How will the Canes do this season?

[Unsustainable]

Wrong page.

 

[bleedgreen]

It's true. Having a high end pp guy running it makes any play work better, and automatically creates some new ones. The ability to react and adapt to the constantly changing positioning of the d and your teammates is what makes it work, better talent running the show means a better pp whatever the play on the board says.

 

[My Special Purpose]

I'm not trying to be a downer. I am as optimistic as anyone at this point in the season, despite everything going on. But I was reading the TSN.com preview and saw this infobox and had to laugh:

Key Additions
Nathan Gerbe, Anton Khudobin, Mike Komisarek, Aaron Palushaj, Andrej Sekera, Kevin Westgarth.

Key Subtractions
Marc-Andre Bergeron, Tim Brent, Joe Corvo, Dan Ellis, Chad Larose, Jamie McBain.

Something about deck chairs and a large ship came to mind.

 

[tarheelhockey]

it's your last sentence that concerns me. those guys are capable of better results and have been playing Muller's "systems" to a tee. again, it's wait and see but there has been no overt change from Muller that I've detected so far.

They run one and only one play on the powerplay, as AJJ pointed out in his article.

Hopefully, with a training camp under his belt, Muller has added more plays to the mix.

I haven't seen anything new during our preseason games. It's still literally the same play, over and over, trying to set up a one-timer from the backside circle.

I don't think we have the QB talent to ice an elite PP unit, but we should be decent. We have more top-6 skill than most teams in this league, and that should be adequate to work the puck around down low and find opportunities. I find it distressing that Muller's idea of an effective PP is to have Justin Faulk take the same telegraphed shot 10 times in a row.

 

[Anton Babchuk]

The sad thing about all of this is that *when* that play actually works, it doesn't result in a goal because Justin Faulk ends up whiffing most of the time or shoveling the puck right into the goalie. I wonder if he ever played that role before coming here or if Muller just threw him into that spot based on his handedness. Everytime I saw him play in college or the WJC he was playing high up.

 

[bleedgreen]

We should be working semin on the off side one timer like ovechkin. He's the only outside threat we have. Lefties coming off the rt side wall feeding the point or semin cutting, and a lefty on the rt back door for semin. We're paying him the big bucks and he has the elite skill level to be the feature whereas we lack the d. If they overplay semin we have at least one staal and skinner to make them pay.

 

[TheBigKahuna]

I think by the trade deadline, the Canes are within sniffing distance of 8th place, and JR does nothing of substance. I then think, the Canes drop to 9th or 10th and miss again, but don't secure a top 4 draft pick either.

 

[Joe McGrath]

We should be working semin on the off side one timer like ovechkin. He's the only outside threat we have. Lefties coming off the rt side wall feeding the point or semin cutting, and a lefty on the rt back door for semin. We're paying him the big bucks and he has the elite skill level to be the feature whereas we lack the d. If they overplay semin we have at least one staal and skinner to make them pay.

Isn't that how they used Semin last year before they got Bergeron? And wasn't he terrible at it?

 

[A Star is Burns]

I agree with everyone the PP is a concern as per usual. But listing off the offensive guys we lost and gained and acting like that means it has to stay awful isn't a given. Maybe the fact we were relying on some of those offensive guys that aren't that effective on the PP is part of the reason our PP was so awful.

We do have a lot of talent on the ice for the PP. I think that talent alone will perform a little better than last year as quite a few of our players underperformed on the PP. But our biggest hope is on the shoulders of Ryan Murphy and hoping that he can become the QB we've been missing. He can eventually, but even with all his talent it may be too soon for that to happen yet.

 

[bleedgreen]

Isn't that how they used Semin last year before they got Bergeron? And wasn't he terrible at it?

I think whatever wasn't working last year is fixable. They were in a rushed start wih no chemistry. I think semin getting used to his teammates a little and having settled in a bit it should be revisited. In my memory they didn't really run through semin the way I'm thinking of. Murphy is a better option than Faulk. He has a more effective shot and would be more deceptive and accurate in sliding semin passes he could one time. If Murphy isn't here it's hard to say who should be back there.

 

[Joe McGrath]

I think whatever wasn't working last year is fixable. They were in a rushed start wih no chemistry. I think semin getting used to his teammates a little and having settled in a bit it should be revisited. In my memory they didn't really run through semin the way I'm thinking of. Murphy is a better option than Faulk. He has a more effective shot and would be more deceptive and accurate in sliding semin passes he could one time. If Murphy isn't here it's hard to say who should be back there.

That's fair, the whole set up wasn't ideal. His shot is special but it's not to the level of a Stamkos or Ovechkin. I'd rather have Semin controlling the play on the left side and throwing cross ice passes to Staal and/or Skinner but I know that's not what Muller wants.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

The problem with the PP isn't the coach, it's the personel. The PP has been a failure long before Muller got here.

Despite needing 10 players to have two successful PP units, I can't name a season where we've had more than 2 or 3 players that could be considered "successful" on the PP.

 

[Frank Booth239*]

I hate to say it, but despite the fact that this team was doing really well last year before Ward went down...and that they have addressed some of the concerns (more D, backup goalie) that were an issue, it seems like this team is still in the midst of the death spiral that it began at the beginning of the 2009-2010 season, after over-performing in the 2009 playoffs.

Instead of blowing up the team then, Rutherford tried nothing but stop-gap methods to patch holes. Then in 2010-2011, when Skinner suddenly lit it up along with a resurgent Cole, and the Canes went the whole season without a lot of injuries, it looked like they were GTG despite them missing the playoffs on the last game. I think we're starting to see that the baseline of this team is bottom of the conference, and they are a bubble team only when firing on all cylinders and luck is in their favor.

