If you have not already, please read this CandC update and reintroduction of Canes and Coffee.
With hockey season upon us and actual topics for conversation on the way, we hope to make an abrupt shift in what Canes and Coffee is and what people do when they visit.
More succinctly: It is time to launch the coffee shop and the conversations that come with it!
Unless the Hurricanes make a late addition via trade or free agent signing, the team will enter training camp with 5 defensemen signed to 1-way NHL contracts and all but assured opening night NHL roster spots unless injured.
That list includes Justin Faulk, Ron Hainsey, James Wisniewski, John-Michael Liles and Michal Jordan.
One would figure that the Canes will ultimately carry 7 defensemen if everyone is healthy which begs the question of who will win the remaining 2 spots from a big list of young defensemen.
Loading ...And if an injury eliminates 1 of the 5 veterans, who would be the 8th defenseman who starts the season at the NHL level as an injury replacement?
Loading ...Early voting on the 1st 2 polls has some combination of Noah Hanifin, Haydn Fleury and Ryan Murphy mostly taking the 1st 2 slots and also the alternate slot. This prompts the question of who people would rate behind this trio as a dark horse.
Loading ...We would also love to hear everyone’s thoughts before training camp even starts for how this race ultimately shakes out. Please register and comment below…Or less formally, grab a pumpkin latte (I hear they are all the rage), pull up a chair and tell everyone what you think.
No commitment yet, but I am hoping to round up a small prize or 2 to lottery off to someone who correctly picks the roster.
Go Canes!
I think the safe bet is saying that the 5 D on one-way contracts all take up the first 5 spots. Something like:
Hainsey / Faulk
Liles (Jordan) / Wis
Jordan (Liles) /
My hunch is that Liles will not be in the running for a top 6 spot, I feel someone is going to push him to the 7th spot. For some reason I see a 3rd pair of Jordan / Murphy. And I think we start Hanifin.
Hainsey / Faulk
Hanifin / Wis
Jordan / Murphy Liles as 7
Barring a trade or signing and/or injury that is my gut feeling.
I actually think that there are really three spots up for grabs. I don’t believe Michal Jordan is one of the 7 best defensive players we have in the organization. The only question I have is will his contract keep him in Raleigh if one of the guys on an ELC or 2-way contract beats him out? I hope that is not the case, but I am unsure due to our historically tight budgets. Ultimately, I think he does stay in Raleigh as the press-box hero and we see a rotation of the kids in Charlotte filling those two spots over the year. My opening night roster for the defense would look something like this:
Hainsey-Faulk
Hanifin-Wizniewsky
Liles-Pesce
Jordan
I don’t think either McKeown or Fleury have any chance simply because Slavin-Pesce-Carrick are almost equal skilled and we can postpone the the start of McKeown’s and Fleury’s ELCs. I also think that skill-wise Murphy fits in the same group as those five, but is considerably smaller, so he starts in Charlotte as well.
I think Hanifin/Murphy were the guys pencilled in, but I think Fleury has been positioning himself to beat out one or both of them this summer.
I think what we may see, and again, it’s been building this summer, is that Fleury could be significantly ahead of Slavin/Pesce/Carrick at training camp. And in fact, he might be ahead of Hanifin as well.
It’ll certainly make training camp interesting, and also makes me wish they could burn either liles or jordan’s contract and then bury the ashes at the bottom of the sea.
Based upon what I’ve read about the Traverse City tournament, I didn’t get the impression that Fleury was significantly ahead of Pesce in his play. Couple that with the ability to defer Fleury’s ELC start and I think that is a disadvantage for him. While we don’t want that to be the case in a perfect world, it is just like Liles contract probably means he beats out some of the “kids” even if he is not playing as well.
Fleury led the D in points with 6A in the tourney. As Matt posted before, I think the top tier D in our pool are Hanifin and Fleury, followed by the 2nd tier of Pesce, Rissanen, Carrick, Biega, etc.
Regardless, from what we saw last year (with Semin), contracts don’t matter, with Peter’s you have to earn your ice time. He’s not afraid to swing the hammer.
Yes, points wise Feury was better than Pesce and his plus minus was better as well. However, from the breakdown of the prospects I’ve seen on a few sights, Pesce gets glowing reviews about his smart play. And while Semin was sat a few times, he never was sent to Charlotte, so I have a hard time believing contracts don’t matter.
These nested replies are getting out of hand…I dare someone to reply to these comments now…we could get down to one word lines!
Realizing RF can change everything with one move, here’s my best guesses for the Canes, Chex, & Blades, slotting left and right shots where possible.
