After a solid win on Friday, the Hurricanes were right back at it three days later and back were the team’s scoring woes.
Now with a record that is one win better than hockey .500, the Hurricanes need to find a higher gear as soon as possible.
But the team has been sputtering a bit and struggling to score. Today’s Daily Cup of Joe takes a shot at using only simple changes to try to make some gains.
1) Reunite Jaccob Slavin and Brett Pesce
As I said on Twitter shortly after school ended:
1/2 Odd positive, but I think capitulation day for Slavin/Hamilton pairing could be long-term positive. That just was not working and was long past forced. #TakeWarning
— Canes and Coffee (@CanesandCoffee) December 12, 2018
1/2 Odd positive, but I think capitulation day for Slavin/Hamilton pairing could be long-term positive. That just was not working and was long past forced. #TakeWarning
— Canes and Coffee (@CanesandCoffee) December 12, 2018
Sure Hamilton/Slavin worked on paper prior to this problem. But the duo just has not worked thus far. With de Haan/Faulk clicking, reuniting Slavin/Pesce is not the most exciting deal but it should solidify the top 4 defensively.
2) Micheal Ferland with Sebstian Aho
Micheal Ferland returned on Tuesday but made it through only a single period before missing the remainder of the game with an upper body injury. Ferland has been the primary finisher thus far after another day of work. With not much clicking offensively right now, there could be temptation to reshuffle all of the lines, but Ferland should remain with Aho as long as the two are producing.
3) Utilize possible available help at the AHL level
Ideally, the team needs to add a forward or two from outside. But in the short-term, I continue to wonder why the team does not just do the easy thing. I get being careful and patient with Martin Necas, but Kuokkanen has a full year of AHL hockey under his belt and therefore could be a candidate for a recall.
What say you Canes fans?
1) What do you think about my three assertions above?
2) Do you have any additional simple moves that you would try hoping that they were not going to have anything?
Go Canes!
I agree with you, Matt, that Pesce and Slavin should be reunited. I agree that Faulk and deHaan have great chemistry and should remain together. Now, what to do about Dougie? Is there anyone who thinks he has exhibited good chemistry with anyone he has worked with so far?
Could we pull off a trade for Mark Giordano?
In spite of the spirit of the season, I don’t think Calgary would give him up for a reasonable price.
Bring up Michael Cajkovsky. I believe that he is the close-to-perfect complement to Dougie. What do we have to lose?
Michael Ferland should always be with the Seabass. The chemistry there is self-evident.
We need to shake up the troops a bit. Bench Phil d and Warren Fogele. Replace them with the big Finn Saku as well as Julian Gauthier. Pull the pin, toss the grenade and see what happens. We need energy, hitting, and charging the net. We need someone in addition to Ferland who can score from in close. Someone who is willing to pay the price for being there.
I’m wondering of the call up thing is now more important knowing that Seattle will be picking someone from the Canes after the 20-21 season. While that’s still a ways out there, is some of the reluctance to call up a Kuokkanen some twisted plan to try and make sure they don’t need to be protected in that draft? If that’s not the case, I am truly baffled on why more isn’t being done.
If Hamilton and Slavin are together next game, someone should be publicly flogged. They’ve never clicked, for whatever reason and honestly I think after seeing that for 15 games it should have been changed. Now at 30 it should be obvious.
I think suggestion #1 is a done deal. Hamilton was atrocious last night. He hasn’t earned much playing time lately. I think that change was in process before Pesce was injured, but that sidelined it.
I’m not sure we’re going to see much of Ferland for a while. I have a sneaking suspicion that there is more to this concussion thing that we have been told. It’s rare for a player to admit they are concerned. Remember a month or so ago when Ferland sat out the third period and Brind’Amour said he wasn’t feeling good? I wonder….
I am doubtful that bringing up Kuokkanen will provide much spark, but if Ferland is out for a significant period it wouldn’t hurt to give it a try. They have to slot Kuokkanen in a top six role or it’s a waste.
A not so simple thing the Canes need to do is trade a RH defenseman. Maybe trade two! Even though the return is going to be weak, getting rid of Hamilton wouldn’t be a bad idea. The guy seems to have character issues. Any way about it, if they want any shot at Fox, which they appear to have, they have to clear out a spot for him.
From this article on The Athletic. https://theathletic.com/701864/2018/12/11/things-to-know-about-adam-fox-he-get-points-at-a-crazy-rate-and-wants-in-to-the-nhl-asap-all-good-for-the-canes/?source=dailyemail
“I know people think I have some plan to sign with the Rangers because of where I grew up,” the New York native said. “But my dream, my goal, is to play in the NHL. As soon as possible.”
