It is no secret that goaltending has been an issue for the Hurricanes for many years now. The team has tried the same and hoped for better with a long run for Cam Ward and also a the 2016-17 season when the team decided to bring back both Cam Ward and Eddie Lack despite goaltending issues in the previous season. No doubt, sub-par defense has also played a role and possibly coaching. Once you throw all of the potential factors into the mix, it is difficult to determine what exactly it takes for the Hurricanes to finally have a season with at least league average goaltending.
Today’s Daily Cup of Joe considers the significance of multiple factors in terms of righting the ship in the net.
1) Obtaining better goalies
The starting point for the goalie position is how good the netminders on the roster are. Obviously, having a stalwart netminder like Henrik Lundqvist goes a long way toward receiving at least decent goalie play. But recent history with even good goalies like Carey Price, Pekkar Rinne and others having extended down stretches seem to suggest that it is not as simple as having a good goalie. They are just a fickle breed such that even good ones seem to have their ups and downs. And at the same time, each year teams without big name netminders do just fine suggesting that it is possible to get by at least in some years with lesser talents in net.
Nevertheless, I would argue that on average the Hurricanes have started from a modest deficit in terms of simply having a higher-end goalie. Cam Ward seemed to play at a ceiling of ‘serviceable’ in recent years with his share of stretches at less than that. And the run of trying to convert a good backup to a good starter was mostly 0 for 3 with none of Anton Khudobin, Eddie Lack or Scott Darling working out.
2) Getting top end play out of the netminders on the roster
As noted in the first section, it is not inconceivable to get league average or better goaltending from run of the mill players. In fact, it seems to happen every year that multiple lesser name goalies seize starting jobs and play well. In fact, Lack and Darling were exactly this before joining the Hurricanes. The Hurricanes have missed badly in this regard. The level of play of both Lack and Darling fell off a cliff after joining the Hurricanes. Neither came remotely close to what they had done just prior to joining the Hurricanes. In addition, possibly because of age, Cam Ward has been unable to reach anywhere close to what seemed to be his ceiling 7-8 years ago. The result is that Hurricanes netminders have underperformed what would have been a reasonable expectation for them over the past many years.
3) Receiving strong defensive play to help
While the goalie might be the last line of defense in terms of keeping the puck out of the net, the defense in front of the goalie also plays a huge role. I beat the drum last summer that many were putting the cart before the horse in loosely interchanging the potential to have a great young blue line with the reality. Entering last season, Noah Hanifin had yet to emerge, Justin Faulk seemed to be in decline and Haydn Fleury was stepping into the lineup as a rookie. Just as it has in other recent years, the ‘learning on the job’ aspect of the Hurricanes defense played a role in the goalies’ struggles. The burning questions right now are threefold. First, how much of the team’s struggles in net in recent years can fairly be attributed to unsound defensive play? Second, with a revamping of the blue line in adding Dougie Hamilton and Calvin de Haan, is it possible that what has been a negative in recent years will instantly flip to being a significant positive? Third, if that transition does occur, how big of a difference will it make?
4) Correct coaching and handling of the goalies
There are multiple layers to this one. From a tactical standpoint, using goalies correctly can make a huge difference. By my math, Ward had a reasonably strong 2016-17 campaign until we collapsed under the weight of a massive run of games with no rest in the middle of the season. From a psychological standpoint, I think one could make the case that Bill Peters was not great at figuring out how to get the most out of his goalies. Many argue that Eddie Lack was never really given a chance to play out any kinks and adjust to his new team and work up to starting caliber. In a bizarre fit of irony, the only time Peters seemed to prompt a higher level of play out of lack was as a result of an awkward exchange that saw Peters chuck Lack under the bus in an interview and then seemingly regret doing so. Finally, there is the role of the goalie coach. The Hurricanes have been through two in the past few years with similar sub-par results. Across the range of direct coaching of the goalies, tactical usage of the goalie tandem and somehow getting goalies into the right mindset to be successful, the Hurricanes have failed across the board in recent years. Could Rod Brind’Amour be a better motivator who can get more out of his goalies? One can hope.
5) The curse
As the Hurricanes get deeper and deeper into the run of trying a random variety of things in net, a slow groundswell of belief has been building that at least considers the possibility that the problem is not solvable without addressing the goalie curse head on. If you missed it, you can catch up on this conspiracy theory explanation HERE. I highly doubt that we will see Scott Darling or Petr Mrazek practicing in old school Jofa bucket style helmets anytime soon, but could it really hurt anything at this point? Just sayin’ ….
What say you Canes fans?
1) If you had to attribute the Hurricanes goalie struggles to these five factors, how would you distribute 100 percent of causation?
2) Are there any other causes for the Hurricanes goalie struggles that you would add to the list?
3) Who things the Jofa helmet thing is at least worth a try? If not, what does it take for you to go full superstition, curses and voodoo mode for fixing the team’s netminding?
Go Canes!
1. Percentages
1. 10% – We have and have had good goaltenders; they are not Vezina candidates but they are very good.
2. 25% – Last season we saw the psych effects hit Darling and overplaying has been a cause of Ward’s inconsistency. Darling has had consistent technical deficiencies as well.
3. 30% – The Canes were great a suppressing Low-Danger shots, but the number of breakdowns in the defensive zone from breakouts to missed assignments, to questionable puck clearing yielded a lot of High Danger shots. Goalies want to see shots to get and stay in the game but the pressure of continuing high danger shots takes it’s toll.
