Since The All Star Break (Are the Canes a good team next year?)

[Identity404]

Curious where we would be in the standings if J Staal Didn't miss the first half. It would be nice to be thinking about playoff hockey instead of the draft.

Peters system is legit, but who knows what happens next year. There are a lot of question marks on defense and the Canes are still 1 injury away from being a lotto team.

The last time the Canes were in the playoffs I was just graduating from college. Now I have grey hair... How time flies...

 

[Blueline Bomber]

Jordan Staal's injury will be similar to Ward's injury during the lockout year. Would they have made the playoffs if those players had stayed healthy in their respective years? Possibly. They certainly played like different teams with/without them.

 

[Carolinas Identity*]

someone should post this on the main board.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Curious to know how our last 17 seasons would have gone if we were the only injury-free team in professional sports.

 

[Identity404]

Sadly, still probably outside of the playoffs most years.

 

[RodTheBawd]

Curious to know how our last 17 seasons would have gone if we were the only injury-free team in professional sports.

An easy comment to make, but major injuries cripple budget/small market teams moreso than cap teams.

 

[tarheelhockey]

An easy comment to make, but major injuries cripple budget/small market teams moreso than cap teams.

No they don't.

 

[My Special Purpose]

Keep in mind that it's not all about Jordan Staal returning from injury. The Canes haven't played a meaningful game since November and it's always easier to play when the pressure is off. It actually explains a lot of their second-half surges of late. They're not getting better. They're not building anything. They're just loose because they have nothing to lose.

 

[HisIceness]

Curious to know how our last 17 seasons would have gone if we were the only injury-free team in professional sports.

Hell I wonder what our team would be like had we not blown that '08 game to Florida to end the season. I'm convinced we are still in some ways feeling the sting of that night.

 

[cptjeff]

The fluke with January and February is that everybody is healthy. This team has always been respectable when they are healthy. The problem is one player goes down, and everything collapses like a house of cards.

The wildcard for next year is Lindholm. The team could really benefit from him making the jump to legit top 6'r. He becomes a 60 point player, that really changes how things look offensively.

This team does not collapse when one player goes down. This team collapses when 4 of the top 6 go down. Losing Jordan Staal was way more of a hit than it should of been, but our injury issues this season were far, far deeper than just him. There are essentially no teams in this league that can deal with that for an extended period.

This team should be able to compete next year, but I am worried about the defense. Without looking at the stats, it seems like we've been allowing notably more chances and goals since Sekera left, and we have nobody of even remotely similar caliber to step in. We're going to need to replace him somehow, and we're likely going to have to break out the checkbook- McBain + 2nd for a player of that caliber ain't gonna happen again. Oh, would that it could. Fleury may well wind up being that guy, but he's gonna take another year or two, and then will likely have to spend some time on the 2nd pairing before graduating to the top pair, so we need not just a top 4 D, but a top 2 D. Without that top 2 D, I think we're a bubble team. With one, I think we'll be a middle of the pack playoff team.

 

[Cane mutiny]

I like Peters and his system. I think we are better off now that JR is concentrating on ruining the Pens. If RF doesn't draft all Lady Byng players, we should have a much brighter future going forward. Not sure we will actually make the playoff next year, but I would say there's a slim chance, though I can't see us going very far if we do. I am looking forward to a different kind of hockey team next season a least. Is this too optimistic? Plz let me be right, plz.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

I'm not sold as Hainsey being part of the Top 4 either. Not sure if it's just because we've put him in a top pairing role now, but he has looked godawful of late. Like, McBain-level turnovers leading directly to goals.

 

[My Special Purpose]

This team should be able to compete next year, but I am worried about the defense. Without looking at the stats, it seems like we've been allowing notably more chances and goals since Sekera left, and we have nobody of even remotely similar caliber to step in. We're going to need to replace him somehow, and we're likely going to have to break out the checkbook- McBain + 2nd for a player of that caliber ain't gonna happen again. Oh, would that it could. Fleury may well wind up being that guy, but he's gonna take another year or two, and then will likely have to spend some time on the 2nd pairing before graduating to the top pair, so we need not just a top 4 D, but a top 2 D. Without that top 2 D, I think we're a bubble team. With one, I think we'll be a middle of the pack playoff team.

I'm not sold as Hainsey being part of the Top 4 either. Not sure if it's just because we've put him in a top pairing role now, but he has looked godawful of late. Like, McBain-level turnovers leading directly to goals.

I think you guys are over-analyzing meaningless games at the end of a wasted season. Especially when we're playing other teams equally out of the playoffs, like Edmonton and Columbus. These games frequently devolve into games of shinny, and you can't get a true read on anybody. I listened to Chuck Kaiton for the first period tonight and he mentioned how loose coverage has been for the past week or so.

Again, these are people, not robots. When your team trades two top-4 d-men and a top-9 forward for nothing but picks and prospects, you tend to realize that the towel has been thrown in and you stop sacrificing life and limb.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

I think you guys are over-analyzing meaningless games at the end of a wasted season. Especially when we're playing other teams equally out of the playoffs, like Edmonton and Columbus. These games frequently devolve into games of shinny, and you can't get a true read on anybody. I listened to Chuck Kaiton for the first period tonight and he mentioned how loose coverage has been for the past week or so.

Again, these are people, not robots. When your team trades two top-4 d-men and a top-9 forward for nothing but picks and prospects, you tend to realize that the towel has been thrown in and you stop sacrificing life and limb.

Except the players saw the writing on the wall back in January:

“We’re not going to win 32 of the last 36 or whatever, and so be it,†said Hainsey. “But what we have to continue to worry about is what we can control, and that’s playing like we’ve been playing for a couple of weeks now and building up some wins.â€

And to their credit, they have won a lot more games of late. However, with Hainsey specifically, his play has taken a sharp decrease since the departure of Sekera and Gleason. For instance:

[NHL]2014020965-533-h[/NHL]
[NHL]2014020980-660-h[/NHL]

As Tripp said in the second clip, that was two games in a row that he made the same attempted pass to Staal right in the middle of the ice, only to have it picked off and end up in the net. Those kind of turnovers should receive criticism, regardless of the team's place in the standings.

I don't believe he had a similar one in tonight's game, though I believe he was in the box for the first Columbus goal.

 

[My Special Purpose]

Except the players saw the writing on the wall back in January:

First of all, seeing the writing on the wall and watching Andrej Sekera, Tim Gleason and Jiri Tlusty traded is another.

Secondly, a team trades away two top-4 defenseman and one of the guys who has to play a lot more minutes against a lot tougher competition looks shaky? STOP THE PRESSES. Somebody send out a news alert.

You asked and answered your own question.

However, with Hainsey specifically, his play has taken a sharp decrease since the departure of Sekera and Gleason. For instance:

Um, duh. Maybe those two things are related?

 

[Blueline Bomber]

First of all, seeing the writing on the wall and watching Andrej Sekera, Tim Gleason and Jiri Tlusty traded is another.

Secondly, a team trades away two top-4 defenseman and one of the guys who has to play a lot more minutes against a lot tougher competition looks shaky? STOP THE PRESSES. Somebody send out a news alert.

You asked and answered your own question.



Um, duh. Maybe those two things are related?

...Yeah, that's why I said as much in the original post. The same post you claimed I was "over-analyzing", but apparently agree with.

 

[Navin R Slavin]

We're not going to have any idea how good this team is until next December.

 

[Navin R Slavin]

Oh, and btw, if anyone from The Outer Banks of North Carolina is reading this message board:

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Thanks for your time.