The Carolina Hurricanes scoring woes have been well-documented and much-discussed over the past few days both at Canes and Coffee and in the broader Cane-isphere.
Yesterday’s Daily Cup of Joe bandied around a few ideas to improve scoring. The article is a great read for the comments with different viewpoints from multiple readers. A well-timed ‘Checking In’ by Brandon Stanley today also provides updates on the players at the AHL level who could be up for NHL ice time.
Both articles lead into today’s Daily Cup of Joe which looks for scoring help internally.
Already at the NHL level
In terms of trying to find more scoring from the players already at the NHL level, Andrei Svechnikov jumps out. He is still incredibly young, but Svechnikov comes with draft pedigree and expectations that he will one day be a goal scorer at the NHL level. And in recent games, he seems to be knocking on the door every game. At least while Micheal Ferland is out of the lineup, why not give Svechnikov ice time with Aho and/or Teravainen? There are any number of lineup possibilities if Brind’Amour wants to tinker, but simply putting Svechnikov in a position to score more jumps out to me as the most obvious thing to try.
Currently with the Charlotte Checkers
There are multiple different angles to pursue more scoring. Most want to focus on players who could improve and boost the team. Others spend time searching the trade market. But what about the possibility that the Canes already have the players needed. And with the Checkers playing very well, there figures to be options available.
Janne Kuokkanen
I had Kuokkanen as making the NHL squad even if the team would have been overstocked at the time. Kuokkanen is averaging a point per game in the AHL. In addition, he brings a mature game defensively. I would not classify Kuokkanen as a likely high-end scorer. But Kuokkanen could still be an upgrade scoring-wise.
Aleksi Saarela
Saarela is and interesting consideration. To be honest, I was not overly impressed with Saarela’s play in prospect camp and later the Traverse City. But the one thing that Saarela has going for himself is the fact that he is a natural goal scorer. Right now, the ability to put the puck in the net is overwhelmingly the team’s biggest need. Saarela has a bias toward shooting the puck, and his shot is a very good one. No doubt, I question whether he will do enough in between shooting opportunities, but with the Hurricanes struggling mightily to score, perhaps having a forward quietly wandering the offensive zone looking for places to shoot from is exactly what the doctor ordered.
Martin Necas
His 2018-19 audition was not a great one. In addition, Necas took some time to get his feet under him at the AHL level. More recently he caught a scoring spark after being moved to wing. I am of the opinion that Necas belongs at the center position. But just maybe he is ready to relaunch the NHL as a wing at least short-term. The skating and the skill are there. Could Martin Necas arrive sooner than expected and hit the ground running offensively?
Greg McKegg
From the less likely and less exciting category of current players. Veteran AHLer Greg McKegg comes to mind. Could an older player who is hungry to make the team hop right in and be productive? I am on record as liking McKegg’s game in the preseason. He plays fast and in straight lines. He seems like an unlikely player to significantly boost the team at the NHL level, but just maybe an adrenaline rush would be enough to offer a scoring burst.
Honorable mentions
For whatever reason, Andrew Poturalski has not generally been included in the group of players capable of playing at the NHL level soon.
Nicolas Roy was sound even if very unspectacular in a couple NHL games earlier this year. Certainly there are many variations of turf.
Julien Gauthier is the power forward equivalent of Aleksi Saarela. He has high-end skills that translate to the NHL level,but at last check he was still working to round out his game.
What I would do if I was Rod Brind’Amour
First, I would give Svechnikov some time on what was Aho’s line. He seemingly has untapped upside and could help with the scoring woes.
Then, I would recall Janne Kuokkanen. He looked NHL-ready in my opinion in preseason and has a mature enough game defensively. The downside of Kuokkanen is minimal because of his heady defensive play. The question is whether he can be more than depth offense.
What say you Canes fans?
1) What do you think about the possibility of moving Andrei Svechnikov up to NHL level?
2) Of the AHL players listed, which would you like to see given a chance at the NHL level?
3) What remaining moves would you make to try to garner more offense from the current group?
Go Canes!
1) Svechnikov with Aho and Teravainen needs to happen.
2) Agree with the points about Kuokkanen, he looks to be a middle-six forward. However, I wouldn’t rush him. I was at the Checkers game Saturday and watched much of the game Sunday. The team went almost 5 periods without a goal. So I am not sure any Checker is going to provide instant offense. I think Saarela is likely to be the best call-up to provide scoring. As you mention he has an excellent shot (even when the Checkers were struggling Saarela ripped a couple shots) and he is fast.
3) When Ferland is back, I would try him on a line with Martinook to create the dirty goals Matt has written about the past few days. With two players banging and crashing the net perhaps the volume of shots from Hamilton and Faulk will become more effective.
