As a reminder, for anyone with a desire and willingness to share longer thoughts on Canes hockey, Canes and Coffee will be opening up the floor for a few guest posts during the bye week. See details HERE.
Last week the Hurricanes stumbled into another break losing both games last week and falling a bit farther behind the pack.
On the goalie front, we saw Eddie Lack struggle in his return on Tuesday in Washington, Cam Ward struggle to only a slightly lesser degree in Dallas on Saturday and Andrew Hammond from Ottawa fly across the waiver wire (I voted to claim Hammond in this Saturday article) on Sunday without the Hurricanes claiming him.
On the 2016-17 season front, the Hurricanes 2 losses last week have them precariously close to falling out of the 2016-17 playoff chase. But the Canes also resume play with 5 straight games in Raleigh where the Hurricanes are 17-6-1 and a chance to make up some ground before March.
And then with the March 1 trade deadline now within view, the rumors and discussions are swirling with the Hurricanes continuing to show up in every article discussing the Colorado Avalanche. I did a deep dive on the pros and cons of a Justin Faulk for Matt Duchene deal for today’s Daily Cup of Joe.
Against that back drop, grab a cup of coffee, pull up a chair and let’s hash out which way to proceed for our beloved Carolina Hurricanes hockey team.
Polls
Remember to click ‘vote’ after each poll answer.
Loading ...
Loading ...
Loading ...
Loading ...
Discussion questions
1) What do you make of the whole Matt Duchene (or possibly Gabriel Landeskog) rumblings that seem to be growing by the day? Is it a ‘where there’s smoke, there’s fire’ thing? Or is it more likely just to be lumped in with the volumes of mostly BS that pops up everyone gets excited about the trade deadline?
2) What would you do about the goalie situation? Is it just a matter of actually trusting Lack? If not, do you think it is something Francis needs to address now? Or is it something better addressed during the whole draft, expansion draft, free agent frenzy when more options might become available?
3) What are your thoughts on the massive scoring slumps engulfing key players including Jeff Skinner, Victor Rask and Lee Stempniak and also depth forwards? Should Peters break up the Aho/Staal/Lindholm line to try to get more working, or it just a matter of those players finding the ‘on’ switch again?
4) Pick your own random topic and…….GO!
Go Canes!
1) I think we are genuinely interested in Duchene. I remember this past spring Peters commenting on his play at the World Championships and I got the feeling then that he would love to have a player of his talent and speed on our team. I think in addition to Francis’ interest in getting more talent on our team, Peters may be pushing more than he normally would due to his personal experience coaching him.
For me, however, I am not sure he or Landeskog would be enough for us to fundamentally change the time horizon of success for this team. Thus, I would not advocate giving up one of our prime assets (NHL defensemen) to acquire him. However, if we could acquire both MD and GL, then I would be willing to put together a package of one of the defensemen with a bunch of futures. I have proposed on a few other sights a trade with the Avs that would send MD and GL to the Canes for Hanifin, 2017 1st, Gauthier, Roy, PDG. However, I’d be willing to move Faulk instead (actually prefer it) and retain Gauthier or Roy if that were done. Making a move like that would greatly flip the time horizon for being competitive.
2)As for the goalie situation, I didn’t vote in your poll because I think the most obvious candidate for hindsight is 20/20 waiver acquisition is/was Condon. He is playing fantastic for the Sens and I wish we could have grabbed him. Going forward, I would look to two options for addressing our backup or second goalie for a 1A/1B rotation. First, if we are in a win now mode, and want to get something for our UFAs, I’d target MAF from the Pens and see if JR would take Hainsey as part of that deal. The Pens are supposedly looking for depth defensemen for the playoffs and Hainsey would be a steady and fairly cheap option there that JR knows well. We would get to get something for Hainsey and still make the team better for the tough schedule in March. I would think Hainsey’s value at the deadline is between a 2nd and a 3rd, so I’d offer Hainsey (50% retained) and a 3rd for MAF (no retention). Given their need to move MAF before the expansion draft and his average play this year, that should be enough. In this situation, he and Ward can rotate in a 1A/1B goalie tandem. If we are willing to just go with what we have for the remainder of this year, I would target Grubauer from the Caps in the offseason before the expansion draft. His play has been excellent and his is at a high risk of being lost at the expansion draft. Plus the Caps have a pretty good prospect that they can bring up to replace him for next season or the season after, so they probably would be willing to move him for something.
I’ll say one other thing about the goalie situation. I think Ron Francis has a specific solution in mind for our issues. I don’t know what it is, but that fact that he has been very willing to take waiver prospects at both defense and offense over the last several years, but has done nothing at goalie with so many passing through waivers while our situation continues to be an issue, leads me to believe he is waiting for someone specific. It could be one of our prospects or it could be a specific player he believes will be available at the expansion draft or as a UFA. I don’t know, but his lack of moves here given his other actions suggests a plan to me.
Good call on Condon though with him hitting waivers in early October, it was still at point where Francis was counting on Lack to be viable at least as a backup.
