First, I would like to take a moment to thank everyone who spends part of the Hurricanes hockey time at Canes and Coffee. The community building around the site and the debates and different viewpoints continue to be the best part of the site.
Huge thank you to everyone!
Within the next few days, I will write in a bit more detail about plans for the offseason, but the short version is that Canes and Coffee will continue to be a daily source of Carolina Hurricanes hockey coverage and discussion possibly with a short break or two.
We would also like to do an end of season pass of the coffee can to collect money to pay a few bills from the 2017-18 season and hopefully build a modest budget to do add a few things this summer.
If you valued Canes and Coffee’s coverage during the 2017-18 season, please consider making a small “cup of coffee” size donation HERE.
With the conclusion of the 2017-18 season, the focus will pretty quickly shift toward building the 2018-19 Carolina Hurricanes. With the disappointing results in 2017-18 and the first offseason with new ownership, the season has the potential to be the busiest in franchise history. In the months that follow, we will certainly cover individual items in more detail, but below is a decision/work list roughly in order of importance for the offseason.
1) Resolving the general manager situation
This situation is a month in process and has already taken a meandering path. The search for a new general manager started, had a flurry of names fly around and then seemed to go quiet just as quickly as it became noisy. As the playoffs progress and teams are eliminated, we should get some indication of what the path forward is.
2) Making a decision on Coach Bill Peters
The first big decision for the new general manager (if one is named) will be deciding the fate of Bill Peters. Peters still has one year remaining on his current contract, but as the head coach of a team that had playoff hopes entering the season but missed by a pretty wide margin, one has to figure that Peters is in the cross hairs. It will be interesting to see if Dundon’s early favorable reviews of Peters remain intact and strong enough to keep him in a job after the season went Sou
3) Making decisions on the goalie situation
As part of an annual summer ritual, the team will again enter the offseason needing to somehow improve upon goaltending that was sub-par during the previous season. The situation is complex and with multiple layers. The starting point is deciding what to do with Scott Darling. With three years and more than $12 million remaining on his contract, trading him would require some combination of the Hurricanes eating a big chunk of salary and/or paying someone with draft picks or prospects to take him. Then that first decision impacts the decision on whether or not to re-sign Cam Ward. Comments from Don Waddell in an interview with Adam Gold last week suggested that the team could sign another goalie and carry three. That adds flexibility but is expensive and potentially clunky roster-wise. I already hashed through this situation in some detail back on March 11.
4) Considering leadership roles
With a playoff miss that included too many ‘what the ___?’ events with the team completely imploding in some games down the stretch and seemingly playing its worst hockey when it mattered most, the team’s leadership is another critical area to be considered. I said last summer that the team needed a ‘jolt’. I think that is even more true this summer. Could we see Justin Williams belatedly be named the captain over the current group with tenure but not much for success? Or does management and coaching staff thing the leadership is right and that the team just needs better players?
5) Long-term plans for Jeff Skinner
Coming off a somewhat disappointing 2017-18 season that saw his scoring dip and maybe more significantly his two-way play regress, the team has a big decision to make on Jeff Skinner. He is signed through the 2018-19 season, so it is not required that something be decided this summer, but best would be to make a decision and act on it. If Skinner is not part of the long-term plan, best would probably be to trade him this summer with a full year remaining on his contract. If he is part of the long-term plan, best would be to re-sign him this summer rather than pushing up too close to when he becomes an unrestricted free agent next summer.
6) Figuring out the blue line
As much as the young blue line has been projected to be a strength as the team rises back up into the playoffs, that projection has yet to emerge as a reality. Francis did well last summer to add Trevor van Riemsdyk to solidify the third pairing, but the middle pairing was largely not good enough again in 2017-18. Justin Faulk’s defensive play continued to deteriorate, and thus far Noah Hanifin is a capable third pairing defenseman who can contribute some offense but who just is not consistent enough on an every shift basis to be a top 4 defenseman yet. Will the team continue with patience and hope again that the answer for a solid second pairing lies within? Or must the new general manager move boldly to acquire help to solidify the defense now?
7) Does the team still need to add a higher-end forward, and, if so, what type?