If it’s broke, fix it. No stone should be left unturned. No line combination untried, especially on the toothless PP. Your description of Saarela reminded me of an ex-Cane, especially the comment, “having a forward quietly wandering the offensive zone looking for places to shoot from is exactly what the doctor ordered.”
Agree with ct on #1 above: try Svetch with Aho/TT … I don’t like the TAS line; we need to keep Aho at Center. I also think RBA should encourage Svetch to agitate to the point where someone challenges him to a fight – it’s going to happen eventually so let’s get it out of the way; he’ll be a more effective player when teams realize he’s not a kid anymore.
I’d send Foegele down to CLT to restore his confidence. He is simply not the same player he was to start the season. Give him some time to find his scoring touch and he’ll be back. He’s not helping much now and his TOI should be given to Kuok or another player from CLT.
I’d also try Necas on Rask’s wing. Pairing Rask with Necas was the preseason plan that didn’t materialize. With Necas scoring and Rask back and the team needing offense, no better time than the present to try it.
For the record – and to address the elephant in the room – I’m happy for Jeff Skinner and glad to see him and BUF tearing it up – that game last night with TOR was super-entertaining. I know we’re all thinking we could use his offense and his scrambling ability to score goals right now but I do not regret the trade and have doubts that he’d be scoring at that rate in CAR. That ship needed to sail. Now, everyone go crazy on me.
Yeah. This. I’ve been saying this same thing. Good for Skinner. He’s playing great hockey. He’s motivated. He didn’t have that motivation here. The contract year and playing with Eichel makes me think it may be a moderate level of fool’s gold, but I’m fairly confident if he was here he would not be playing this well or producing anywhere near this much (obviously).
I also like that idea of giving Foegele a brief reprise in Charlotte to get him back to being the hungriest player on the ice. Struggles from him (and many others) are a big part of the reason this team has fallen off lately. Really, there’s only like two guys on the team that are playing all that great if you ask me. McElhinney and for the most part Svechnikov. With a shoutout to Faulk who looks great lately. Just about everyone else is struggling to varying degrees. Someone has to step up. Quickly.
*goes crazy on dmilleravid* (I had to, didn’t I)? Well, that ship has sailed.
I like the suggestions, bring up Necas, pair him with Rask, give Foegele a little recovery time or put him with the two-some of Rask and Necas, I think there may be potential there.
Put Svech on the first line and Aho back in the middle.
Tell TT to shoot, shoot, shoot, any chance he gets.
Put Kuak on the Staal/JW line, try to get the old goats going (JW has some finishing ability).
If it ain’t work with the current setup, it’s time to see what the pipeline can offer.
I’m afraid the answer lies outside the Canes organiztion (maybe in Buffalo *grin*) but it is prudent to first see what can be mustered with home cooking.
We got the grits but we have to finish the grits with something tasty.
Here’s a few moves I would try to boost scoring:
1. Once Ferland is back, take Staal off the power play. I love J Staal, but his heavy minutes on the PP (in front of the net) are perplexing to me when all the available evidence says that he’s not a finisher.
2. Try Wallmark centering Aho-TT. Wallmark has been playing really well and I think is a reason for Martinook-Svech success. Might he have an even bigger impact on scoring if on the top line?
3. If Wallmark is moved, then bring in Kuokkanen to center Svech-Martinook.
4. I’m not totally sold on Svech with Aho-TT, because we really need to have two dangerous scoring lines. Esp for road matchups. But with Ferland out, it might be worth trying. If it did work, it would be interesting to see if Ferland could continue to score with another line. How about Ferland-Wallmark-Williams?
Agree about Wally with aho and tt… Didn’t Wally play that role in the AHL? Wasn’t he a scoring leader down there? At least worth a try…
aho, wally, tt
svech, rask,ferland
martinook,staal, williams
1. I don’t think Svech would fit well on a line with Aho and Turbo (see my answer to 3).
2. (a) I think Kuokk is the obvious choice (see 3, again).
(b) I am not sure Saarela’s shot is NHL capable, as effective as it is in CLT. That said we don’t have a true sniper on our roster.
(c) Gauthier is building his game. He is skating now and is more confident, and is now playing more like an unrefined version of Svech. I don’t think he is ready yet for an immediate impact but I think the notion of another offensive-minded power forward on the squad is something to consider.
3. To me, it isn’t simply moving players to different line. It is consciously constructing (or deconstructing lines) to maximize the potential – and right now we need to maximize for offensive potential (in a post yesterday or the day before I commented that as constructed our lines are not built for offense).
Moving Svech to Aho/Turbo line would give him more minutes, but he seems to play very well with a playmaking center and a solid, hard-hitting wing on the other side, i.e., where he is right now.
Rask is a playmaking center – how do you optimize that skill set? Certainly not by putting Williams on one wing and McGinn on the other. He needs an offensive sparkplug – that could be Svech or it could be a recalled Necas. And with an offensive sparkplug perhaps McGinn can find his shooting touch again while still playing the role of physical presence.
