After a wild weekend leading up to Monday’s NHL trade deadline that saw long-time captain and face of the franchise Eric Staal depart along with John-Michael Liles and Kris Versteeg, part of me feels like the 2015-16 Carolina Hurricanes season has ended. But the schedule still has 18 games that start tonight in New Jersey with a roster that looks quite different.
In addition to the 3 players traded, the Canes are without Justin Faulk, Andrej Nestrasil and Jay McClement. That makes for 6 roster changes to key players from the team that was winning at a good pace before hitting a wall last week with 3 losses.
Unless the Canes go on a shocking-level win streak on the road in March, the next 5 weeks are very much pointed at 2016-17 and beyond. For me there are 2 equally important parts to this stretch of hockey:
Protecting what has already been earned
On the whole, the 2015-16 season has been a huge success at least in terms of building for the future, especially on the blue line. We have seen both Brett Pesce and Jaccob Slavin parachute almost straight from college hockey and into an NHL top 4 role and look pretty good doing so. We have also seen Noah Hanifin jump straight into the NHL as an 18-year old and make progress in his development over the course of the season. With Faulk’s ongoing availability questionable with his nagging injury, John-Michael Liles now out of the mix and the potential for the kids to hit a wall physically now about 15-20 games deeper into a season than they have been previously, it is important to use the remaining 5 weeks for continued growth and not a morale-destroying setback down the stretch.
Evaluating options for next season
About half of the Canes roster at forward will look like the Checkers roster did at the beginning of the season. Now is the time for players like Brock McGinn, Phil Di Giuseppe and Derek Ryan to make impressions and play their way into the picture for when Francis starts work on the 2016-17 team this summer.
Hoping for deja vu
To replenish the NHL roster, yesterday the Hurricanes recalled Derek Ryan, Brock McGinn and Derek Ryan. The last time the Carolina Hurricanes recalled 3 players from Charlotte was the most significant turning point of the season. After a tough ending to November and a horrible loss to New Jersey to start December, Ron Francis shook things up by recalling Jaccob Slavin, Phil Di Giuseppe and Brock McGinn. The move was a turning point in the season that saw the Canes surge, play 3 solid months of hockey and even push up the standings. Another push up the standings might be asking for too much at this point, but it does provide reason for optimism that this could again be a positive in the big picture for the Canes.
With the new look Canes taking the ice for eh first time tonight, here is what I will be watching in the Canes first game post-trade deadline and minus Eric Staal for only the second time:
1) A reaction
No doubt there is a transition and restart after the weekend’s events especially for Jordan Staal. Especially with Justin Faulk out of the lineup, Jordan Staal is this team’s default leader right now. There is reason for a bit of patience for him to digest the new situation, but at some point he needs to push forward into the new leader and become 1 of the players who sets the tone for the whole team. He has been doing that anyway over the past few months, but it is different now. I will be watching this game and the next couple to see if the team can quickly move forward and get back to playing the hard-fought hockey that made for a solid December through February run.
2) An impression
The Derek Ryan story is an incredible one. After playing here there and everywhere and taking the improbable route through Europe back to North America and the NHL, he will make his NHL debut at the age of 29. At his age, he might only get 1 chance to make an impression and a claim that he belongs the NHL. This is it. In addition, Brock McGinn returns and Phil Di Giuseppe probably continues to see a bigger role (like Sunday) including power play ice time. There are obviously openings right now for next season. It is up to these players to use their opportunities to stake claims to a couple of them such that Francis does not enter the summer looking to fill them elsewhere.
3) A good start for 18 more games of positive on the blue line project
My single biggest concern right now is the state of the kids on D. Overall, Hanifin, Pesce and Slavin have made good progress this season. Now possibly with physical challenges at the end of a long season and in the middle of a depleted defensive corps with inexperienced forwards in front of them, they must forge through 18 games. At this stage of their career, continuing to improve and develop is critical. Here is hoping that the lack of blue line help presents another opportunity to rise higher, not a tough conclusion to the season that detracts from the first three-fourths of it.
With this ‘what I’m watching’ that turns heavily toward building for 2016-17, I will be tuned in to John, Tripp and Michelle on Fox Sports for a 7pmish puck drop in New Jersey.
Go Canes!