According to Adam Gold the Canes are calling up Kuokkanen. https://www.wralsportsfan.com/canes-margin-for-error-slim-and-shrinking/18058950/
“In the interim, the team is calling up Janne Kuokkanen from the Charlotte Checkers. Kuokkanen made the team out of training camp two years ago but lasted just a handful of games before being sent to the minors. This year, he was edged out for the final roster spot by Warren Foegele, but went to the Checkers and has been their best player. He’s got 11 goals and 27 points in 26 games and plays in all situations. He’s ready to play in the NHL and time on the ice is available for a player who can help in the offensive zone.”
While Hamilton is the weak link, the Canes defense is a very strong chain. Even with questionable goal tending at times and a slow to gel PK, the Canes have the 2nd best GA total in the Eastern Conference, only 2 goals higher than conference leading Boston. (The Canes 81 GA is 4th best in the entire league.) Offensively the teams GF of 72 goals is an absolutely butt ugly picture. The Metro leading Caps have scored 40 more goals than the Canes, second place Columbus has scored 30 more goals. League leading Tampa has scored 58 more goals than the fangless Canes.
Our 3 most critical issues are scoring, scoring and scoring. Whether talent and/or X’s and O’s, some part of “the committees” plan to generate scoring is not going as planned. Changes are needed. Call ups and abandonment of “dump and chase” as the mainstay of our offensive strategy are easily done. Could we please see both while we wait for Godot and the right trade for a forward to present itself?
My first impression on this post admittedly was along the lines of “do you think this deck chair will look better over here?, or over there?” 🙂
We need a more substantive set of changes – a return to “go-go-go” from “grit-and-grind” – a higher energy and a willingness to allow rookies to make mistakes and learn from them
With Kuokkanen being called up my only hope is that he gets slotted appropriately. Burying him on a disruption/checking line will do no one any good. He is familiar with Wallmark – and Kuokk-Wallmark-Williams might be a suitable surrogate for Kuokk-Staal-Williams line in the preseason. But that means you have to slot Svech differently – and I don’t see him on Aho’s line or Rask’s line (for different reasons).
tj. Totally agree that Kuokkanen needs to get good line mates and PP time—please use him on the first unit instead of Phil D.
While Martinook looked ok with Aho/TT, I am with the majority that Svechnikov should be tried with Aho. How about:
Svech/Aho/Teravainen
Kuokkanen/Wallmark/Williams
Martinook/Rask/McGinn
Foegele/Bishop/DiGiuseppe
Those last two lines hurt my eyes, if only because they are 6 versions of the same player… 😀
I would rather see McGinn on Wallmark’s right – he can bring grind to that line as well as more jump than JW. And JW can slip to his more rightful 3rd line role.
Agreed. Following up to comments yesterday, Kuok needs to be put in the same situations where he’s had success in the past to evaluate whether he is ready to take this step. Full stop.
Adam Gold’s article was interesting.
Why do ex Canes players blossom with other teams, starting with our old captain (not counting his Rangers stint) who turn things around in Min, and the 3 players the Canes got rid off in the offseason all having career seasons, two of them would be the highest scoring player on the Canes roster today.
The problem has got to be with the makeup of the roster, the systems instilled by the coaching staff or an atmosphere that does not challenge players to give full effort or thrive in other ways.
I’d like to bring up Gauthier too, maybe even Roy and put him in the center on a disruption line. Necas is a tantalizing possibility, maybe sitting a third of the roster for a couple of games and bring up the guys responsible for the Checkers being top dog in the AHL is not such a bad idea.
I advocate for hiring an NHL coach with an outsiders perspective, the problem of motivation or systems is with the staff, augment the staff with some fresh ideas.
I wasn’t overly impressed with Roy the first time around this season. He wasn’t ready for the pace. I’d rather see Necas on someone’s wing now that he seems to have found his scoring touch and is playing with more confidence.
Big trades are coming over the next week or so. I just hope we make one of them. Other than for Aho or Svetch, I’d consider anything.
One comment I’ve heard about Ron Francis, is he drafted a lot of the same kind of players. He had stereotypes for the defensemen and forwards he wanted to draft and stuck to that formula. The formula built teams that created neither tough matchups or the team toughness needed in the NHL. My other observation is the succession of rookie NHL coaches that have led the team. Mueller, Peters, now RBA. Coaching matters in the league and we have consistently experimented with young coaches learning their way. Finally the team seems to lack the overall ability to judge talent, a shortcoming that has consistently raised it’s ugly head in drafting, selecting prospects in trades and deciding who to keep and who to let go.
The word is that almost any player from Stl is available for the right price.
Maybe we can pick up RoR after all, if we want to, Teresenco would be an interesting possibility, but not sure what assets Stl would want back, he won’t come cheap, Jaden Schwartz is another gritty winger with some scoring.