I had good intentions of trying something like this more formally, but August got away from me at the end with a perfect storm of other commitments. I have half-written a training camp preview and will start that sometime this week which leaves an opening to try a bit of a reader ‘free for all’. The idea is that readers offer up a few discussion questions similar to what usually appear at the end of articles and those become discussion points.
My Monday has enough gaps such that I should be able to hop on and pull questions from the comments and put them in the article text to make it easier to keep track of things. The hope is that this generates a great round of coffee shop conversations without becoming difficult tracking what goes where.
Who has discussion questions on the topics of:
1) The beginning of training camp.
2) Sorting out the roster and line combinations and defense pairings.
From GoCanes0506:
Training camp:
How will the team respond to Brindy and his system?
How much of Brindy’s learning curve will affect how the team performs?
Was it system that truly aided Darling’s awfulness last year or was it all in his head?
Line combos:
Does Brindy stay with his lines all season or does he frequently do in game alterations?
Go Canes!
Training camp:
How will the team respond to Brindy and his system?
How much of Brindy’s learning curve will affect how the team performs?
Was it system that truly aided Darling’s awfulness last year or was it all in his head?
Line combos:
Does Brindy stay with his lines all season or does he frequently do in game alterations?
To add this team has three equally happening options when April comes around:
Crash and burn because of some combo of goaltending, defense, rookies, and scheme doesnt get the expected results. Earning us a high percentage in the Hughes sweepstakes.
Mediocre but enough for a meh 8-11 pick because of high degrees of inconsistency
Put it all together and we get 100 points while making 2nd-3rd in the division
A lot of ifs on the squad that leads to a bunch of possibilities. For those going “isnt that everyone’s possibilities,” no not really. Go through the list of teams and not all have an equal likelihood of those three situations happening while staying healthy. Nashville, Tampa, Toronto, Boston, etc have a very minuscule chance of crashing and burning with a high chance of getting at least 95 points.
I think you training camp questions touch on 2 of the 3 biggest questions/upsides for this team.
Can Brind’Amour dial up an instant change in attitude/character that lifts the existing level talent to a significantly higher level of success?
Can a goaltending duo that was nowhere close to good enough in 2017-18 right the ship and be at least adequate?
If those 2 things alone fall into place, gains are there to be had.
More of the same despite the extensive line up changes? Or, a vastly improved defense from the maturation of the youngsters and addition of 2 established players on the top four. More of the same odor in goal, or rebound seasons from one or both goalies aided by the improved defense. Yet another anemic offensive season from a forwards corp that will feature 3 to 5 Calder eligible forwards, or break out first seasons from this same group. The fourth year of an agonizingly slow rebuild, still using hope as the plan in goal, with secret designs on a tank that could put Jack Hughes on the roster next season? Or, does the long term plan of RF mesh with the “tinkering” of the “committee” to build the 4th place team in the metro? My vote is the later.
Will preseason performance determine who makes the team or contracts and NHL experience? For example, if Foegele looks great and Martinook looks bad, will Martinook make the Canes and Foegele go to Charlotte? Same with Wallmark and Rask.
RBA could focus on getting the players he already thinks are best ready to start the season or he could hold a real competition for jobs, let the best player win and let management decide what to do with those who lose out – expose to waivers, trade, release, whatever.
My sense is that in the past, rightly or wrongly, existing contracts and preconceptions decided just about everything. Will the supposed cultural change including changing that?
Couple of interesting topics:
– how quickly will one goalie grab hold of #1 spot? If Mrazek plays better in preseason games, will he get opening day start – or does the organization feel they have to give Darling the first chance and hopefully win back his confidence.
– who will be the 4 centers? We know one thing – Jordan Staal will be one of Canes centers. Seems plausible that some combination of Aho-Staal-Necas-Rask make up the center ranks on opening night. But there remain questions: while it seems likely Aho will be a center, RBA has also said at least once that he likes him at wing. What if Necas doesn’t look ready through pre-season? What if Rask’s injuries are still nagging him and he’s out again? Other than Staal, there are still big questions that need to get answered in the preseason and first 10 games.
– What’s the pecking order at LW? Ferland, McGinn, Zykov, PDG, Martinook, and Foegele are competing. Any others? Who’s the best of that bunch and where do they all slot. Likely battle for 4th line between Martinook and PDG. Foegele is only one on 2-way contract, so he’s got to shine to stay in Raleigh. I’m guessing one of PDG or Martinook gets waived.
