Here are a few quick hitters of players and situations trending up and trending down currently.
Trending up
Cam Ward – He has played ‘good enough’ or better in 3 consecutive starts and has helped the Canes earn points in 3 consecutive road starts.
Elias Lindholm – Call it baby steps, but he has been in the middle of a couple scoring plays in recent games. Last Saturday, he a heady pass to feed Ron Hainsey skating into an opening for the shorthanded goal, and on Tuesday he helped win a puck on the boards and was the screen when Dahlbeck scored on what seemed like a harmless shot.
The Jordan Staal line – After a couple false starts, Nordstrom/Staal/Nestrasil played well on Tuesday in New Jersey. With a run of 5 home games, Bill Peters would like nothing more than to go back to the formula of sending Jordan Staal’s line after opponents’ top line knowing he will at least break even in the match up most nights.
Slavin/Pesce – As the 2016-17 season progresses, this duo is increasingly looking like it is ready to play regular minutes as top 4 defensemen at the age of 22 years old for Jaccob Slavin and 21 years old for Brett Pesce. (He turns 22 on November 15.)
The penalty kill – In 2015-16, the Hurricanes penalty kill actually started slowly and then built from there to become 1 of the best in the NHL. Steve Smith has the group out of the gate fast in 2016-17 at fifth out of 30 NHL teams thus far at 87.9 percent.
Trending down
The power play – After a fast start, the power play has been scoreless and mostly lifeless in recent games. It only gets harder minus Justin Faulk which puts the pressure on Rod Brind’Amour to figure out how to jump start it.
Lee Stempniak – He has not been bad, but he has also not been as noticeably as he was when he burst out of the starting gate with 4 goals and 2 assists in the first 5 games. He has not registered a single scoring point in the 7 games since then.
Ryan Murphy – After what I thought was a decent first game after a long layoff, Murphy had a tough game defensively on Sunday. Even with another opening created by Justin Faulk’s injury, Murphy was scratched in favor of reinserting Klas Dahlbeck and Jakub Nackladal.
Eddie Lack – The season is still young and things can change as it rolls on, but hopes that a summer to reset mentally and a fresh start would see a much-improved Eddie Lack have not been supported by his early play in 2016-17.
Teuvo Teravainen – Again, it is still much too early to make a final call, but thus far in the 2016-17 season Teuvo Teravainen has looked much more like the player the Blackhawks were willing to let go than the top 6 forward that Ron Francis hoped he was getting.
Go Canes!
Unfortunately, reality is now making it obvious this team is even worse than I thought!
The young SHINY NEW FORWARDS, are not super-stars ready to lead us to the promised land…
Bargain-basement acquisitions by RF…ARE CHEAP FOR A REASON!
Whether it’s RF that is cheap, or PK is… doesn’t matter… they still will lose more money than they saved… count the empty seats… actually it’s easier to count the people IN SEATS!!!
Think they EVEN see their miserly ways were a mistake??
ME EITHER…
The so-called bargain basement acquisitions are a result of the small market, small ownership bank account structure. That’s not going to change unless ownership changes and even if that happens, the Canes will never be able to compete salary-wise with the large market teams. The keys are being in a position to draft high (i.e. lose for a number of years) and draft players who can make an immediate impact. Having the #1 or #2 overall pick and being able to draft a true difference maker is key. The Canes have always been just bad enough to get a pick in the single digits, but not be in a position to get the top player who can have an immediate impact. Players like Hanafin may turn out to be decent players, but they’re not, by themselves, going to turn a team’s fortunes around like a Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel. The only way a small market team can be successful is to draft high, draft well and select players with a pedigree that brings immediate success to the ice. Then slot the inexpensive veterans to provide balance, pay your one or at most two high salaried mid-twenties food players and easy, you’ve got yourself a playoff team! Put Conner McDavid on this team and keep the remaining personnel and the dynamics change to an incredible degree. Everyone knows how it works but when you’re stuck in the position the Canes are in year after year, it’s tough. Being miserly isn’t as much a choice as it is a condition.
You’ve drank way to much KOOL-AID! It’s cause and effect… poor teams lose money, GOOD TEAMS MAKE BEAUCOUP!!
No excuse for being cheap! None!!
I agree with you, except for on Teravainen. I thought his last game was good, 5 shots on goal I think and made a couple nice plays. He and Aho are both settling in as young players on a New team that are going to be relied on. It’s still early, and if they can begin to play up to their potential that added scoring will lead to more wins. I’m struggling to keep faith in this team after another god awful start. But we have had a lead in 9 of 12 games thus far. This is still a team with potential. If the young guys can step up, Faulk gets healthy, the 6th defense spot gets solidified, and Cam Ward can continue to play as he has this team can still push for the postseason. That’s a lot of “ifs”, but I’m trying to be a glass half full guy with my Canes, as exhausting as that may be after basically ten years of this now.