News & Notes XXIII: Brindy Beats the Team Into Shape

[Canes]

Lenni can tend the rabbits.

 

[CandyCanes]

Lenni can tend the rabbits.

There we have it boys and girls, another Sebastian Aho incoming

 

[Lempo]

If you like to gamble, I tell you I'm your man...

That's an overkill reference.

 

[FreshSeabass]

Getting Mason on a PTO and giving him a look in pre-season wouldn't be an awful idea. Yes its another wildcard, but with three of them somethings got to give. At the least it adds more competition.

https://thehockeywriters.com/predicting-professional-tryouts-2018/

Carolina Hurricanes
PTOs: Steve Mason (G), Freddie Hamilton (RC/RW)

ANALYSIS: Carolina is another team with uncertain goaltending. Petr Mrazek is slated to platoon with Scott Darling, but Mason could be better than both of them. If the Hurricanes are serious about taking a step forward, bringing in another proven goalie on a PTO makes a lot of sense. If Darling or Mrazek aren’t up to the challenge, they could be buried in the minors, providing new owner Tom Dundon is willing to “waste” a bit of money.
The Hamilton brothers played together briefly in Calgary and Dougie apparently wasn’t happy when Freddie got sent down to AHL Stockton. The Hurricanes wouldn’t be making any promises or offering a one-way contract, but extending Freddie a PTO might be a good way to make Dougie feel more at home in his new surroundings.

 

[GoldiFox]

Getting Mason on a PTO and giving him a look in pre-season wouldn't be an awful idea. Yes its another wildcard, but with three of them somethings got to give. At the least it adds more competition.

https://thehockeywriters.com/predicting-professional-tryouts-2018/

Carolina Hurricanes
PTOs: Steve Mason (G), Freddie Hamilton (RC/RW)

ANALYSIS: Carolina is another team with uncertain goaltending. Petr Mrazek is slated to platoon with Scott Darling, but Mason could be better than both of them. If the Hurricanes are serious about taking a step forward, bringing in another proven goalie on a PTO makes a lot of sense. If Darling or Mrazek aren’t up to the challenge, they could be buried in the minors, providing new owner Tom Dundon is willing to “waste” a bit of money.
The Hamilton brothers played together briefly in Calgary and Dougie apparently wasn’t happy when Freddie got sent down to AHL Stockton. The Hurricanes wouldn’t be making any promises or offering a one-way contract, but extending Freddie a PTO might be a good way to make Dougie feel more at home in his new surroundings

Sad truth right there. One could make an argument that goalie with half a dozen concussions last year who can't find a job is legitimately better than both of the Canes current goalies.

Related to Freddie Hamilton - why repeat Calgary's mistake?
"Calgary brought in Dougie's brother who isn't very good and it really pissed Hamilton off when they sent him down. It was just a giant nepotism disaster with difficult personalities involed....
...
...
You know what we should do is bring in Freddie Hamilton on a PTO to make Dougie feel good. No way that can backfire"

 

[MinJaBen]

Getting Mason on a PTO and giving him a look in pre-season wouldn't be an awful idea.

I'm going to argue that it might be a bad idea. With any other position, a PTO is fine because it doesn't steal any significant reps from the guys that will be playing on your team in the fall, but at goalie, giving Mason a game or a period of a game, or even one of only two nets on the ice in practice, is a much bigger commitment. I'd rather not PTO him, but give Ned and Booth more time if we want to see what options we really have.

 

[Anton Dubinchuk]

Yeah Freddie makes no sense. You’ve got a clean slate right now for a player under contract for you. The temporary win you get by bringing him in immediately turns into a major loss when you cut his brother. And now, at the beginning of the season, we are already in the negative.

 

[DaveG]

I'm going to argue that it might be a bad idea. With any other position, a PTO is fine because it doesn't steal any significant reps from the guys that will be playing on your team in the fall, but at goalie, giving Mason a game or a period of a game, or even one of only two nets on the ice in practice, is a much bigger commitment. I'd rather not PTO him, but give Ned and Booth more time if we want to see what options we really have.

Can't disagree with that. Would much rather give them a chance and put in a waiver claim on young guys like Dansk, Lyon, Pickard, Sparks if Ned/Booth show they're not ready by the end of the pre-season. If there's any team with a potentially crazy/shitty enough goalie season to pick one up and justify carrying 3 until early season showings play out it's us.

Do not want to bring in Hamilton's brother. I would think a more low-pressure atmosphere combined with a less jockish room like we have here would be enough of a good start in itself. Don't need to bring in his brother to inevitably have to cut him and risk pissing off the guy we just acquired.

 

[Chrispy]

If we want to bring someone into camp, I'd rather see what kind of pick Toronto is looking for to deal Pickard to guarantee the Canes get him and give him some time in camp.

I don't feel like Ned or Booth will be ready this year, so while exhibition games will help them some I'd rather get a third goalie in to provide more competition.

I'm also fine rostering 3 goalies at the start of the season as insurance against a bad start by either Mrazek or Darling. We could use a conditioning stint to get a goalie some games in Charlotte to shake the rust off if two are playing well.

 

[MinJaBen]

I'm also fine rostering 3 goalies at the start of the season as insurance against a bad start by either Mrazek or Darling.

