Today’s Daily Cup of Joe is a short list of what the Canes miss most right now about the players out of the lineup.
Brett Pesce
In a season where the Hurricanes have had three incredibly good defensemen and at times a bit of an adventure finding a fourth to round out the top two pairings, Brett Pesce anchored the second pairing and made it work reasonably well regardless of how well his partner was playing. The subtle but significant thing that Pesce does so well is erase or at least minimize errors of others.
Dougie Hamilton
He would be a nice upgrade defensively, but I still think what the Canes miss most is his offense. The first power play is not the same with Jaccob Slavin at the point. He just does not have the natural instincts to step into shooting positions which makes that unit much more predictable and easy to defend than when Hamilton was on it. And at even strength, Hamilton also has an incredible knack for knowing where and when to join the rush as a fourth forward to help generate scoring chances.
Petr Mrazek
With the Hurricanes struggling a bit to figure things out defensively of late both on the blue line but also just as a complete team, I think the biggest thing that Mrazek could provide is calm and confidence. Trying to play in front of a goalie that you do not quite trust yet is hard, and with the team struggling it becomes even harder. No doubt the team could use a hot stretch like Mrazek had this time last year, but more simply I think the team will benefit from just having a known quantity in net.
James Reimer
In James Reimer, I think the Hurricanes miss having a reasonably steady veteran for some of the tougher road starts. It will be interesting to see how Nedeljkovic and Forsberg fare on the upcoming road trip. Steady goes a long way this time of year, and Reimer generally brought that in a backup role this season.
What say you Canes fans?
1) Do you agree with what I miss from the four Canes players out of the lineup? What might you add?
2) What, if anything, do you think the Hurricanes miss from Lucas Wallmark and Erik Haula who departed via trade?
Go Canes!
The Canes miss a lot from Pesce and Hamilton. As I watch the Canes I think they miss Hamilton from a team personality angle. Hamilton seems to be a bit of a different guy, he always seems to be a kind of goofy happy. The interplay between Hamilton and Svechnikov was a lot of fun. It seemed to work for the Canes. Currently, the team doesn’t appear to be having much fun at all. I think they miss that.
Other than some continuity, I don’t think they miss that much from Wallmark and Huala. Hard to tell after only a couple games.
Your focus here, Matt, is on individual players which is a valid perspective. But from another angle with the injuries and trades we have a 25% turnover rate in the roster. You expect that season to season but that is a major turnover mid-season.
It takes time early in a season for a team to gel – we are forced to do that for a second time this season. And that is very significant in terms of team play since the trade deadline.
If we include players that were traded I’d say the powerplay desperately misses the combination of Dougy, with his ability to read and set up plays and Haula’s propensity to get to the net and distract the goalie.
Early on our powerplay was really good, it clearly has faded and the Canes barely have one decent powerplay unit, the second one is, quite honestly, crap.
Collectively the Canes are not nearly as good a team right now as they were this time last year.
A lot of it is injuries, but it’s also player commitment, lack of a tough guy (like Ferland), downgrade on D (Faulk+CDH downgraded to Gardner who is not a top 4 d on any NHL team the way he has been playing), and some issues in net (though I’d rate the top goalie tandem about similar to last year’s, and I think Ned has a very promising future, he just needs a few games to get going, either to prove me right or wrong).
I also think Jordan Staal’s leadership is not well suited for this team, he does not inspire them like JW did last year. JW is back but is not a captain and probably does not have the same type of voice in the locker room.
I am hoping that the new D guys + some desperation will be enough to get the Canes over the threshold into the playoffs, but I’m not sure it’l happen and I am pretty sure the team is not likely to get past the first round this year.