Kuokkanen on the left of Staal was quite good in the preseason – it added offense to Staal’s without sacrificing two-way play.
If Turbo isn’t intent on shooting, is he better suited to be a playmaking center on an offensive line?
I truly doubt we are going to see any significant changes in the lineup in the near future, but I do want to redirect focus from the individual players to how the sub-units of the team are constructed (and that would include the PP – I need more Hockey 101 to feel more comfortable beyond asking what is Williams doing on the PP?).
The flipside, as RBA continues to state, the team is generating high grade chances every game with the current players and lineups (hence his reluctance to make significant changes). So why are we not converting and how do we go about starting to convert those chances?
I understand trying to balance scoring and all, but what they are doing is 100% not working. Lets take a look at the Colorado Avalanche. They’re 16-7-5. They have one line. They put their three best players on it. It works. I don’t know for a fact that Svechnikov would work with the Finns, but I am of the opinion it’s ludicrous to not at least try to put your most talented players together when your team can’t score a damn goal. And Aho is the exact kind of center he needs. Aho makes plays, draws the defense in, then makes great passes. That’s why Ferland works on that line. He gets to the net and is a very good catch-and-finish power forward. Svechnikov is cut from the same cloth. The team needs a spark. Why not search for it in the form of the kid you just invested a second overall pick in… and one that is already showing to be one of your most dangerous players when playing with bottom six players?
Also. Saarela’s shot is 100% going to translate. The rest of his game needs to be ironed out. He needs to get more consistent and work on playing a 200-foot game, as most young players do. But, if he does, that kid will score a LOT of goals in the NHL. His shot is that good. Extremely powerful, great release, and he picks the corners with regularity.
I am not arguing for balanced lines, I am arguing for making our lines more offensive focussed than they currently are.
As to lines, you can win overloading the top line but Aho is not a MacKinnon and a line centered by Aho needs a wide-body and a net-front presence. I think there is too much finesse with Aho and Turbo that Svech won’t necessarily mesh. That said, at this point, is it worth a try?
As for Saarela, I am skeptical because he looks a lot like Terry and Boychuk to me (although maybe I don’t remember them well enough???). They had booming, well-placed shots in the AHL that didn’t crossover well to the NHL. As the same point in time I think it would be out of character for O/M/C to bring him up – short of a desperation move (and that is if he really starts to light it up down there).
I keep circling back to we have a high percentage and a high number of high-danger scoring chances almost every game – at least according to RBA and NaturalStatTrick. So our abysmally low shooting percentage isn’t because we are only taking perimeter shots. In that context, how does adjusting lines improve the probability of these high-danger chances going in?
And don’t get me wrong – I am definitely a fan of Saarela, as I am of the entire Checkers squad. I have almost gotten to the point where I prefer going to a Checkers game than a Canes game! LOL!
Following up the last paragraph in my post above, I think it would be interesting to see the number of high-quality chances by player, 5×5 and PP. I have to think there would be useful information there on how to increase the rate of success.
I was in Providence to watch the Checkers last Sunday. First time I’ve seen the AHL team since they’ve been in CLT. Eerily similar to the big club was the amount of shots CLT had on the P-Bruins, yet found themselves down 2-0 after two periods. But the difference was the poise and determination by their best players to turn the momentum by owning it and burying their chances (this on 3rd game in 3-nights). Kuokkonen broke the ice and Necas tied the game near the crease, giving the team (and Darling) a win in OT. Gauthier, although he did not score, had two impressive drives to the net in “Erik Cole” like fashion. I will certainly be attending more Checkers games when they travel the northeast circuit.
My point…the future may be another year or two away but the young guys have moxie and play the right way.
I watch them regularly on AHLTV and go down to Charlotte several times a year to catch them at Bojangles (on their weekend home back-to-backs). They are a fun team to watch, and it is easy to be a fan of them – they play the right way.
Were you wearing a Canes jersey on Sunday?
They are fun to watch! My wife and I were wearing Canes shirts, front glass at the blue line.
Cameras spent some time tracking a fellow in a Canes jersey walking down the stairs to his seat.
From a strictly goal-scoring perspective, Saarela is a really interesting candidate to me. He has two fantastic attributes: a blistering shot that would immediately be one of the best on the Canes, and great speed to keep defenders honest and create room to get that shot off. He would also help the power play immensely, adding a trigger man that opposing teams would have to account for. The Checkers’ PP is a top-10 AHL unit and Saarela is the man they want to get the puck to. Bean deserves credit as he does a fantastic job quarterbacking the unit (both, actually, as I noted in my recap) and finding the open man, but Saarela is the guy they want receiving those passes. But, overall, I agree that Kuokkanen should get the call. He’s such a smart player, extremely confident as a playmaker, and has an underrated shot with a quick release himself. The fact that we lost our leading goal scorer and called up a fourth liner to fill in for him is still baffling to me. Makes no sense.