In theory this sounds good, but with so much of the goalie game mental, I wonder if doing this just creates more problems with all three guys just "looking over their shoulders" all the time? I know guys in the NHL shouldn't be that way, but everything I've seen from both Mrazek and Darling tells me that neither has the strongest mental fortitude in the world and that having that third guy would hurt their play.

 

[Navin R Slavin]

In theory this sounds good, but with so much of the goalie game mental, I wonder if doing this just creates more problems with all three guys just "looking over their shoulders" all the time? I know guys in the NHL shouldn't be that way, but everything I've seen from both Mrazek and Darling tells me that neither has the strongest mental fortitude in the world and that having that third guy would hurt their play.

Yup.

Some Mason level goalie will be available at some point during the season. If they're both shitting the bed, replace one of them then.

 

[ONO94]

In theory this sounds good, but with so much of the goalie game mental, I wonder if doing this just creates more problems with all three guys just "looking over their shoulders" all the time? I know guys in the NHL shouldn't be that way, but everything I've seen from both Mrazek and Darling tells me that neither has the strongest mental fortitude in the world and that having that third guy would hurt their play.

That shouldn't matter in Carolina--all of the goalies here are used to looking over their shoulders....

 

[Chrispy]

In theory this sounds good, but with so much of the goalie game mental, I wonder if doing this just creates more problems with all three guys just "looking over their shoulders" all the time? I know guys in the NHL shouldn't be that way, but everything I've seen from both Mrazek and Darling tells me that neither has the strongest mental fortitude in the world and that having that third guy would hurt their play.

So Mrazek and Darling wouldn't be looking over their shoulders at each other, but would at a third goalie who was picked up for next to nothing or off waivers and is in the press box?

I don't think that holding the door open on the bench is that much better of a spot than the press box, but I'm open to being corrected.

 

[CandyCanes]

Looks like the Canes added someone to their pro scouting staff

 

[spockBokk]

Getting Mason on a PTO and giving him a look in pre-season wouldn't be an awful idea. Yes its another wildcard, but with three of them somethings got to give. At the least it adds more competition.

https://thehockeywriters.com/predicting-professional-tryouts-2018/

Thought this was real for a second, almost had a caniption about Freddie Hamilton...then after visiting that site, the ole blood pressure came back down...

 

[Drivebytrucker]

PTOs for Chad Larose and Sergei Samsonov.

Only 36 and 39.... plenty of game left in them

 

[Blueline Bomber]

I noticed something odd about our schedule for this year. Out of 41 home games, only 1 falls on a Wednesday night. And only 3 games total take place on Wednesday.

Now I know weekday games typically draw lower than weekend games, but I wonder if Wednesday games draw lower than other weekdays.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

I want to get upset about PTOs, as some did with Torres a while back, but surprisingly, even I have limits.

 

[HisIceness]

Looks like the Canes added someone to their pro scouting staff

Had a brief stint in the last months of the Atlanta Thrashers. Has been an OHL scout since. Appears to be highly regarded. Seems to be fairly young too.

 

[My Special Purpose]

So Mrazek and Darling wouldn't be looking over their shoulders at each other, but would at a third goalie who was picked up for next to nothing or off waivers and is in the press box?

I don't think that holding the door open on the bench is that much better of a spot than the press box, but I'm open to being corrected.

Having three NHL goalies on the roster during the season is a horrible idea. It kills practice time, creates chaos, and doesn't help stop pucks. It will not create additional competition, but it will take *everyone* out of their routines. It's one of those ideas that sounds better than it works.

 

[GindyDraws]

As a Caniac who doesn't live in the Triangle, I'm buying ESPN+ this season because I know we'll get at least 10 games due to them likely having to use the "less glamorous" teams to make that service worth it.

For the 38th season, NHL on NBC will only have ONE game featuring Svechnikov.

*Road game? Check!
*Game against a team with NBC Sports affliliate? Check!
*Potentially pre-empted due to Carolina being out of playoffs? Most likely.

 

[geehaad]

I noticed something odd about our schedule for this year. Out of 41 home games, only 1 falls on a Wednesday night. And only 3 games total take place on Wednesday.

Now I know weekday games typically draw lower than weekend games, but I wonder if Wednesday games draw lower than other weekdays.

They've had a *very* low amount of Weds games for decades.

 

[Joe McGrath]

If they had lots of Wednesday games Forslund wouldn’t be calling many of them.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

They've had a *very* low amount of Weds games for decades.

I guess I just never noticed. I've got a reoccurring event on Wednesday evenings, so I wanted to see how many Canes games I'd be missing this year.

I will take 3 out of 82.

 

[tarheelhockey]

I noticed something odd about our schedule for this year. Out of 41 home games, only 1 falls on a Wednesday night. And only 3 games total take place on Wednesday.

Now I know weekday games typically draw lower than weekend games, but I wonder if Wednesday games draw lower than other weekdays.

I bet they do. Nobody want to go out late on a Monday or a Wednesday.

For whatever reason, Tuesday seems to be the target for early-mid-week activities, not just for the Canes but for just about everything else. I can’t tell you how many conflicts I’ve had with Tuesday games.