Last summer, I wrote incessantly about the Hurricanes’ need to add a playmaking/catalyst type forward who could not just score be effectively fuel a scoring line. The Hurricanes instead added Justin Williams who is a good player in his own right with a good set of positive attributes but not so much a scoring catalyst. After finishing 23rd in scoring in 2017-18 (after being 21st in 2016-17), the team will again enter the offseason needing to add offense. The question is in what form and/or position. With the late-season runs at the center position by Sebastian Aho and Elias Lindholm, some thought needs to be given as to whether an offensive addition needs to be a wing who can finish next to Aho or Lindholm or if instead another center is needed so one or both of these players can shift back to wing.
8) Is it time to move a core player or two to shake up the lineup and chemistry?
Related to numbers four through seven, is it time for the team to shake up the core a bit after too many seasons of losing with it? The Hurricanes have players who are priced significantly above their 2017-18 production in Scott Darling and Victor Rask, but the team also has young veterans in Justin Faulk, Jeff Skinner, Jordan Staal and Elias Lindholm who should garner a return if traded. Is it time to move one or two name players to change both the lineup and culture?
9) How many NHL roster slots should the Hurricanes leave for players rising up from the AHL?
Valentin Zykov positioned himself well to compete for an NHL roster spot in training camp next fall with seven points in his 10-game NHL audition. Warren Foegele impressed with his first impression in two games with the big club. Based on play at the AHL level, Lucas Wallmark arguably most looked NHL-ready. The challenge is striking the right balance between leaving enough room for young players to rise up and having enough NHL experience on the roster such that the team does not accidentally slip into rebuilding mode.
10) Should the team act early on re-signing Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen?
The Finnish duo that led the team in scoring is signed through the 2018-19 season and only set to become restricted free agents in the summer of 2019. As such, it is not required that their long-term futures be decided this summer. It could theoretically wait without any huge issue. But the window opens for both to be re-signed after July 1. Does it make sense to lock up rising star Sebastian Aho long-term? And is Teuvo Teravainen in the same category, or might it just be buying high on re-signing him after a break out 2017-18 season?
11) What should the team do with the other contract decisions?
The team also has a number of other contracts to be addressed this summer. Noah Hanifin (wrote about his contract situation in last Friday’s Daily Cup of Joe), Elias Lindholm, Trevor van Riemsdyk, Klas Dahlbeck and Phil Di Giuseppe are all restricted free agents this summer. And in addition to Cam Ward who is noted above, Derek Ryan and Lee Stempniak are both unrestricted free agents. The new general manager will need to make re-sign Hanifin, Lindholm and van Riemsdyk and make decisions on the rest.
What say you Caniacs?
1) Do you think this summer shapes up to be the busiest in franchise history with the volume of big decisions to be made?
2) Which decisions do you see as most critical and why?
3) Did I miss anything else that you think is worthy of being on an offseason checklist?
Go Canes!
1. This summer will be the busiest in making decisions to set the course of the franchise.
2. Most critical decisions are figuring out the existing core who has yet to make the playoffs (Skinner, Faulk, Staal). It is clear we are building around Aho and the younger guys. Most intriguing case is Staal…simply because if he requests a trade he will bring back the largest return. Skinner and Faulk may net an equally inconsistent player in return, and Rask/Darling may not be able to be dealt due to albatross contracts. Either way, the majority of our current core are not the best players on the team and therefore needs changing.
3. Bill Peters – I hope he stays because I think he is a really good coach despite the critics. Carolina fans have long been critical of coaching, whether Maurice 2x and Laviolette…yet look at where those coaches are right now and how successful they have been post-Canes. Sometimes it’s not the coach or the system, rather, the ability of general managers to obtain the right players to succeed in said system. If Bill Peters walks, he will be snatched up quickly and likely succeed in the right environment. I would focus on correcting the environment and getting the right players. Otherwise, round and round we go. That said, I have a feeling BP decides to test the market, taking that decision away from the team. He’s too good a coach to be in limbo.
I will come back to some of these thoughts later, but a fun fact about the exit interviews today – Peters will not be talking to the press afterwards although Dundon will.
My initial thought is that’s a long list of concerns and major questions for a team that was supposed to be in the playoffs this year. And these aren’t minor issues. Finding out how good your defense is, determining if your top goal scorer fits into the team’s future plans, who is going to be the number one and backup goalie, evaluating your top draft picks from the last 3-4 years and having to determine if they will ever be better than they’ve been to date, etc. And that’s just the players. Add coach and general manager and really the only question left is where are they going to play the games? It’s disturbing, or at least disconcerting, how close they can be to success yet so far.
