Today’s Daily Cup of Joe continues with mid-season report cards.
Part 1 had the goalies and defensemen.
Part 2 had the first group of forwards.
Today’s part 3 hands out grades for the remaining forwards.
Brock McGinn B-
The headline for Brock McGinn’s season thus far has been his drop off in scoring. After notching 16 goals in 2017-18 and leading the league in clanging the post, McGinn figured at minimum to provide good depth scoring if not more. So his three goals and eleven points at the midway point are a disappointment. But if you put the scoring to the side, I think McGinn’s game has been pretty similar to last season. He still brings effort and physicality on a consistent basis, and he has played a regular role in the team’s rising penalty kill. He is just a scoring burst away from being on track to do what would have been reasonably expected from him in 2018-19.
Jordan Martinook A
When acquired, I had Martinook (incorrectly) pegged as a #12/#13 forward who would ideally be pushed out of the lineup by youth. Now half of a season into his Hurricanes tenure, I see him much differently. Most significantly, Martinook more than any other player except possibly Justin Williams has a feel for the team and its level of play and knows when a jolt is needed. Whenever the team is down and possibly on the fence between timid self-doubt and aggressive determination, Martinook is a player who rises up and sets a tone. Add to that his 18-goal pace which is a lot for a player who does not receive power play ice time and his role on the penalty kill, and Martinook has established himself as a valuable depth forward.
Victor Rask C
His injury setback did not help obviously, but he was north of 20 games since returning without enough offensive production or much of anything else. His three points made for a meager 12-point pace over 82 games. That just is not enough even for a depth forward. If Brind’Amour has it in him to propel players to higher levels, here is where he should be investing time. Rask did kick off the second half of the season with a two assist game, so here is hoping that he can have a better second half like he did to a moderate degree in 2017-18.
Warren Foegele B
Foegele started the 2018-19 season like he was shot out of a cannon. He had a phenomenal preseason which made it nearly impossible for the team to cut him, and then he burst out of the gate in the regular season with three goals and an assist in his first four games. Then he encountered the drought of all scoring droughts and has only eight points at the midway point. He still projects as a capable depth forward, but the luster has come off of his upside a bit. The keys for Foegele include more regularly using his skating and aggressive puck pursuit to more regularly generate transition scoring chances and to finish a bit more (the chances are there). It takes at least one if not both of those things for Foegele to be more than a physical depth forward.
Lucas Wallmark B
Wallmark’s grade is all about the role for which he is graded. If he is graded as a fringe AHL/NHL player who was called into duty due to injuries, he deserves an A for rising to the occasion and proving capable initially taking Rask’s slot and recently and more impressively stepping into Staal’s difficult match up role. If one holds him to a higher standard as a third line NHL center, he gets more of a mixed review. On the positive side of the ledger, Wallmark has proven to be a capable two-way center who is strong in terms of positioning and decision-making and rarely makes big mistakes. The downside for Wallmark like many Canes forwards is that he is light in terms of offensive production. His two goals and seven assists are barely above Kruger’s six points in 48 games in 2017-18 that had him jettisoned because of lack of offense. I actually really like where Wallmark is development-wise right now building a nice base as a two-way player, but grading him based solely on first half results and not potential future upside, his scoring is light given his ice time, power play ice time and role.
Clark Bishop B
If graded as a #13/#14 forward at the ready from the NHL level, Bishop has been fine. He does not bring much offensively, but he is sound defensively and brings pace and an edge with his game. As such, he is capable fourth line forward at the NHL level. The but for him is the same as many other Canes forwards – he just not bring enough offensively with three points in 20 games or a 12-point 82-game pace.
What say you Canes fans?
1) Which of these mid-season grades to you agree and disagree with?
2) Of the players with a “needs to score more” theme, which do you believe are most likely to break out on the score sheet in the second half of the season?
Go Canes!
I have a hard time with Rask’s C. I can go Incomplete with him being injured at the start of the season or I can go D to really reflect his level of play. If not for his improvement the past 2 games, I’d have gone F.
I think the rating for the kids is good. We have a tendency to forget these are kids and getting their first real look at the NHL. I believe in a lot of ways we expected more out of them considering the level of play in the NHL as a whole compared to other leagues.