4. 25% – Whether it is trying to get goalies to play out of their norm or publically calling them out, or overplaying them game to game, or not pulling them out intragame when the dam has broken, I really don’t think our coaches have been kind to the goalies for years. “Carolina – where goaltenders go to die…”.
5. 0% – Seriously??? 😀
2. I think you covered it all, Matt.
3. N/A.
1) 5% Finding a better goalkeeper? Where? How? A crapshoot at best. We have a good stock of promising goalies. We need to watch our kids and groom them. Let them go when necessary. Replenish the stock when necessary.
This is where the Jofa helmet comes in. All prospects need to ward off Irbe’s curse as early as possible. It also wouldn’t hurt to hire an exorcist to drive evil spirits away from the net we defend twice at every game.
Couldn’t hurt.
2) 35% Moreso than any other position, goalies need a goalie coach. The last one we had was just awful. Maybe this guy will be better.
3) 40% A goalie, more often than not, feels alone in his job. When a team like last year’s Canes allows an inordinate amount of odd man rushes, enemy players taking dangerous shots unmolested, enemy possession along the boards and behind the net, he feels besieged and betrayed.
Hopefully, this year will be different.
4) 20% The relationship between a goalie and his head coach is very special. Moreso than with other players. The head coach must observe the same path doctors take; “First, do no harm.” This might seem self evident. But it always seemed to evade Bill Peters.
I am confident that Roddy and his staff get it.
5) See #1.
1. 33%. Since 2003-04 we have had Ward as our No. 1 and other than Weekes a series of non-descript backup goalies who had mediocre at best records prior to coming to the Canes. Virtually all these backups were backups on other teams in the NHL with only one or two coming from the Canes minor league system with Peters probably being the best of these. Ward thus inherited his role of No. 1 based upon his 2003 playoff performance and has had virtually had no competition for the job since. His record since the 2003 playoffs indicates he was never any better than average in any other year.
2. 33%. Based upon 1 above there has been no competition for the number 1 role. Based upon the 2003 season we have continued to dwell in adoration of Ward and have looked primarily to blame other factors for his lack of better than average performance every year since. We allowed this one great playoff run to build an aura around our goalie (Ward) and were further misled into believing the myth when we made the 2009 playoffs.
3. 34%. Our defense in front of our goalies over the years has been identified by the trademarks of allowing a high percentage of shots as high percentage scoring opportunities. Two on one breakaways, unguarded players in front of our crease, failure to have defensemen capable and/or willing to clear opponents from in front of our net, etc. There is a reason a team that allows fewer shots and has historically controlled the puck allows so many more goals than its opponents. IMO it’s the defense in front of mediocre goaltenders.
4. 0%. This is assuming he coaches had to play the talent they were provided by the GM and ownership.
5. 0%. This was self-imposed.
Note: The above is not intended to be a blast or put down of Cam Ward and his play. Ward was never really placed in an environment where he could thrive and perform at a higher level than he did. Ward’s performance suffered from many factors. The most important of these was being forced to play too many games (pressure & wearing out), forced to win a higher percentage of his starts because of the failure of backups to win at an acceptable rate (pressure), mediocre defense in front of him (high percentage of scoring opportunities for opponents), living up to the level of adoration by Canes management and fans while playing on teams loaded with castoffs and misfits making up one half of the roster for most years (pressure and lack of support).
Gentlemen, these are all great comments. Very reasonable and well thought out. Appreciate the insights.
Ladies and gentleman… I do not track gender for individual accounts, but I know there are ladies who contribute at Canes and Coffee, and regardless, let’s always be inclusive. 🙂
Great point Matt. We should welcome everyone who is interested in our often profound discussions ?
Indeed, though I feel like ‘profound’ should probably be in quotation marks for us, lol.
Apologies. Certainly didn’t mean to exclude anyone. Just complimenting some of the other comments today. I don’t know if profound, but very good insights.
For whatever reason I’m allowing myself to fault to the optimistic side again this off season – the Necnikov line is definitely playing a part in those feelings, but also because I’m thinking when Peters’ systems broke down they hung the goalies out to dry.
It’s at least a convenient enough scapegoat.
As arbitration season draws to a close, most teams, including my beloved Canes have managed to make it through without having to become immersed in contention with a player. There are usually those who mis-manage things. This year we have the Jets who really messed up with Jacob Trouba. They went through the arbitration hearing maintaining their position that he is only worth $4 million on a one year deal while he is asking for $7. The arbitrator’s decision is scheduled for tomorrow. Any bets on how things will go from here?
Then we have the Calgary Flames. They are locked in a battle with Brett Kulak. To prove a point, the Flames management put him on waivers. He went unclaimed. The hearing is scheduled for Monday. I would love to be a fly on the wall in that hearing. I think Bill Peters has found a home.
Long live Captain Queeg!
Anyone who still harbors doubts about TD and DW, should take note of what “cheap” and “short-sighted” mean. The Jets and the Flames are living examples.
The charges of cheap to Dundon have a lot more to do with coaches & staff than players, at least for me.
The distance between the Flames and Kulak is $650,000 and $1.15 million. A one year deal.
The arbiter’s decision in the case of Jacob Trouba vs. the Calgary Flames is due this afternoon. It is said that the hearing was extra long; some 7 or 8 hours. It probably took that long for both sides to send flattering messages to one another. Right?
Well, it appears as if Lou Lamoriello smells blood in the water. Rumor has it that there is a deal being offered.
Oops! Trouba is a Jet.
In case you missed my comment today, the NEW BLOG isn’t allowing comments? Technically challenged website?