I have been a long time Checkers fan having followed them and attending games since the year they started as the Clippers. I attend 4 to 5 games a year now and have listened or watched all their games this year. As has been mentioned above they have some talent and are very well coached. Of the players mentioned I agree that we should see if Saarela shot making skills translate to the NHL. His early years he was hampered with injuries but now seems to be injure free. His shot and shooting percentage ranks in the top of the league. He is a true sniper which is what this club needs especially on the dismal dismal power play. I say give him a shot if not only to help that. What do we have to lose. Not sure if he is on a one way so that could be a factor. I also think Jake Bean has shown some flashes and is a keeper or bargaining chip down the road.
dixie – Saarela is on a 2-way, but that only affects salary. I think he is waiver exempt – it has been less than 3 years since he signed his ELC although I have never been totally clear on those rules.
If that’s the case bring Saarela up for some games at a higher pay and see how he does. He deserved that at least. Send Di G. or McGinn through waivers. Both those guys can’t hit the broad side of a barn….. but they hustle. So what? We need scorers not passengers or blind shooters.
Boy how I wish we could get someone like Matthews somehow some way. Man can he snipe either to win a game or to tilt the game. That overtime goal last night was awesome. His hands are like silk. Even someone like Marner who we could have drafted but thought too small. We desperately need someone to support Aho and take the load off him. I am rambling. You get my drift.
FWIW In the 2015 NHL draft Mitch Marner was selected 4th overall by Toronto. He was off the board when the Canes drafted 5th that year.
He’s not Matthews, but Kessel is available. Are you a buyer.
I do not believe that there is a trade to be made out there. If you think there is a magic player out there who will cure all of our ills who will come to us in a trade in which we can win by not having to give up the core of our team, you are delusional.
I give you Matt Duchene. He is a talented young man. He has flaws like all men. He is not worth nearly what they paid for him. He has no magic. Nobody has magic.
The Canes organization has a lot of scoring talent. The men you dismiss so blithely by ridiculing them (Ginner and Phil di) are potential scorers. Svetch is another. Sure, I was against drafting him. I preferred that we draft Brady Tkatchuk. Silly me. But in watching Svetch I have become a believer in his potential. I still would prefer Tkatchuk. The Canes have never done well with Russian players. A Jim Rutherford jinx? But we have Svetch. Different players progress at different speeds.
Let’s not trade the family cow for a sack of magic beans.
Tkachuk has started off a lot better than I had envisioned. He’s also getting top-6 minutes with players WAY more talented than Martinook (and Wallmark, who is actually a pretty good player but nowhere near as offensively gifted), PP time on a top-10 unit, and generally looked to to be a leader on that team already. If Svechnikov was put in a similar situation, I have no doubt he would be scoring similarly. And if Tkachuk was here, in this environment on this team, I’m not sure in this scenario he would have even the 6 goals or 12 points Andrei has. Svechnikov still has a way higher ceiling, and watching him play it’s hard to argue he looks like a star in the making.
But then again, he came to Carolina, and it’s not like talented young guys haven’t struggled to develop here before.
It’s just a different scenario there. They are developing young guys. We were trying to make the playoffs so Rod used (poor) excuses like he is bad at defense to cut his minutes and usage instead of just letting the kid loose. Still waiting on that to happen and I really am shocked he hasn’t at least tried to put him with the Finns while Ferland is out. I mean come on. What do you have to lose dude?
Kessel is on the decline. For one thing this means his contract will become an albatross (that’s why the Pens are considering a trade), for another I am sure he only wants to be traded to a cup contender, and the Canes do not fall into that category in the near future by any stretch of the imagination.
PDG and Mcginn have gotten a lot of chances in the NHL and are not getting the job done for the club, time to see what we got down in Clt, or for them to show they belong in the NHL.
Maybe the Canes should tank hard and hope Jack Hughes is that Austin Matthews type player that the franchise needs.
If Svech and Necas develop this year, with a big summer of UFA and RFA forwards ahead and with a star center, this team could turn its fortunes around. Not seriously preaching tanking right now, too early, but I love the idea and am trying to construct a plan b.
Thanks breezy for the back up. I in no way meant to be indifferent towards the two. I just think we need to see if we have something better in scoring potential within because we aren’t going to get it anywhere else now.
I also wonder if tanking is an option but like you hoping for improvements. I must say it is getting harder and harder to watch and the sinking feeling of here we go again for the umpteen time has hit me.
I saw somewhere on Twitter that the Canes scoring percentage of 6.5 would be a record NHL low if it persists throughout the season.
Shooting % is down to 5.9% now.