Yesterday’s Daily Cup of Joe entitled, “What does it take?” assessed the state of the Canes with regard to climbing back into the playoff chase.
The short answer is that the Canes will probably need to repeat something close to January’s 8-3-1 pace in both February and March.
Based on the fact that the team did it in January, it is obviously possible. But at the same time, it is a tall order to play at that pace for 32 more games and through some challenging stretches of schedule.
Today’s Daily Cup of Joe looks at what will be needed from key players and otherwise to pull it off.
Curtis McElhinney
As much as I enjoyed Nedeljkovic’s win in his first NHL start on Wednesday and would like to be proven wrong, I think his time is not here yet. If that proves to be correct, the Hurricanes will need Curtis McElhinney to return from injury and pick up right where he left off. Mrazek has played incredibly well in some games is still the lesser of the two goalies when one considers the 2018-19 season in total. Pushing farther up the standings will likely require McElhinney to return quickly to a high level of play.
Sebastian Aho
Aho really just needs to continue on the path he is on which one to 90ish points. He must lead the line that leads the team’s offense. In addition to sheer volume of scoring, what will be equally critical will be notching enough of the clutch goals in close games that lead directly to points in the standings like the last-minute game-tying goal against Calgary that took the Hurricanes from 0 points to 1 in that game.
Dougie Hamilton
He seems to be heating up at just the right time. A couple weeks back he had a nice run of three straight games with goals, but his defensive play was ‘meh’ in those games. This past week Hamilton again found himself on the score sheet, but this time his level of play all-around was much higher. For a team that has intermittently struggled to score, Hamilton finding the higher gear that placed him among the league’s best offensive defensemen in 2017-18 would be a huge help.
Jaccob Slavin/Brett Pesce
The duo was reunited but more recently has played some together and some apart. As games tighten up in the the latter part of the season, the need for sound defensive play can be magnified. Slavin/Pesce has historically been a pair that the team could lean on in tight games. The team will need them to play at the highest level defensively whether together or separated.
Jordan Staal
Despite the fact that he has been out of the mix and the team has fared well, I still think that Jordan Staal will need to return and also quickly reach his highest level for the team to push up the standings. Like Slavin and Pesce, Staal gives Brind’Amour someone he can lean on in tight games, and though the team’s depth has stepped up, I think Staal will ultimately need to be among the team’s best forwards for the team to take the next step.
What say you Canes fans?
1) Do you agree with the players on my short list of players who must step up for the Canes to also take another step up?
2) Are there any players that you would add to this list, and if so, what would be required of these players?
Go Canes!
Agree on needing McElhinney back – and ideally to see him get at least 1/2 the starts. This break comes at perfect time to let him rest, hopefully.
I think it will also be critical for a forward not named Aho to start to scoring goals at higher rate. Maybe that’s Nino, maybe Turbo. Ideally, both.
darth–I agree about more scoring from players not named Aho. I said when Niederreiter was acquired that I hoped Aho and Teravainen would elevate his play (and he theirs) such that Carolina would have a slightly lesser version of Colorado’s first line. So far, so good.
1) Otherwise I agree with Matt’s points. The point about contributions for the D can’t be overstated. Every team who made the playoffs last season had 2 or 3 D-men contributing points. That number needed to be about 1.3 points per game. The Canes were one of the teams on the outside that had less blue line production than that last season. This year D scoring will be essential.
2) I would add Wallmark and Svechnikov. Everyone knows that Svechnikov will be a serious goal-scorer. The hope is some of that potential kicks in after the break. I am mostly alone in believing that Wallmark has the potential to be a significant contributor (I admit is it more likely to be regular assists than goals). If those two can get on the score sheet on a regular basis, it will either increase the importance of the first line or substitute for the first line’s points when they have a rare off night.
CT you are not alone my friend in thinking a lot of Wally. He is steady and smooth and I also believe the scoring will come!
I think players like Mcginn, Svech and Martinook have to step up and contribute more than they have been. At best the canes have managed 3 scoring lines, all 4 lines need to contribute.
I´m hoping the management can add one more proven scorer at forward, someone like Toffoli, or elevate a Checkers scorer like Sarela or even Poturolski to see if they can add an additional spark to the scoring, which has improved in the last 3 games but has been inconsistent throughout the season.
The Oilers are seeing the challenge of relying on 2 or 3 guys to score all the goals, they are human and have off nights and they get frustrated when they get no help. I think RnH may still be a possibility due to their cap situation.
I hope the Canes can resign Ferland and Aho and add that one extra scorer forward. Then the team has solid two lines with proven scoring potential and a group of rising NHL ers pushing them, that must be the recipe for success.
I do not expect playoffs this year, it just seems near impossible given the Canes place in the standings.
That being said, they have 3 games in hand against the Pens, if they can buck the trend and start winning the 4 point games against the Pens there’s a chance. Ditto the Caps, who are on a bit of a slide.
My fear with using McElhinney as more than a number 2 goalie the rest of the year is that he may have already hit or is near the wall for prolonged effectiveness in net. Last year was the first time in his career that he had a winning record with more than 10 appearances in net at the NHL level. His current rate of appearances is higher than it has been in his career and that is probably playing into him getting injured. A healthy McElhinney as a number 2 goalie is much better than him not being available at all.
I agree with everything else.
In terms of momentum the break for the All-Star game came at a bad time. Hopefully the break recharges batteries, especially for our rookies facing the rigors of their first 82 game NHL schedule. It would be great if they could play the next 32 games more like vets and less like rookies.
Re: Nedjelkovic. Ned is a 23 year old, RFA (not arbitration eligible for one more year) in his 3rd year of professional hockey. He will be waiver exempt for one more season. He is the last of the Peter Karmanos era Plymouth Whales in the pipeline. It is approaching witching hour on determining his long term usefulness in NHL. Seeing him play in the NHL is the best way to accomplish that. In his start against Vancouver he looked capable, similar in style to Mrazek.
Re: McElhinney, Mrazek. As noted above McElhinney is better than Mrazek, his healthy return after the break would serve the team well. Mrazek is better than any the other goalies who have played here in the last 4 seasons. Saying that is meant to be damning with faint praise. I have less interest in his playing here next season than most of those commenting here.
I really think that Turbo needs to elevate his game – being on par with last season isn’t good enough. He nonscoring work is solid, but he needs to elevate playmaking and scoring.
I love Svech – but he seems more interested in hitting that scoring these days. Some of which I think has to do with the nature of his linemates. But his goal and point totals simply are not where they should be although he seems ever so close to making that happen.
Dougie has found his groove – and with that his confidence. He needs to keep playing the way he has.
I wonder when we will see Staal back – he skated for a couple of days 3 or 4 weeks ago but appears to be back on the shelf again.
With where the ‘Canes sit in the standings, all roster players are key players and need to maintain or improve.
When the ‘Canes schedule resumes Feb 1st, all teams ahead of us will have played once or twice. Meaning we could very well be 7-8 points back before we hit the ice next.
Plenty of questions surrounding Staal’s future role, Ferland, and perhaps now on the brink of finding out what we really have in Ned. Therefore I still think we should aim towards bolstering the 2019-20 roster via trade. A deadline deal or two to obtain a sniper and potentially secure goaltending is where I would focus.