Sunday’s game was the 41st of the 2018-19 season for the Carolina Hurricanes marking exactly the halfway point making it an interesting time to do various check ins on the season so far. Today’s Daily Cup of Joe will look at the biggest surprises for the 2018-19 season to date for the Carolina Hurricanes.
1) Curtis McElhinney as the #1 and a huge difference-maker
Heading into the season, there was plenty of debate about which of Scott Darling or Petr Mrazek would seize the #1 job and run with it. Those looking or a deep dark horse might have figured Alex Nedeljkovic in the mix. But I cannot imagine that anyone would have had Curtis McElhinney as the team’s top goalie at the midway point of the season. And what is more, the fact that McElhinney leapfrogged both opening day goalies and yet goaltending is a strength thus far.
2) The center position
Before it was announced that Victor Rask’s injury would keep him out of the opening day lineup, the Hurricanes seemed reasonably set at center. Aho would at least start the season there. Staal would man his usual spot. Victor Rask and rookie Martin Necas would be the other two centers. Between injuries to Rask and Staal and Necas’ audition not going particularly well, the center position has been a revolving door. Through 41 games, the four players above have played center but so have Lucas Wallmark, Clark Bishop, Nicolas Roy and Greg McKegg.
Sort of in the same vein, in early October who would have had Wallmark as a regular, Necas in the AHL and McKegg as the center most trending upward right now.
3) Lack of scoring from the blue line
Entering the season, one could reasonably have figured both Justin Faulk and Dougie Hamilton as potential 50-point scorers from the blue line. Even with Hamilton’s recent surge, the Hurricanes do not have a single defenseman on target for 30 points. Worth noting is that Hamilton is trending upward right now, but through 41 games blue line scoring was underwhelming.
4) Lack of deals
With a new owner and his stated dislike for losing and patience, one would have figured that the Hurricanes would act swiftly if the 2018-19 season fell off of a competitive pace especially given the overstock on capable defensemen. The Hurricanes have stumbled a bit. Yet the team has yet to pull off a trade to add scoring.
What say you Canes fans?
1) Who else has surprises (big or small) thus far in the 2018-19 season?
2) Which player’s point total is most significantly different from what you would have expected entering the season?
Go Canes!
1) Jordan Martinook. In the “Goes to Show What I Know” category, I had Martinook as the 13th forward before the season. I was counting on all the rookies (especially Zykov) to be in the everyday lineup. Yet here we are at the mid-point and Martinook is second on the team in even strength goals. His defensive ability and energy improve the team every time he is on the ice. As tj often mentions, he has apparently become a positive influence on Svechnikov. After Aho and McElhinney, Martinook is the MVP for the 1st half.
2) Before the past four games of goal-scoring, I would have said everyone.
Completely agree on Jordan Martinook.
I also had him pegged as a #12/#13 forward and the kind of depth player who could be him or anyone else without much difference.
His goal scoring for a player with no power play ice time has been a big positive. His ability to feel the pulse of the team and no when to dial up the physicality and intensity level has been even more significant as have his leadership and character.
I will be both surprised and disappointed if the team does not re-sign him. His ceiling is that of a bottom 6 forward, but he is the version of that that makes a difference.
1) the center position has been quite the surprise. The over-use of Staal in the early part of the season was a surprise, him being out with injury as a result is not a surprise.
2) on the upside I agree with CT on Martinook being the biggest upside surprise; because of how we acquired him he was equivalent to Kruger in my mind.
On the downside Rask has 3 points in 21 games playing in the bottom half; I saw him as a top half center and much more productive before the season.
1. The Checkers are the biggest surprise this season, leading the AHL they keep on rolling, even if they are only playing with 11 forwards (because of the Canes’ needs).
I wouldn’t put it as a surprise but Scotty Darling has been a letdown, even for modest expectations. Poor guy, I’m sure nobody wanted things to come to this, least of all himself, but something just isn’t clicking with him and the Canes. He’s playing so so down in Charlotte against AHL competition.
Also Zykov not being given a chance to play to his strengths while Rask seems to be getting no end of chances (then again Rask is making his 4 mill regardless).
Martinook the most pleasant surprise of the year so far, Svech is in the conversation but I think he needs a season or two of learning before becoming an elite top 6 guy, fair enough, Aho needed that time.
Final surprise, the ex Canes who are tearing it up elsewhere, especially Skinner, the second or third highest scorer in the NHL, behind Ovechkin (and maybe Tavares), and Lindholm having more points than just about anybody on the Canes team (except Aho maybe, I’m too lazy to check), good for them.
2. Marinook’s scoring has been a nice surprise.
Jordan Staal’s has been a significant disappointment, Rask’s even more so.
Good call on the Checkers. What is most encouraging is how much that success is driven by the youth. The team does have good veteran AHLers which are usually key to a winning AHL recipe, but much of the success is driven by the prospects.
I am not surprised. Well, I must admit that McKegg surprised me.
Goalkeeping is good. Very good. Dougie and Faulk are finding their scoring mojo at the same time. All six d are playing very well.
I hope that they stay healthy. And please, don’t try to sell me on the myth that Fleury is a plug and play “depth” defenseman. He is not. He does not belong in the NHL.
Since this past summer, and a time last season I have consistently argued that the Canes have ample scoring talent. No, no! Everyone said. We need a savior (undersized) scoring catalyst. Someone to “drive” our scoring. Drive our scoring? What does that mean?
