The Thursday Coffee Shop seeks answers for some of the most pressing questions in the land of the Hurricanes but not before a handful of poll questions to get warmed up.
Carolina Hurricanes poll questions
Please remember to click ‘vote’ after each individual poll response.
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Discussion questions
1) Especially before Tuesday’s win, the mood of fans seemed lean strongly negative. But the Hurricanes 5-5-3 record is only one point out of a playoff spot if you adjust for games played (basically creating standings using points above .500). Is the Hurricanes start good, bad or somewhere in the middle?
2) What would you do to try to improve the power play?
3) Which individual player has the greatest ability to boost the fortunes of the entire team by finding a higher gear? What do you think this player needs to do to find that higher gear?
Go Canes!
1. Bad. We’re too offensively challenge to win, unless Scott and Cam are perfect.
2. I like the idea of Slavin on the PP.
3. Seabass. When he clicks, that’s a whole lot of goals to add to our total.
The Canes record is about what I expected given their talent and early season schedule. They’re a deeper team with better goal tending than previous versions, but certainly don’t have the talent of the top tier clubs and they’ll be one of the group of 3-5 teams fighting for the last couple of spots in the playoffs when we get to the last couple of weeks in the season. Those are my expectations and so far, they’re meeting, but not exceeding, what I expected. The Canes are going to be one of the league leaders in goals against. That’s their style of play – and they’re good at it- and it covers for the overall lack of offensive punch. Like all teams, they’ll have games where they break out for 4-6 goals but for the most part, they are going to have to win the one goal games and their share of OT and shootouts. With just a few exceptions, that’s the entire league right now. Again, another half full version is I don’t think they’re worse than their record. They have a higher gear to get to and fundamentally, that is very different than previous seasons where this record would be the best we could hope for. I’d get used to the frustrations of a mid-talent team having to play almost perfect to win. That’s why the power play is so critical. In retrospect he probably wasn’t the answer as he has since retired, but I was lobbying for a guy like Mark Streit to be picked up to help man the point on the power play. They never addressed that role in the off season but I do believe that at the trade deadline if someone similar becomes available, that is one trade we may see Francis make. It’s a critical role not currently being filled.
1. Agree mostly with dogbutler. Our offense may have talent, but they certainly do not have great chemistry. NHL .500 is a joke of a barometer, technically we’re 5-8.
2. Put in more grinders, McGinn and Jooris. Sit Rask and other perimeter guys so they can see how screening a goalie works on a PP.
3. All our developing talent in the world won’t create chemistry, but personnel changes do. After 20 games including preseason I don’t see the results turning around significantly enough for this team to be playoff bound. Time to send out a young talented perimeter player and bring in a young forward needing a scenery change who has the natural net front habits we need. Maybe also time to dangle Faulk to bring in a young playmaker.
1. The team is where I expected. Maybe a little better but my expectations for the season have been lower than most. Ten and Matt are correct in their assessment that the team is playing worse than their record which is a reason for optimism.
2. Trade Rask and Faulk. Easier said than done but I mentioned the Faulk aspect in the other post today. If the team can get an overpayment on Faulk I think they should sell high, try to get an offensively talented forward and swap Rask for a #4 RHD. This is me playing arm chair GM and I haven’t even looked at teams that could make that trade but that’s what i’ D be exploring right now.
3. I think Hanifin when he’s on his A game brings the biggest boost. That’s probably because he might have the biggest disparity between his ceiling/floor.
1. Things may not be quite as bad as they seem yet but it’s tough not to be disappointed with the expectations we had coming into this season. We were able to not dig a hole in the first several games against tough competition but have somewhat fallen off the wagon against teams we should’ve been able to handle. November and December are not going to be easy and I’m afraid if we don’t win 3-4 of the next 5 games we are in big trouble.
2. I want to see them enter the zone with confidence on the PP. I don’t like the initial rush and then drop the puck off to the two trailers that a lot of teams run. It just doesn’t work for us; we need to drive in the zone and the trailers can be available to take a pass to ease the pressure off to set-up the play.
We also need to get bodies in front of the net and generate more goals out of our chances. I think this will take some combination of AHL call-ups (Wallmark, Zykov) or a trade.
3. Offensively I think Aho would be the biggest game changer if he catches his stride. Other than that the only other player who I think could have a significant impact is Faulk. He is at least generating a lot of chances now but that doesn’t matter if he isn’t converting and right now he is our biggest liability on D.
1. First, I am not one who thinks “5-5-3” = “5-8”. An overtime loss is now treated as a tie, and ties were a part of the game for a long time. Teams have an opportunity to get an extra point by winning after regulation, but a tie is a tie by any other name.
Our record is not I expected or wanted to see, but it is not awful. I am more concerned about aspects of how we have played – the poor powerplay, the limited offense evident in all the 1-goal games, the defensive lapses. I see things improving with a greater emphasis on getting shots off and getting in front of the net for rebounds. So I think we can build – the CBJ game on Friday should be a good tell as to how much difference there has been – good or bad – since the second game of the season.
2. We need a net-front presence. Our power-play has been sub-optimal since the first few weeks of last season when Bickell planted himself there and contributed to several goals, including his own. But that seems different than Brind’Amour coaches the play, and it belies the issues we are having getting the puck through the neutral zone.
3. Clearly Aho will be the biggest difference maker when he finds his scoring touch. As discussed some of this is how he is being used and his linemates which he has no control over. Last season many of his goals came when he posted up inside the dots to either side of the net. I am not seeing him positioning himself like that this season.
It’s amazing how winning ONE GAME, could/ or should change the fact that several games were lost…FOR A REASON!!
The best reason for losing is likely the fact THE TEAM ie. RF IS NOT WILLING TO SPEND MONEY ON ANY STAR-LEVEL PLAYER!
Nothing has changed…same old shyte…year after year etc.
…this is a recording…
Has there been a star level material to spend money on? How do we define star-level player? Does Skinner and 37 goals count as star-level? Or are we just mad and venting that we’re on the playoff bubble again?
Looking at the salaries of STARS…then looking at the capspace of the Canes (2nd highest) -over 10M- YES OF COURSE! Willy was relatively cheap (as of course, SO IS RONNIE)!