These are all legitimate questions. But the one that is the most critical is how the GM situation gets settled – whether by committee or a single person, or something in between. How Dundon proceeds and who is involved will be Dundon’s most important action regarding the team and it’s future including defining the vision for the team going forward. And that vision will be what starts answering those other questions.
What has been done in the past will not be done in the future.
What has been normal for the team in the past will be in the past.
We won’t recognize very much come September.
That said in terms of coaching – all evidence is that Peters is out; that may even be announced today by Dundon (there is no reason to delay the announcement if it is the case).
In terms of players I would love to see a mix of our established core (Staal, Aho, Turbo, McGinn, Williams, Slavin, Pesce) with a 4 or 5 Checkers (Zykov, Foegele, Wallmark, McKeown) and a number of new faces.
Aho should be extended immediately, I think. At the very least preliminary discussions should be held with Turbo. Cam should be re-signed, depending on his salary demands (which I think should be reasonable) – that is a no-brainer, and I think confirmed by Waddell in his Gold interview. We can bid adieu to Stempniak (even if I never got his signature on my STM box with all the others) and Ryan – both will find work elsewhere in the league. And qualifying offers should be made to all of our RFAs, with the probable exception of Dahlbeck. I will repeat this for the next few months whenever “what should we do with the players” is brought up. 😀
If I were the new GM, 5, 7, and 8 would be linked. Skinner should be moved for a forward with similar scoring potential. Then I am onboard with tj. Expect for not re-signing Dahlbeck. I feel much like tj does about Nordstrom (and I mostly agree except that Canes really need scoring from all 12 forwards) in that Dahlbeck is good for his cost and role.
I am fine with the “change” coming from Checkers. They have a winning culture at least. I am not saying one trade makes the Canes Tampa and all the rookies 25 goal scorers. But getting a scoring winger with more of a all zone game could be the key to Necas succeeding. With Aho, Lindholm, and Necas as centers, Staal and linemates can become that excellent defensive line that also scores. Again I am not saying Aho and Necas won’t have struggles. But I have to believe Aho, Necas, Lindholm will lead to more wins than Rask, Ryan, and Kruger. Likewise it is highly likely that Zykov and Foegele make the team better than Stempniak and Nordstrom—it wouldn’t be every game but over 82 those rookies should improve the team.
I’m sure we’l create one if not multiple topics for the exit interviews with TD, but there were definitely a few interesting takeaways.
I like his style, I must say, honest, straight-forward, not trying to window dress anything. Maybe he’s a totally different guy in person, but he has a good public persona and says the right things, at least the way I understand them.
* He does not believe in free agency (why overbid for a player that another team let walk). So the Canes won’t be all in on the UFA market probably. The Rangers have reportedly already signed Kovi btw.
* No decision on the coach. Seems like Tom gets along well with BP. If they share philosophiesand can form a coherent direction, I culd give BP another chance, though I’ve not liked many of his decisions and his water commercials annoy the heck out of me (I know, very relevant to evaluating him as a coach).
* Nobody is safe (except Aho).
There are a few more observations, but I’l keep them for the appropriate topic.
Aho was the one player he mentioned as “we are not going to find a better player” when he was giving his spiel about looking for players who are better than those we have. Hopefully he recognizes the importance of players making other players better. Draisaitl is to McDavid as Pippen was to Jordan (mixing sports, of course) – neither would be considered great on their own. And if McDavid can make Ty Rattie look good, that is all you need to know.
So if Aho, then Turbo.
I have been on record defending Bill Peters in the past and I just wanted to make a point regarding him with the news that he is coaching the World Championship team for Canada once again.
The people that run Hockey Canada are clearly some of the brightest in the industry – many of themselves being responsible for helping various NHL teams become successful over the years. They’ve gone with Bill Peters as an assistant or head coach for the Canadian national team multiple times at various tournaments. They clearly see him as a great coach. As a ‘young NHL head coach’ I think he deserves another year just like many of the players deserve another opportunity to continue to grow and improve.
At the same time – I was shocked the Rangers fired Alain Vignault, so it does go to show coaching is so fickle I think many people considered him one of the finest coaches in the league. If Peters were to go I would not be opposed to seeing someone like him – especially the coach of the time that has time and time again OWNED the Canes on board.