It seems like other teams are so much further ahead in prospect development. But then why do the Checkers do so much better than other AHL teams and are in the playoffs every year? Perhaps it is prospect employment once they do get to the NHL.

IDK- I really hope that if they bomb again this year some drastic measures are taken- and it starts with a new GM.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

I hate to say it, but despite the fact that this team was doing really well last year before Ward went down...and that they have addressed some of the concerns (more D, backup goalie) that were an issue, it seems like this team is still in the midst of the death spiral that it began at the beginning of the 2009-2010 season, after over-performing in the 2009 playoffs.

Instead of blowing up the team then, Rutherford tried nothing but stop-gap methods to patch holes.

? During and after the 2010 season, Rutherford traded:

Wallin, A. Ward, Cullen, Yelle, Alberts, Corvo, Walker, and tried to trade Whitney. Then in the off-season he bought out Brindy and let Whitney walk. There are only about 5 full time players remaining today from that 09/10 team are:

E. Staal, Ruutu, Ward, Gleason, and Dwyer.

Harrison (who only played 38 games that year and Tlusty (18 games) are also with the team but weren't full time players that season.

Not sure how much more of a "blow up" you wanted. Now, you can argue that he didn't bring in enough talent to fill those gaps or our drafting/developing sucked, but he made wholesale changes.

 

[Frank Booth239*]

? During and after the 2010 season, Rutherford traded:

Wallin, A. Ward, Cullen, Yelle, Alberts, Corvo, Walker, and tried to trade Whitney. Then in the off-season he bought out Brindy and let Whitney walk. There are only about 5 full time players remaining today from that 09/10 team are:

E. Staal, Ruutu, Ward, Gleason, and Dwyer.

Harrison (who only played 38 games that year and Tlusty (18 games) are also with the team but weren't full time players that season.

Not sure how much more of a "blow up" you wanted. Now, you can argue that he didn't bring in enough talent to fill those gaps or our drafting/developing sucked, but he made wholesale changes.

Yeah, but he didn't really get anybody really good until summer of 2012. If you're going to blow it up- then you trade those guys for draft picks and re-start- not bring in Ian White, and then get rid of him again. Getting Kaberle and then shipping him out again (although thank God he managed to get him back out). He keeps repeating the same errors.

All he did was what another poster alluded to- re-arranged deck chairs on the titanic while letting quality players (Whitney, Cullen) go, trading Jokinen for a bag of pucks, and all the other jacked up things he's done, while at the same time doing some pretty solid things. Unfortunately his bungling has canceled out the positive effects of things like picking Skinner, signing Semin, ect.

I guess the "blow up" I'd like to see would be more organizational at this point- Rutherford gone, the entire AHL coaching staff gone, the entire scouting staff gone.

 

[My Special Purpose]

My key player this year is Justin Faulk.

I interviewed Justin Williams back in 2005 and asked him about his breakout season. He said that he made the decision over the lockout that it was time to stop being a "prospect," and it was time to "put up or shut up." I think Faulk is nearing the same point. It's a state-of-mind, not a skill thing. He's got to know that he's a No. 1 defenseman, then go out and be it. I think he can, and I think our team's success this year depends on it.

If he's still Justin Faulk, up-and-coming top-pairing d-man, and not Justin Faulk, top-pairing d-man, we'll struggle.

 

[faulkingdynamic]

http://bluejacketsxtra.dispatch.com/content/stories/2013/10/01/metro-picks-2013-art-g39os927-1.html

Interesting rankings from the Metro beat writers. FYI , they think we suck.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Interesting rankings from the Metro beat writers. FYI , they think we suck.

Makes sense. We have sucked the past couple of years and last year, had a worse record than anyone else in our new division.

 

[bleedgreen]

Yup. We are looking up at both the blue jackets and the islanders. It's going to be a tough climb.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

Makes sense. We have sucked the past couple of years and last year, had a worse record than anyone else in our new division.

Pretty much this. Everyone will continue to believe this team sucks until the team gives them a reason to believe otherwise.

 

[Joe McGrath]

Yeah, they aren't good. I'm just hopeful they are competitive at this point. The D still isn't good, but I suspect it to be a less mind boggling/enraging kind of bad that Corvo/Sangs/McBain brought to the table.

 

[DaveG]

Rossi seems to be the only one that expects a bunch of improvement this year. IMO this season hinges on two things: The development of Justin Faulk and the health of Cam Ward. As kev said if Faulk makes that transition from "Justin Faulk future #1 dman" to "Justin Faulk #1 dman" then we're in good shape. If Cam rebounds this season and stays healthy this team could push for the playoffs. BUT we're still going to be fighting it out with the Rangers, Isles, Flyers, and Jackets for that last bit of playoff hope. And the Devils aren't far behind us IMO.

 

[My Special Purpose]

http://bluejacketsxtra.dispatch.com/content/stories/2013/10/01/metro-picks-2013-art-g39os927-1.html

Interesting rankings from the Metro beat writers. FYI , they think we suck.

Utterly hysterical to me that only Luke had the guts enough to pick his team out of the playoffs. Even the delusional Devils writer has them fourth. Anything can happen, and we're in no position to rag on anyone, but these writers are a bit nuts.

 

[TheBigKahuna]

A lot of writers had the Flyers way higher than most are expecting so far. I don't see the Flyers being much better than the Devils.

But, it will be harder to make the playoffs now. The regular season, especially the first few months are more important. I think the NHL will look more like MLB in that a lot of teams may be completely out of the chase by the holidays.

 

[bleedgreen]

The flyers are trying to give away dmen that would play top roles with us right now, I think they're not in too bad shape.