Piggy-backing on my game recap article, today’s Daily Cup of Joe offers some quick hitter first impressions after the season opener.
I generally liked the defense pairings and would push forward with those for some time.
Petr Mrazek looked sharp. He was not tested a ton, but seemed to be tracking the puck well and did have to make a couple tricky saves with no margin for error.
Jesper Fast reminds me of Joakim Nordstrom in his constant to effort to engage the puck defensively and often run into opponents as part of the process. I continue to think he would fit well next to Staal on a purpose-built checking line.
Brady Skjei brings a big hit potential that the Canes do not generally get from the rest of the defense (though Fleury showed some flashes of this late in the 2019-20 season).
Though they only collected a lone assist each, I really liked Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen‘s first game. Both played with pace and were decisive in taking nearly every opportunity to get the puck to the front of the net.
Vincent Trocheck‘s first game was a mixed bag. By no means was he horrible, but his line was held off the score sheet and did not generate a ton of medium or better chances despite Trocheck’s five shots on net.
I continue to think that Jordan Martinook is far more effective on the wing where he can just pin his ears back a bit and bang bodies. I think the team maybe loses more than Brind’Amour realizes with Geekie out of the lineup because Geekie is better offensively for himself but also generating chances and also because Martinook is less effective in what he does well when playing center.
What say you Canes fans?
Who else has quick hitters after watching the team’s first game of the season?
Go Canes!
Pesce is a very stabilizing force and looked good in his first game back from injury.
The PP looked very dangerous, especially the first unit even though they didn’t score, and I’m happy Gardiner got his point-shot deflected in.
All the players other than Trocheck who we really want to get off to a good start did so.
I like Geekie in as well, but who comes out?
I think there could be two possible answers. But first my take. Geekie needs to play a decent number of games this season to determine if he is a key piece for the future. I know Rod says the objective is to win the Cup this season, but there is also the reality that the Canes are likely 1-2 years away. A key if finding a 2C. Could Geekie be that? There is no way the organization can know until he plays 30 or so NHL games.
1) Rotate 4 players (McGinn, Martinook, Foegele, Geekie) so that each gets roughly 42 starts;
2) Make an off-season decision now! If the Canes are fairly certain they aren’t re-signing McGinn and/or Martinook, then the small difference in impact/production this season is outweighed by getting Geekie playing time to improve the lineup next season.
Svech and Necas on a line with Staal hurt my eyes.
Move Martinook to Staal’s wing and then Geekie off the taxi squad to C – put one scorer on his wing and increase that line’s TOI. Carry 13Fs, but you don’t need both Foegele and McGinn on the playing roster in a given game – particularly when you have Fast. You can alternate those two easily enough.
Two other areas of concern:
1. “The Canes had a 43-14 edge in shots and 73 total shot attempts to the Wings’ 34, but only a 9-8 advantage in high-danger scoring chances”
Does throwing pucks at the net from all over sound familiar??
2. “The Wings hit a couple of posts and made the Canes defensemen scramble and put in some heavy defensive zone work during the game. Haydn Fleury had one shift that lasted 2:50 in the second period.”
Trouble getting the puck out of the D-zone?? Against the Red Wings? That’s not auspicious, in spite of the final score.
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Quotes from the N&O..