After a couple days off and another round of cuts, the Hurricanes return to the ice in Edmonton with a lineup that this gradually looking more NHLish.
I recommend making Michael Smith’s game day post at CarolinaHurricanes.com a regular stop before, during or after reading my ‘What I’m watching.’ Most days he is the best source of up to the minute information on injuries, line/defense combinations and everything else leading up to a Hurricanes game.
The lineup
Michael Smith lines of:
Forwards
Teravainen/Staal/Williams
Aho/Rask/Lindholm
Saarela/Necas/Kuokkanen
Nordstrom/Wallmark/Jooris
Defensemen
Slavin/Faulk
Hanifin/Pesce
Bean/van Riemsdyk
Goalie
Scott Darling makes his first preseason start in net.
My rough math (because everything is obviously not decided yet) says that 14 of 19 players are likely to be in the opening day lineup.
‘What I’m watching’ against the Edmonton Oiler
1) The blue line
Except for Justin Faulk who is making only his second appearance, Monday will be at least the third game for the other four defensemen who figure to be regulars come October. And Monday’s Oilers lineup comes with the vast majority of the team’s offensive fire power including Connor McDavid and Leon Draistatl. The game figures to be a good mid-preseason test for the Hurricanes defense which I continue to have marked as a regular watch point and critical element to taking the next step for the 2017-18 season.
2) Scott Darling
I am on record as believing based on recent Hurricanes experience that there is virtually no carryover from preseason to regular season for goalies. That said, with Scott Darling delayed a bit by a minor injury and just making his first start in a Hurricanes uniform in game five of seven, he is definitely a watch point. Stellar and spectacular is not required, but reasonably sharp despite being limited to practice work would be a nice bonus.
3) The kids trying to seize an opportunity
The Hurricanes lineup also features a line of Saarela/Necas/Kuokkanen which puts three talented young players on the ice together. Saarela and Necas showed great chemistry in a previous outing, and Kuokkanen is also a talented offensive player. After an already strong first half of preseason, if Martin Necas has in him a four-point game or similar that rewrites coach/general manager’s plans, now would be the time to pull it out.
4) The sets of wings
They have switched centers a couple times, but thus far Teravainen and Williams have primarily played together and so have Aho and Lindholm. Tonight’s line sees the first duo with Jordan Staal and the second duo with Victor Rask. I see pros and cons to each way and will be using Monday night to continue that assessment where it matters most – on the ice.
5) “WATCHING”
A not-to-be-underestimated bonus on Monday is the fact that the Oilers are making a video stream available that should be accessible from the Hurricanes website. Thank you Alberta!
The puck is scheduled to drop a few minutes after 9pm Eastern Time.
Go Canes!
I’ve been out of the comments for awhile now. Been trying to help plan a wedding and started working more frequently. I’m hoping for a better showing than the lone preseason home game so far against Tampa bay. I’m cautiously optimistic with Scott Darling’s first start as we’ve been let down by goalies in the past. I think I read Cam Ward once talking about the difficulty playing between the pipes in Carolina being partially because of the team’s offensive possession style of play. It will be interesting to see how Darling performs. I’ve been impressed by Necas so far especially since I grimaced after he was drafted (I was on the Nick Suzuki bandwagon). I’d be fine with him spending the season continuing to develop playing top minutes either with Brno though.
Starting to look like real hockey. As much as the youngsters are a great story, I have been impressed that Williams, Staal, and TT have looked in form. If McDavid and Draisaitl are playing hard it will be a sense of the Canes’ level.
Among the youngsters, I have a hunch Kuokkanen might shine.
I like the D pairings. It keeps one of Pesce or Slavin out against CMd or LD.