I have to believe the organization has a bias to give Darling a chance to rebound because it has another $9Mish invested in him for 2 years after 2018-19. That said, the goal at least out of the gate must be to win, so if Mrazek shines, Darling could be pushed aside.
I’m okay with Darling/Mrazek as our version of Elliott/Allen back in the day.
That is a good question about how Dundon will handle players on one-way contracts like Martinook vs. two-way contracts like Foegele. No way Karmanos would pay the extra NHL contract in the past. Dundon says he wants the best team. We’ll see how that shakes out. Will be interesting because I think Foegele just may force that decision.
My questions /predictions start with…What is the owner /MGMT response if the WORST HAPPENS…ie goalies still suck, Brindy unable to find the best efforts /results with the players, our center play isn’t good etc?
Will Dundon fire /replace Waddell, Brindy…others?
Will more trades occur?
Will we see “more-of-the-same”…inaction?
Will Dundon sell the team, or try to move it?
RIGHT ON…Reaction by management if it becomes clear Darling and/or Mrazek are not the answer. We just can’t proceed with them if they show they are not up to the job.
Can we get 4 NHL grade centers without having to move Aho to the position? This is important in case Aho doesn’t seem to fit at center as well as wing.
Dundon’s response if the team shows glaring deficiencies in the preseason.
Will Foegele get a boost from being a Brind’Amour type player?
On the NHL Network Top 50 Prospects show, one of the panelists, Sam Cosentino(?), said he thought Foegele should have made the top 50 and that he’s a Brind’Amour-like player – hard worker on and off the ice, gets the puck out of the corner but also has skill. He also mentioned Foegele’s speed.
BTW, Fox was rated 48th, Necas 11th and Svechnikov 2nd best prospect. That doesn’t cover all the prospects like Pronman did but it looks a little more positive for the Canes’ prospects it does cover.
Robert Thomas of St. Louis was rated 13th best – a nose below Necas. The Blues and the Canes play this Friday in Traverse City.
Foegele could be the biggest wild card of the prospect pool on the brink of stepping into the NHL.
On the surface, his ceiling in terms of raw skill is not that of Svechnikov, Necas and a few others. But he has the critical ability to play at top 6 pace, brings something as an aggressive forechecker and showed a great ability to score in a complementary role without the puck on his stick a ton. His 2017-18 is underrated. 28 goals is impressive enough, but it deserves a boost based on his role that was light on power play time and heavy on penalty kill time.
Foegele’s skill set is a good fit for a scoring line as long he can think the game, handle the puck and finish ‘good enough’ in addition to the other things he brings. Does his 28 goals project to the NHL level if he just plays a simple game with line mates who can create and distribute the puck? That would be the opening next to Aho/Teravainen.
We’ve had a lot of speculation on trades, line make up and goalies… What I haven’t seen so far is what style will RBA adopt to play, this should effect all of the above plus the attitude of the team. Will he coach a wide open style of play or a more conservative approach? As a new coach I think this will greatly effect the attitude of the team and how they function together, which will have a direct impact on team performance.
Now that you mention it, boogabob, this is a key point. Besides wondering about style on offense, I wonder if RBA is into the trend to small, mobile defensemen or prefers guys like Sean Hill and Tim Gleason who can and will keep people out of the goal crease. Also, is RBA committed to being the least penalized team in the league or would he like something more combative and dealing with the penalties?
Good question. Based upon my thoughts about his game and personality it will be agressive, but responsible. Brind’Amour was one of the best defensive forwards in the history of the game. He isn’t going to put up with players that refuse to play in all three zones. See Jeff Skinner. Yet, Rod was always an aggressive hard charging player. I think it should be a fun style to watch.
Another subject that hasn’t had a lot of attention, is Traverse City…
Isn’t that surprising? You’d think that the NEW OWNER would want to make a bigger deal with the fans and emphasize the “AWESOME YOUNG PLAYERS”…?!!
They basically just dropped the PUCK on that, IMO!
The roster of forwards looks great. I wonder if they are nervous about the D-men or the goalies compared to the competition (I haven’t tried to compare). Maybe they are just a little late after the holiday weekend.