Please bear with us as we make a final push to try to gather as much feedback as possible to plan for 20171-18. If you have already completed the survey, thanks! If not, please help us by taking a reader survey (will be shutting it down soon) and considering a modest financial contribution for our ‘coffee fund.’
This week on Canes and Coffee, we started a ‘report card’ series that will evaluate all (or at least very close to it) of the Canes 2016-17 roster over the course of May.
Today’s Coffee Shop is a companion to the first four entries in the 2016-17 ‘report card’ series – Victor Rask, Teuvo Teravainen, Lee Stempniak and Elias Lindholm. For the 2016-17 season, I view that set of four players as being the team’s second tier of forwards below Jeff Skinner, Jordan Staal and Sebastian Aho. They represent the forward and scoring depth that is critical to success and are also the team’s best chance to add another player or two to the top tier above them. As such, this group of four is part of the equation for building a higher-end scoring line or two and at the same time having a fairly balanced top 9.
Also at Canes and Coffee today, check out today’s Daily Cup of Joe which discusses these four players.
Also find Lee Stempniak’s 2016-17 ‘report card’ article that also includes links to the first three.
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Carolina Hurricanes discussion questions
As thrilled as we are to see conversation picking up both in The Coffee Shop (and elsewhere), we value and need more opinions. Is there at least one person who reads and is ready to join the discussion today?
1) Based his second half surge, is Elias Lindholm ready to push into the Canes top tier and be a top 3-5 forward on an all season basis? Or was the second half of his 2016-17 season just the better half destined to be followed by more ups and downs in 2017-18?
2) Which of Stempniak, Rask and Teravainen has the greatest potential to play at a higher level especially in terms of scoring in 2017-18?
3) Do you see any dark horses from the depth forwards and rising prospects who could surprise and step right into a top 9 slot and excel?
Go Canes!
1) Lindholm will be almost all up in 17-18. Though it will mostly be primary assists as it was this past season. I think he nets 16-18 goals to go with 45+ assists.
2) This is a toss up between Rask and Teravainen. One of them should get 20 goals. Rask is likely to have % of shots ending up as goals increase from 8.6 of this past season. If it gets to 11%, he is 20-goal scorer again. The same is true for Teravainen.
3) I think Zykov because of his style. Though it was only one game, he had multiple shifts were he created scoring chances. For that game Aho/Staal/Zykov pretty much dominated against the Rangers. Wallmark should contribute, but he looks more like 8-12 goals the first year with potential to be solid 45 point scorer down the road. And real dark horse is Kuokkanen. I watched a CHL game and it looked like he was more in control than other players.
1. Lindholm will have a career year, and it will be the start of something big.
2. Stempniak is at his max, I think. He is a solid contributor and makes plays. Rask has to find his game again, and regain his confidence. I think that is possible and likely. Turbo still has a lot of development to do.
3. Saarela and Zykov for top 9. I will be surprised if Wallmark doesn’t see significant time as 4th-line center.
1. This is the year that Lindholm proves he is the top 6 forward he was drafted to be.
2. Stempniak is the solid depth guy he was drafted to be, but his potential has already been reached. I am not sure that Rask is more than a low 50’s point scorer, but that is fine as he was not brought in as an elite player. It is hard to get a read on TT’s true potential other than agreeing with raleightj that he still has a lot of development to do to become a consistent player.
3. I believe that Saarela will be a fixture on the third line for the first part of the season and that Zykov and Wallmark will have opportunities on the 4th line. All will be given the chance to move up if their play warrants it, but I expect BP to stick to his statement that he wants players that he knows can do the job, not ones that he hopes can do the job. I am hoping that Gauthier and Roy will not be rushed up, but one of them could also step up in training camp.
Meant to say that Stempniak was signed, not drafted.
1) I thought that Eli was solid all year. I thought he was solid all of last season to. He just wasn’t getting the points. You could see his physicality and hockey IQ at work. He still leaves a lot of points on the ice but I think he will improve on that. He is a top 3 forward.
2) Tevo for sure! He has the skill, speed, hockey IQ, He just needs to put it all together. Rask is a turnover machine, I still think he is a career 3rd-4th line center. Stemper plays hard and can play up or down the line-up but his best years are behind him.
3) I think we could see a jump in development for Brock or Phil. Its not expected and I think that they will be depth players but that breakout year can happen. They both showed flashes of it last season…
1) I think Lindholm will become what we thought we drafted at number 5.
2) I also believe this is a toss up between Rask and Teravainen. With age and experience I hope both will continue to develop. Stempniak could improve a little but I am very satisfied with his performance for what he costs and adds to the team.
3) Any of Aleksi Saarela, Valentin Zykov, Lucas Wallmark, Julien Gauthier, Nicolas Roy or Janne Kuokkanen could surprise us. We have some talent in the making.
I think Wallmark will make the team and center the 4th line. Top 9, Saarela looks like a major talent but from what I have read it looks like he gets injured a lot. It happened with the checkers also. He could be dynamite if he can stay healthy. I think Zykov with his net from presence and his creating scoring chances could be the one. I think Gauthier and Kuokkanen probably need more time. Roy is another one that could make the team, top 9, not sure.
I meant to add, I was really hoping for Sergey Tolchinsky but he did not seem to stand out with the checkers this year. Sad, I was really pulling for him.
And I hope we resign Derek Ryan. He did very good for the number of games he played.