Zykov looks to be terrible at even strength and I question if he can skate well enough to play in the NHL. Would Wallmark be any better than Ryan or Rask or Lindholm? When I've seen him he looks like a poor man's Rask to me. Foegele could probably help on the 4th line, but is that going to have much, if any impact on the outcome?
I wouldn't have a problem with calling some of those guys up from the AHL, just don't see it as a big deal that they aren't. When your "best" players aren't producing, bringing up much lesser players doesn't move the needle much.
I'm going to respectfully disagree here....while I know that AHL performance metrics are not a true indicator of NHL performance metrics (Chris Terry says hello), I believe all 3 of Zykov, Wallmark, and/or Foegele would markedly contribute. Zykov has 23 goals, 10 of which are even strength. Only 3 players on the Canes roster have as many or more even strength goals. I also believe you're selling Wallmark's abilities short. He's at least as good and, from what I've seen, a better skater than Rask and is a better defender than Ryan. He's also a noted distributor. We both agree that Foegele probably can contribute on the 4th line, certainly as a more offensively dangerous option. Personally a few more goals from that 4th line would absolutely make a difference considering our overall lack of scoring and the closeness of many of these recent games.
I love Nordstrom's effort, but if I see him miss another grade "a" chance....I don't think I have to finish that sentence, cause after I wrote it I realized I could substitute 10 other names for Nordy's.
I think you are over estimating the importance of it. If they can't be motivated by being in a playoff hunt and needing to win these games, then I don't think that will do the trick either. Like I said, I don't have a problem with them calling some guys up. Heck, I'd like to see Foegele in particular be called up so would be all for it. just think people are overestimating the impact it would have. I guess maybe it falls into the bucket of "just try something"
Might it be motivating? Perhaps, and there would be a benefit to that. But frankly, I've come to the conclusion that there are other guys that are better than a handful of Canes roster players....and some of those guys are just down I85 in Charlotte. I believe that Wallmark has more to contribute than Jooris. I believe that Foegele has more to give than PDG. And I'd be willing to sit Ryan, juggle the line up to put him in the top 9, and see what Zykov could bring for a half-dozen games.
So, to me, it's less about motivation, and more about trying some guys who just might be better....of course, the coaches are closer to the situation and better personnel evaluators, but right now, it is totally acceptable to question their current decision-making and capabilities.
Of course, any style of leadership wears thin when things are going the wrong way. The best coaches in hockey get fired regularly. Wins are the only job performance metric.
What a change MIGHT do, beyond shaking things up emotionally, would be to give the next guy a chance to tweak our systems and take the next few opponents off guard with a different look. If that gives us a few extra chances per game, maybe it translates to a 5 or 6 game winning streak. And that’s likely enough to get us in.
And after all, this right here^is the key point. I like Peters. I think he might very well be a very good coach. But he isn't winning and even with our less than stellar line up, the way that we're losing places significant responsibility at his feet. We fired our Stanley Cup winning coach because he "lost the room". Mostly, we fired him because his team wasn't performing at the level it should. This team isn't performing at the level it should.