Foegele is one I don’t think we can sell short. He has a tenacity and has shown scoring ability at lower levels. I think a lot of what he’s doing is asked to play X role, much like Wallmark. I would envision next year for both of these players will be a much more telling scenario as to what their ceiling may be.
I’d give Rask a D. Although, I thought he’s looked his best the last 3 games. The lack of offensive production from this whole group is sobering, with Martinook being the bright spot. I really hoped that McGinn was about to become a goal-scorer after last season.
Bishop, Wallmark, McKegg have all been solid, but also we can’t make the playoffs with a group of centers that are just solid but not goal scorers. That said, they’ve all outplayed Rask and he should probably be the scratch when Staal returns.
Given how well Martinook has played and his past experience at center, I really wonder if he should get a shot at the 2C with Svech on his wing. Or perhaps give TT at try in the middle with Svech and Martinook on wings (putting Ferland back with Aho).
As for Rask – there has to be more to the story there.
Last night, I was thinking about the comment Dougie Hamilton made after one of his recent scoring games when he said he was fully healthy now and feeling better – implying that he was injured and playing through it – and his play obviously reflected something had changed. Of course none of that was reported and that news was a surprise to me like it probably was to everyone else.
The moral of the story: there is more going on than we know about that if known would affect our views on players and their production.
So for any player that has a reasonable history of performing in a certain role at a certain level that is now NOT performing at that level in that role, I’m now inclined to consider more heavily that an unreported (or not fully healed) injury or other situation may be at play. I was hard on Staal yesterday – I’ve been hard on him generally – and maybe I should lighten up a bit.
I am more likely to suspect that Rask is just trying to play through an injury that hasn’t fully healed and the team (mostly RBA) has decided that he’s still our best option with Bishop injured. We may never know. But his production is not a good look for Rask, that’s for sure.
I agree directionally with the rest of the grades. Wallmark has more offense in him and I think we’ll start to see that in the second half.
apex is correct that Foegele, Wallmark, and Bishop should be graded as “trainees” even though they are playing full-time in the NHL. There are numerous examples of players taking at least a full season to find their offense. The Canes will be extraordinarily lucky if all three of these players become significant offensive contributors next season. But given their experience level, all three deserve solid marks this season.
The other point I have is semantic. I am okay calling Bishop, Foegele, and, at this point, Rask depth players. That implies they can be replaced by call ups without too much disruption to the team’s level of play. But I strongly prefer role-player for Martinook. What he has brought cannot be easily replaced. His goal scoring is a big bonus. But even if it slows, Martinook is a key player in his role as defensive stalwart and “jolt” provider. I too had him as 12/13 forward going into the season. Now I would argue he is the third most important forward behind Aho and Teravainen–he would be even with Teravainen if TT hadn’t also proven to be a key penalty killer.
Agree completely on Martinook. For his role (which is an important disclaimer), I think he has been everything one could ask and more.
I think one of the keys with a player like Martinook is not confusing “is tremendous in his role” (as a #9/#10 regular) with “should be moved up”. Because of lack of depth, the Canes have a bad history of taking great depth forwards (Larose, Dwyer, Gerbe, etc.) and slotting them too high such that they go from being a huge plus in the right role to a minus in the wrong role.
The sample is far too small to tell, but McKegg has delivered in the scoring department. He probably already has more points than Bishop )I thought that goal that Bishop scored, was it against the Caps? as a thing of beauty and came out of nowhere). But I don’t see Bishop as more than a #13 type forward.
We’re seeing the best of the keg right now, but the dregs of the keg may still be more potent than other options at center.
I hope that at least one of Staal and Rask can find the higher gear that we were hoping for at the start of the season, we all need to be reminded that players are human, but this is close to a quarter of the team’s salary invested longterm in these two players, they must find a way to deliver.
I think Staal’s scoring woes do not have much to do with physical condition, more to do with lack of shooting skill, he was never going to be a scorer, but an elite checking center, and seeing his checking prowess evaporate definitely indicated problems we don’t know about.
I wonder if the Canes could acquire Max Zukkerelo from the Rangers (he is apparently on offer) as a short-term center option until we know what we got in Necas.
McGinn is a great character guy who works hard, so hopefully there is a place for him in the lineup, but his lack of scoring is troubling.
The new forth line of the Keg, Saku and Vogele would be a formitable forth line going forward.