plays on the ice get the Canes crowds going and Martinook makes plenty of those. He’s an all-effort type willing to play through injuries.

And he has the speed, as the NHL stats show.