In touring through mostly basic Canes stats, the thing that jumps out at me most are the team’s scoring limitations at forward despite decent results in the standings thus far:

Justin Faulk vs. Rest of the Team on the Power Play

With the Canes most recent power play goal (Versteeg against Vancouver last weekend), the rest of the Canes finally passed Justin Faulk scoring their 13th power play goal against Faulk’s 12. A quick look at the Canes primary power play forwards yields anemic scoring results. Of the top 6 forwards in terms of power play ice time per game, only Jeff Skinner has more than a single power play goal (with 3). The other 5 forwards in terms of power play ice time (Eric Staal, Kris Versteeg, Jordan Staal, Elias Lindholm and Victor Rask) have exactly 1 goal each. That simply is not enough.

The glaring need for more pure offense at forward

When I work through the Canes forwards player by player, the grades are decent based on the team’s overall good play over the past 2 months. Going player by player suggests that maybe the Canes are only 1 or at most 2 top 9 forwards short. We can debate what line they belong on, but all of Jordan Staal, Eric Staal, Kris Versteeg, Victor Rask and Jeff Skinner are top 9 NHL forwards. Andrej Nestrasil and Joakim Nordstrom fit with Jordan Staal and have been playing top 9 forward level of hockey. Elias Lindholm seems adequate now hopefully with upside as he continues to develop. Phil Di Giuseppe has looked capable in his audition so far.

That makes 9 top 9 forwards which is enough right?

The problem is that too many, the majority even, are really more the complementary #7 or #8 types especially when it comes to scoring. Jordan Staal’s line statistically looks like a tremendous old school checking line. They are good defensively and can handle minutes against the other teams’ best, but Jordan Staal is on target for 40ish points, Nestrasil 30ish and Nordstrom 20ish. That just is not second line scoring on a good team. It is slightly on the low side for a third line on a good team. Eric Staal and Kris Versteeg have recently dipped below a 50-point pace (over 82 games). Those numbers are a little bit light even for a second line, but on the Canes I would call that duo the core of the team’s top scoring line. And Lindholm’s mid-30s scoring pace would be fine for a growing young player who was in something like a #8 or #9 slot, but he is playing on the first line right now. What I would characterize as the actual third line (Skinner/Rask/____) is the only line scoring at about the pace you would hope. Ideally, Jeff Skinner would set up more and collect more assists, but his pace for nearly 30 goals is a real good total for a third-liner. Rask and Di Giuseppe’s scoring paces are decent for a third line too.

When you net it out, the Canes are way overbooked with decent hockey players who are scoring at only a third line type of pace and are light on true top 6 forwards who can lead the way offensively.

After almost 50 games in the 2015-16 season, I am about where I started the season which is thinking that the Canes need more in terms of pure playmaking (think Ray Whitney and Cory Stillman). Kris Versteeg has contributed in this regard, but the Canes could desperately use 1-2 more players who can create offense. These kinds of players can make lines go and boost scoring for multiple players.

I do not think there is much that GM Ron Francis can or will do about this for the remainder of the 2015-16 season. The Canes are actually playing pretty decent hockey despite some offensive limitations. But I do think this issue rises to the forefront over the upcoming offseason. Per my post yesterday, the blue line seems to be rounding into form early which should push Francis to play a few cards to try to catch up the forward ranks.

Go Canes!