With 17 games remaining in the 2016-17 season and the Carolina Hurricanes mostly unable to move up in the standings, the balance of energy continues to shift toward building a playoff-capable team for 2017-18. I have written multiple March/April-focused articles in this vein.
My original checklist for March/April work is HERE.
Yesterday, the Hurricanes called up another promising AHL player in Lucas Wallmark who will likely make his NHL debut on Monday night.
And today’s Daily Cup of Joe considers options to build a young, scoring-capable fourth line for 2017-18 to boost scoring.
The same look to the future is the theme for today’s Coffee Shop post.
Hurricanes polls
Please be sure to click ‘vote’ after each poll response.
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Hurricanes discussion questions
1) Play scout/evaluator for the numerous AHL call ups during the 2016-17? What roles do you think they can/will play in 2017-18? Are any of these players capable of finding a higher gear and being a true difference-maker or are the Hurricanes finally just starting to add serviceable depth at the AHL level?
2) What are your thoughts on the questionable hits on Valentin Zykov by Roman Polak and also Cam Ward by Nazim Kadri in the Maple Leafs game? Please start by stating to what degree you think these were dirty hits versus just part of the game. (I think that is important.) Do you think the Hurricanes should have responded more aggressively? Or were these just part of a physical and fast game?
Go Canes!
1. I’d like to see if Zykov and Wallmark can have the same success in the NHL as the AHL. Then they could be the top of our Bottom 6, at worst. I see Patrick Brown as the AHL depth/injury call up guy.
2. cam’s been run over twice in the last couple of games. In this case, I think a good punch or six might persuade other teams to try to miss running over our goalies.
The hit on Zykov was a bit late and calculating brutal, but, likely legal. Zykov was not hit squarely in the back and caught an edge and was falling as he was hit. Like the play where Wisniewski tore his ACL, bad hockey luck. If Valentin has had a history of shoulder separations, this will likely be the final straw that sends him to surgery,
The call on Cam for interference was the right call. Most of us know some basketball rules. Cam set an illegal moving screen on the Leaf player. That player pulled up to minimize the contact initiated by Cam’s screen. Cam then embellished the contact. Cam is lucky the Toronto player pulled up. Had he accelerated through the contact Cam would have clobbered by a bigger man.
1/ Hit on Zykov was borderline at best – it could have been called either way. I don’t see the League investigating and they usually do on hits even when penalties aren’t called (like in this case). Bad hockey luck that he suffered an injury.
2/ Cam interfered with Kadri; it was the right call. I’m old-school in that I think the goalie should be fair-game when playing the puck out of the crease. Also, agree that a little retribution by his teammates, whether warranted or not, would make opponents think twice about grey-area plays like these (that goes for the Zykov hit, too.)
3/ It’s way too early to tell whether Zykov simply had a good luck or has real net-front and willingness to play in the dirty areas, attributes the team desperately needs, that he can sustain over a prolonged period of time. Look at McGinn: he scored on his first shift, and then except for a few flashes here and there, he’s still a depth-player.
(I should note that Lindholm has shown a growing willingness to play in front of the net, in addition to his office to the side of the net. He’s only 21 and made huge strides since December. I see more difference-making upside in his game than in anyone else’s except Aho.)
4/ I haven’t seem Wallmark play, but am very excited to see him to start getting a sense of how high his ceiling really is. My current view is that PDG and McGinn can be serviceable bottom-6 guys, but the rest are filling up our roster for lack of better options.
I think where I come down is that both hits were legal, but on the Zykov hit surgalt used the word “brutal” and dmilleravid used “borderline at best.”
I think sometimes, not always, a team needs to stand up for someone even in the gray area. With Zykov being a rookie and injured on the play, I guess I would have liked to see more of a reaction – not necessarily a fight but something.
In the same vein, I think a couple players need to pick their spots when people start running at Aho (which they have) trying to see if they can knock him off his game.
Team toughness in today’s NHL is complex with less fighting and fewer players with this specific job, but I think that actually makes it even more important to get right as a group.
We need a Neil (Ottawa)type player. Someone who can play hockey and score, but who is a definite threat physically if another team runs our players.
Not trying to be nasty or combative, but there are at least a dozen more important problems to be concerned with, before dealing with the 4th line…HUH?!!
1. 2 top line forwards 2. 2 goalies… just for starters!
w/o some if not all of the above…A NEW GM!!
Puckgod…When this (or any post) went up for 30-60 minutes without you saying we needed a goalie, I was starting to worry about you. I am glad to see that you are in fact okay. 🙂
1. DiGuiseppe can be an excellent 4th line forward (a 4th line forward expected to bang and shutdown, but also score at a respectable level). This is based upon the theorey that teams need to roll 4 lines with each having some ability to score
McGinn. See Diguiseppe above.
Zykov. 2nd line in front of the net presence.
Gauthier. 1st line in front of net presence. In this role he is a proven scorer. Team should forget about making him a playmaker.
Wallmark. Somewhere. Just not sure since we have so many centers.
2. Hit on Zykov was dirty hit. I just don’t understand the penalty on Ward. He was standing still behind the net. How can he be charged with interference when he did not in initiate the contact? On Zykov’s hit I don’t think the other Canes players even saw the hit.
I want Stalberg Back!!! Stalberg, Nordstrum, and Wallmark nice 4th line.
I really like what Ron Francis is doing he wants us to be good for years not just one and out.
I too would be happy to re-sign Viktor Stalberg this summer. He is a glue type of player who is a bottom hallf of the roster player but a very good 1 in his role.