In my dinosaur hockey brain, scorers need an adequate number of glue guys (like Willy, Staal, and Martinook). They need energy guys (Fogele, McGinn, TT, McKegg, Maenelainen). They need hitters (Ferland, Bishop, DeHaan, Martinook). We have them. The scorers are learning to trust that.
Dougie recently said that he has been playing injured. He is feeling better and putting together a scoring streak.
Roddy has been working on one problem at a time. We have a constantly improving pk. Our pp has sprung back to life. Our 5v5 is working. We are scoring goals and winning.
So now you still want to tear apart the cohesion that Roddy has been building? For what? Why?
Do you think we can get a quality scoring forward for free?
Do you think we can get the other side of this trade to take what we want them to take in return for what we want?
That might be what things are like in your fantasy NHL, but it is not the way things go in the real NHL.
Although it is a small sample size and there is an issue with the level of competition, I am surprised at the initial impression that we are a better playing team without Staal in the lineup. I am not sure how the stats break out – whether traditional or fancy – but by appearance to me this seems to be the case.
breezy’s comment on Z not getting the chance to play to his strengths (which I agree with) vs. Rask having all the time in the world speaks volumes.
But another surprise to me is the inconsistent level of effort and energy we have seen in the team on a game-to-game basis this season = something that wasn’t supposed to be the case with RBA as coach and JW as captain. That, to me, has been the biggest disappointment in the team.
Also, RBA’s we’ll keep doing what we are doing (even if it is not working) approach to coaching was disappointing to see.
Hopefully the past 4 games are evidence that both those disappointments will be left behind us.
But I do think the next 4 games will be a tell if our 4-game winning streak is a faux surprise. 🙂
I’m surprised that we have NHL-average goaltending and are not closer to the cut-line.
I’m pleasantly surprised that Faulk’s game has bounced back from the depth’s of last season. This may be the best hockey we’ve seen from him. Maybe that has to do with de Haan, who I didn’t realize would be as steady and stabilizing as he’s been for Faulk and the entire defense.
I’m also surprised Zykov crashed-and-burned so quickly – but he was recently waived by EDM so maybe we weren’t all that off base in our assessment.
Rask and Staal have been disappointing so far. Staal had an initial burst and has been non-existent since early November; Rask – I was expecting more – I don’t know what to say – maybe he hasn’t fully recovered (although he’s starting to look better to me).
I’m surprised there haven’t been more roster moves; I would have expected TD/GMDW to have made at one trade by now.
I’m not surprised about the overall position. While the team addressed some needs at the Goaltending position, the Canes downgraded significantly in the scoring department and did bet on young kids with no NHL experience to rise up and take the spots of two of the team’s top scorers (well, two of their top 5 scorers). That plan had a pretty small chance of succeeding.
I think, to put it more nicely, that the team has definitely not missed Jordan Staal as much as we thought it would. It’s a good thing, Walmark has stepped up and filled his defensive shoes with better-than-expected results. Staal has also been snake bitten arund the net and hasn’t quite had the scoring touch necessary for a top 6 forward, no matterhow reliable on the defensive side of the puck.
I’ve said elsewhere that his perceived value to other teams is probably higher than his actual value to the Canes squad as constructed, which definitely encourages considering trade possibilities.
The Canes have not managed well with adversity, neither the coach nor the team. When all is going well, the team is on a roll, but ater losing a game or two the team has gotten away from what makes them successful.
The upcoming slate of games is a great testing ground to see if half a season’s worth of experience has sunk in and the team is able to respon to tough outings and difficult opponents. We will see good teams, every team has an off night or two, or 3, but can the Canes leave those in the rear view mirror and win a lot of the remaining games?
I do not believe in playoffs this year for this team, for all the wins, the team is 7 points out of the third in the metro/the wildcard, and I think the gap has only been reduced by a point, maybe two, so to get there the team needs a magic 8 to 10 game streak of W like Pit, and for all their improved play the Canes have no Malkin, Crosby or Kessel on the squad.
Surprised at the lack of marketing initiatives to bring more fans to the games. It seems like the powers to be are waiting. Waiting for what, I’m not so sure. The team to win more games than they lose? The Whalers effort was ok and as a one trick pony was sufficiently creative to generate maybe two days of buzz, but past that, not much happening. Sort of like the play on the ice. Not bad, not great, not exciting not inept. I’m positive with the trends but thought both management and players would be further along the improvement curve by this point in the season.
1. Martinook is my biggest surprise selection. He’s given us scoring, grit, energy, and defense and proven to be a top notch 3rd and 4th line player. He makes our 3rd and 4th lines better than what other teams can put on the ice in third and 4th lines in most cases.
My second selection is RBA. I was worried about us hiring internally and hiring a rookie coach. I supported him only after he was selected only because of his past greatness as a player for us. The early part of the season I soured somewhat on him as the team seemed to regress into playing less than stellar hockey. I must say I do think RBA is currently doing a very good job with the team overall. Not just because of the current 4 game win streak, but in how he seems to have molded the team into a very hard team to play against. I hope Waddell and Dundon continue to support him and make every effort to provide him with at least one more scorer without breaking up our roster to do so. I like our defense as is and would not like to see the defense weakened to get a scorer. I would like to see draft picks and/or prospects used for that purpose if we can’t develop one internally.
2. When you say point totals (goals and assists) I think I would have expected more out of Zykov and McGinn. I thought McGinn might have another eighteen to twenty goal season in him. Right now he is on track for five or six.