RHainsey,JFaulk
NHanifin,JWisniewski
JMLiles*,HFleury
MJordan*,(RMurphy*)
JSlavin,DBiega*
TCarrick,BPesce
Rissanen*,KLowe*
(TGanly)
CSyvret,MNemec
JChelios,JAgosta
KMontgomery,MCornell
RFlorentino,________
I have Murphy and Ganly moving down a level to stay active until injuries bring them back. Hope to see Hanifin switch places with Hainsey after Christmas. Chelios and Agosta are on Charlotte contracts and move back up as needed. What I wonder now is who moves out next year to bring McKeown, Wesley, and Jenkins to the pro level. Asterisks (*) denote Canes and Chex needing a new contract in ’15-’16.
Liles and Fleury are both lefties…another reason I think Pesce has the advantage over Fleury…he’s a right handed shot.
OMG, you are right. You caught me in a senior moment. I even had Fleury listed left of McKeown in the TC Tourney yesterday. Also, I should have said ’16-’17 on those new contracts. I agree that Pesce is the top right hander. I expect Liles and Jordan will be moved out next year.
We have the beginnings of a Canes hockey debate/discussion on CandC! I could not be happier and just might either have a celebratory beer with dinner or possibly go to bed early.
(Note: That is not intended to be commentary on the quality of tonight’s writing for Daily Cup of Joe or if I will even write one at all. 🙂
Seriously, I could not be happier, and it also makes my crazy summer feel worth it.
Best is yet to come!
Matt, there were plenty of times I wanted to comment on your blogs over the past year or so, but never figured out how to do it without Ek making me pay him for the privilege. You’d get a ton of hits on HB if you could work the word “Leafs” into your titles.
Last year Victor Rask started his ascension to making the team with a strong showing in Traverse City. For me this year that player could be Haydn Fleury but I think he’s a year away, defensemen take longer to develop and Red Deer has a guaranteed Memorial Cup bid this year, which will be good experience for him. I definitely see Hanifin making the team. I also see Murphy taking a step forward with all these other prospects nipping at his heels. I view Slavin as the top dark horse. I think the defense ends up being
Hainsey-Faulk
JML-Wisniewski
Hanifin-Murphy
Jordan
I think canesjkg has it right:
Hainsey / Faulk
Hanifin / Wis
Jordan / Murphy Liles as 7
If one of Pesce/Fleury/McKeown look NHL read through preseason(and better than Murphy)then Murphy goes to Charlotte, and the best one get his 9 NHL games. If two of the above are looking NHL ready, maybe RF risks putting Jordan on waivers, so 2 of the 3 get 9 games.
I think it’s clear that Fleury is knocking on the door, for a slot, but…he probably gets a nine gm look, and goes back to Red Deer?
Murphy has the skill to be a designated 3-3, if his D reaches a decent level. It’s nice to have great competition for D spots, eh?!
Anyone else thinking that we need to trade one of these guys sooner than later for a good forward prospect before the log jam slows their progress and before the shine wears off? A team like Edmonton has one too many good forward prospects/players that they may be willing to deal to get a good defensive prospect in their system to even out their forward backend prospects.
Ordinarily I’d agree with this and might still be willing to move one of the lower level defensive prospects, perhaps adding a pick to get a better forward prospect. Or maybe something around Carrick or Murphy if he doesn’t show this training camp.
I could realistically see a scenario where at least one of Carrick or Murphy gets moved (unless Murph takes that next step) for some solid forward futures. But I think the groupings of blueliners coming up through the system and where they are in their development is lining up nicely with what we have. Next year we’ll probably see Pesce and Fleury battling for the open slots. The year after Slavin and McKeown would likely be ready.
Unless they have huge years I think Keegan Lowe and Rasmus Rissanen have to see the writing on the wall. We’ve got 8 or 9 quality defenders such that by 2017-18, we’ll likely have a blue line made up of:
Hanifin/Faulk
Fleury/Pesce
Slavin/McKeown
Biega
Murphy
Carrick
So somebody’g gonna get moved but that is more likely to occur over the next two years instead of tomorrow.
I see your point, and that line up does look good. However, the longer we keep some of them in the AHL, the more time for any flaws to be exposed or just the “newness” to wear off, causing their perceived values to drop some. It might be worth letting one of the mid-tier players go now (Slavin, Pesce, McKeown, Murphy, Carrick) to maximize the value we can get in the return. Plus it wouldn’t hurt to spread out the D-contracts some more by then later drafting another D prospect or two vs. having all of them (but Faulk) having contract years that are within a year of each other.