Today’s Daily Cup of Joe is a catch all of random Hurricanes hockey musings that have accumulated but not made it into other articles yet or are being added to.
It’s the competition
There are any number of ways to slice and dice the Carolina Hurricanes results through nine games, but perhaps one of the simplest is to just look at the caliber of competition. In games against teams that made the 2018 playoffs, the Hurricanes are 3-0-1 against teams that missed the 2018 playoffs and 2-3-0 against teams that made the 2018 playoffs. The ability to take care of business against lesser teams is encouraging. This has been an Achilles’ heel for the team in recent years. And though the 2-3-0 record against playoff teams is not great, even that is not so bad when one considers that four of those five games were on the road.
Short-term and long-term on Clark Bishop in the C4 slot
I am torn on Clark Bishop centering what I am calling the fourth line right now. On the one hand, I voted multiple times to get Martin Necas more ice time in Charlotte. He just was not ready for the NHL yet which is not a big deal considering he is 19 years old and in his first professional season. And I think Brind’Amour’s decision to go with Clark Bishop hinged on just being something sound and stable for the short-term. There is merit in going that route short-term, but I continue to believe that the path forward is to be four lines deep with scoring ability, and I think that is tough to do with a center who is limited offensively (reference Marcus Kruger in 2017-18). So as the 2018-19 season plays out, it will be interesting see which direction this goes. Janne Kuokkanen is arguably the most NHL-ready player in Charlotte right now and was drafted as a center, but for whatever reason the Hurricanes organization seems to have him pegged as a wing. Nicolas Roy is the other option who is off to a fast start. He would not classify as a pure playmaking center, but his offensive ceiling is probably higher than Bishop’s. Victor Rask theoretically adds another center, but his time line seems to be a ways off. Is it out of the question that the Hurricanes add via trade now that the probability of Necas being the answer in 2018-19 is reduced? Regardless, what the team does with this center slot is worth watching as the season rolls on.
Depth scoring is still elusive
On a similar note, the theory that the Hurricanes would be four lines deep offensively with the infusion of talented young players into the lineup has not been realized in the early going. Hopefully, this does not turn out to be like the ‘the blue line will be the strength that leads us back’ projection that never really materialized and was jettisoned this past offseason when the team rebuilt the blue line with help from outside. Lucas Wallmark’s line that I have taken to calling the third line has produced some. Counting Martinook’s empty-netter on Monday, Martinook/Wallmark/Svechnikov has tallied six goals which would be project to an average of 18 goals per player over an 82-game season. That is a decent amount. But the fourth line that was originally Necas’ line has accounted for only Necas goal before he was sent to the AHL. As such, despite the talent level being allegedly higher, the production looks eerily similar to the black hole that was Nordstrom/Kruger/Jooris or Di Giuseppe in 2017-18. Thus far, Brind’Amour has erred on the side of patience, but I have to wonder how much longer until Brind’Amour tries some different options with Kuokkanen maybe top of the list.
Scott Darling
I continue to think that the next leg up for the Carolina Hurricanes if it is to occur in 2018-19 will require the team to finally push up to the league average in goaltending. Thus far the Hurricanes are again short in this department. The Canes entered Monday’s game in 28th place in terms of Save Percentage. After a stellar first start, Curtis McElhinney has looked like a goalie who not surprisingly is suited only for a backup role. Petr Mrazek has had a couple good outings including Monday’s win but in total has been sporadic at best in the early going. The biggest dice roll of all but arguably also with the greatest upside is Scott Darling. He finally returns to the ice Wednesday in a rehab game with the Charlotte Checkers and pending how that goes could be back in Raleigh for the three-game home stand that starts Friday. If I look at the Hurricanes decent 5-3-1 start with an eye for upside, Scott Darling is the biggest thing to watch short-term.
Justin Faulk and passing angle on shots
Not sure if I mentioned this elsewhere already (maybe just in comments somewhere), but I think the key to Justin Faulk scoring on the power play could be passing angle. Since I do not have time to dig up tons of tape and/or shot location charts and undertake a hockey research odyssey for a day or two, I will have to settle for claiming it as a theory…
A couple years back when Faulk had his monstrous power play scoring season with 12 power play goals in 2015-16, the Hurricanes were still running more of a traditional set up with two point men and the puck largely being distributed off of the side boards. The result was a pretty heavy dose of Faulk receiving passes traveling vertically into his shooting wheel house. These passes are much easier to one time. And the result was a run of power play shooting from Faulk that is among the best in Canes history. He regularly blasted shots on net and pretty regularly found the back of the net. Fast forward and the Hurricanes transitioned to more of an umbrella type set up that seems to more often find Faulk receiving and shooting passes that are more lateral. Especially when watching Faulk earlier in the year when he was on the left side and receiving/shooting at the top of the face-off circle, he just is not the same. His ability to hit the net seems to decrease, and he just seems to lack the pinpoint precision that he had awhile back. With the current setup, I am not sure how adjustments could be made to get the puck more to Faulk from below instead of next to him, but I think that could be the difference. On cue, Faulk scored on Monday and sure enough…if you watch the replay, the pass comes from below him such that it is coming vertically into his wheel house.