As far as Francis’ plan, this is wild conjecture (team has said nothing to this effect), but I think re-signing Ward was more or less a bet by Francis/Tulsky/Peters that goaltending would rise as team improved. Other than troubles #2 slot, to some degree that has worked.
1. I think Peters is interested, but Sakic’s asking price for just MD is a walk away. Plus MD only has 7 more points than Faulk so far, and if we did trade D, then Tennyson/Dahlbeck is our 3rd pair, and Hanafin is our #4 dman.
2. I would have gone for Hammond, too. Lack isn’t the goalie he was in Van, And we can’t ride Ward for 75 games this year and next. Although the Empty Net has a pretty good Sv% this year. 😉
3. I’d go a few more games before breaking up what works.
4. The most horrific hockey thing I saw this weekend was N.C. State losing to Elon. The GWG was a shortie where the goalie came out to the top of the slot to play the puck, fell down, and allowed Elon to score on the wide open net.
Saw score but did not catch painful ending for NCSU game. At least, the tourney is still ahead, so the team should be able to put it behind them and look forward.
1) I think we are considering this move for Duchene. I think the sticky points are a) how much are we willing to give up, and b) is Colorado willing to make the deal for what we want to give up, and c) and what can we expect in performance in the future for the player they want. I think we are willing to make this deal today if they will accept some of our minor league defensemen (Fleury, McKown, etc.) and a minor league forward prospect (Gautier for example). Is Colorado ready to make such a deal today. Probably not even in the ball park as they are overvaluing their asset (Duchene) and they want a proven defenseman (Faulk). The we come to c) above. What do we expect out of Faulk in the future. Surely his offensive game has always been there. He is our only bomber from the point and he drives the offense while on the ice. His defense is hard to grade. He’s been up and down here. I’m more inclined to feel he will be a solid top 4 defenseman.
2) I would be willing to try anyone to get a NUMBER 1 goalie. To get one we have to find someone with that POTENTYIAL and then play him in that role to see if we were right. No better time to do this than now. Better than starting next season giving goalies number 1 time on ice to see if they are an improvement. Why we have passed on the likes of Condon, Hammond, etc. I do not know and trust RF does. I do know that former backups Dubnyk, Bobrovsky, Talbot, Budaj, etc. were given number 1 opportunities and have proven to be top notch goalies. I have nothing against Cam Ward, but I am tired of his long audition (six or seven years) for the number 1 job.
3) Scoring slumps are nothing new. My only suggestion is look at what is working and then try to duplicate it on other lines. What is working? Lindholm making beautiful setups for Aho and Jordan. What do we need to do on the other lines? Find a Lindholm equivalent (outstanding setup…we call them a playmaker… man).
Faulk for Duchene straight up is a bad deal for Canes Duchene only has 6 more pts than Faulk and good young D are hard to find. Sakic is looking for a young nhl D plus a prospect and a #1 pick. Price is way to high. Hanifin for Duchene is interesting but Hanifin has so much upside and just turned 20 while Duchene is a solid 25 goal scorer but he is not elite. I am not sure I would risk it. I would be more inclined to trade Bean or Fluery and a #1 and a lower prospect for Duchene. Doubt Sakic good get a better deal than that. Ben Bishop would be a nice pick up, not sure what Tampa would want but I would listen. Fluery scares me his play is up and down. When he is right he is a great goalie when he slumps he is a paper bag in net. His price tag will be high and his contract is high. If price is right do it but I won’t over pay for anyone at this point. Stay the course RF
1. Duchene trade. We know RFs total aversion for ballsy moves. “Where there is smoke there is a smoke making machine.” Others are stoking this fire no him.
2. Goaltending. “Who can you trust?” Lack rarely starts, never does well. Ward always starts, performs inconsistently. When you walk in the arena, see one or the other lead the team onto the ice you are hoping for more than experience has led you to expect. When this team returns to the playoffs, neither will be on the roster.
3. Scoring slumps happen. They can really fester on poorly constructed teams.
4. Our destiny is to be a seller at the deadline yet again. What is Hainsey worth?
The reality is the Canes forward corps are not going to be taking this team to the playoffs, let alone challenge for a Stanley Cup. There is simply not enough skill in the group of forwards currently on the roster. Furthermore, there doesn’t appear to be anyone in the pipeline projected to be in Raleigh for a minimum of two years, and none that appear to have a chance to be the kind of all-star player they need. So, you either trade for a player or sign free agents. To get a good player, a good player or prospects have to go the other way. For the life of me, I don’t understand the infatuation with the third best defenseman on your team somehow being untouchable.
I was a proponent of getting Fleury before the season and I wish that deal had been made. He is up and down like most players but he is the type of goalie who steals games that you have no reason to win, and is better more often than not. He’s in a tough spot in Pittsburgh right now with his playing time reduced and it is showing up in his save % and GA. I’m not sure what he’s worth in a trade. He should be a true #1 goalie for a year or two. Would I give up Hainsey, Lack and Bean or Fleury for him? Would the Pens do that deal? I believe Fleury would like another small market team at this point in his career. I’m also ok with waiting until the season is over to upgrade the goalie situation. But, they need a #1 goalie, not a #1A to compete for a playoff spot next season.