What say you Canes fans?
Certainly after nine games everyone else has a short list of Canes thoughts that have not yet fit into the regular discussion. Please share, and/or feel free to chime in on my notes above.
Go Canes!
One player who has been slow to get going is Brock McGinn. It seems reasonable that he would shine in RBA’s aggressive style of play. His line has had shifting players and limited ice time as a result of early play. I was hoping he would have a break out campaign this year.
Last night against Detroit, McGinn had his best game. He was dominant in 5v5 play early on. He made a big block on the PK. He is my favorite player on the team due to his never quit attitude last year when many seemed to be mailing it in. Maybe last night was a spark to his season and will get him going.
Last year the Canes had three combos that really worked- Aho/TT, Pesce/Slavin and Williams/McGinn. It would be great to get Williams/McGinn back together at some point this season. Once Rask returns I would like to see some new lines-
Ferland/Aho/TT
Foegele/Staal/Svech
McGinn/Rask/Williams
McGinn is a player who can do more than be a fourth line grinder. His work effort and desire to win can be catalysts for those around him. Hopefully his season is starting to take off.
I like your line combos. I have been thinking to myself TWO things watching the Canes forward group:
1. Justin Williams is absolutely NOT a top 6 forward at this stage in his career.
2. Andrei Svechnikov’s time in the bottom 6 is already over – I think his scoring output is being HANDICAPPED by playing with Joakim Nordstrom 2.0. (Jordan Martinook who I do love but the dude has Nordstrom esque stone hands) and Lucas is he a 3rd or 4th line center Wallmark.
So the switch is simple in my opinion – Staal’s line I think would look just significantly more dangerous with Svech on that wing instead of Williams. Furthermore I think Williams in the bottomy 6 would actually help bring out some depth scoring in lets say a guy like McGinn.
Svech would help that line tremendously. Last night Foegele repeatedly fed the slot and Staal (whom is great in his skill set) could not finish. Foegele feeding the slot to Svech might be a different story.
Nothing wrong with what Bishop has done so far. As I see it, there’s a balancing act going on and RBA thought it better to have Bishop spend time up with the Canes than Roy in a center for center swap. Friday against the Sharks will be a good test on where Bishop would fit in, long term. I have a feeling that if Necas is playing with Kuokkanen in Charlotte then when one comes up, so does the other (especially if there’s chemistry).
I’m glad others have noticed that Foegele is doing what he can to get pucks on sticks and guys aren’t able to convert. It’s not like Foegele hasn’t been doing that, the difference is the first few games Williams and Staal were finishing those, now, they’ve hit a cold spell.
I agree that Bishop has looked fine. He has proven that he should get 12-14 minutes a night. On several shifts against Detroit he made nice plays to keep puck possession. He is not going to be a significant scoring threat, but due to his speed and style he will work well with players like Martinook.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Necas play the entire year in Charlotte. I asked a few days ago, but if I am not mistaken he won’t burn his first ELC year unless he plays 2 more games. If anyone knows for sure I would appreciate confirmation. Honestly, in his first two games at Charlotte the Checkers have played their least successful hockey of the season. So it may take a while for him to build confidence on a team that was the best in the league before he arrived. My guess would be that Kuokkanen might get a look without Necas.
Roy’s opportunity is likely next season if Rask is traded, which I think is likely given that re-signing Aho and Teravainen plus keeping Ferland and/or Martinook will add significant salary. Though it seem unbelievable, keeping everyone this offseason will get the Canes within $2-3 million of the cap if no one is moved.
ct – Necas was the best player on ice in Charlotte in the Friday game and ended up both with the winning shoot-out goal and the first star. The entire team was flat on Saturday. In general Necas is playing very well though, as of two games into his time there.
tj. I expect Necas will be the best player. I was just pointing out that before he was sent to Charlotte, the Checkers were the best team on the ice for four games. Then against a team that had won one game out of 6, the Checkers went to a shootout and then were shut out. Two games is not a sufficient sample size. But Necas on the Checkers should be like adding Kevin Durant to the Warriors. If they don’t get back to winning 3 out of 4, something is amiss.
As we collectively demonstrate what we don’t know about what is going on in the mind of O/M/C – Bishop gets sent down and Roy is called up. 🙂
The part of Godot is being played by Victor Rask.