Thoughts on the Carolina Hurricanes?

[Elephant Igloo]

That's what happens when you are a national media darling like the Carolina Hurricanes

Maybe not mainstream but you're kidding yourself if you don't think HFBoards, r/hockey, Hockey Twitter, and Puck Daddy are head-over-heels in love with the Hurricanes.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Maybe not mainstream but you're kidding yourself if you don't think HFBoards, r/hockey, Hockey Twitter, and Puck Daddy are head-over-heels in love with the Hurricanes.

Pretty much the only thing you see on the internet anymore is Hurricanes coverage 24/7.

 

[Roboturner913]

I know, right? I keep trying to read up on the Maple Leafs, Rangers, Bruins and so on but these gosh-darn website just keep force-feeding unwanted Carolina Hurricanes adoration.

 

[Surrounded By Ahos]

Maybe not mainstream but you're kidding yourself if you don't think HFBoards, r/hockey, Hockey Twitter, and Puck Daddy are head-over-heels in love with the Hurricanes.

Oh yeah. It's good to be da king.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

I could see them finishing as high as 9th and as low as 13th in the conference

 

[Blue Shakehead]

Very good team. I really like what Francis has been doing for several years now and Bill Peters is one of the best coaches in hockey.

The crazy part about the Canes is that after Slavin (22), Faulk (24), Pesce (21) and Hanifin (19), they still have blue chip defensive prospects Hayden Fleury (20) and Jake Bean (19) in the system. Its kinda nuts.

They might have a top 5 defense already and if not, they definitely will be going forward. With such an imbalance between their forward and defense groups, they are going to have to make a trade at some point but there is no rush.

If Darling puts up the same kind of numbers he had last year, they should be at least a bubble team. Scoring will continue to be an issue, but Aho definitely takes another step and becomes a bonafide 65-70 point franchise #1 center.

I will be interested to see if ownership will support this team when they reach their potential or if they start peeling off some of the more expensive pieces?

 

[The Winter Soldier]

I do like that Skinner has found his game again. His best season is still his rookie year, but last year was his 2nd best season. Also I think Hanifin who is kinda lost in the talk of 2015 draftees will improve. And Aho can only continue to move fwd. Some good parts to this team. Will be interesting to see how they do.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

I do like that Skinner has found his game again. His best season is still his rookie year, but last year was his 2nd best season.

Only if your only measure is total points. Skinner has had a couple seasons where he was a much better player than his rookie season.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Maybe not mainstream but you're kidding yourself if you don't think HFBoards, r/hockey, Hockey Twitter, and Puck Daddy are head-over-heels in love with the Hurricanes.

Hurricanes love. You can run, but you can't hide. It's everywhere.

 

[Hokinaittii]

Young team that plays exciting hockey. Sucks that they play for small market but I can see the attendance growing as the team starts winning more.

 

[AveryStar4Eva]

I think that they will be in a similar position as last year, right on the bubble. They've made some good improvements over the summer so they could surprise.

 

[ijuka]

Weird how many people consider Hurricanes a lower echelon team. When improvements to young players are combined with their obviously stronger material next season, they're a bubble team at the minimum. It wouldn't be a surprise if they made the playoffs.

 

[Finlandia WOAT]

Kruger and TVR are massive additions. It gives the Hurricanes three defensive units, and Washington, Pittsburgh, Columbus and NYR are all 3 lines deep. Last year they had two, then they threw Derek Ryan (arguably the worst defensive center in the League) with Hanifin and AHL'er out onto the ice and prayed they woldn't **** up too much. It's why they had such an insane home-road split, they could hide those guys at home with offensive zone starts and easy competition, leaving Slavin and Staal to handle the hard work.

Now they have Slavin-Pesce; J. Staal with Faulk; and Kruger with Fleury and TVR. Fleury is the weak link here, he'll probably get burned by Kessel this year when Pitts goes 3 deep, but that is still a great improvement over last year.

Enough to make the playoffs? We'll see: but barring injury they have too much talent at defense and too much depth at forward (though lacking at center) to be a lotto team. They're better than New Jersey and Philly. Darling should be an improvement over Ward/Lack, aka the worst tandem in the League last year, whose ineptitude was still not enough to keep the Hurricanes out of the playoff race*, until the last week of March.

*: They were never in the WC slot (closest was 1 point out ) but they could have still reasonably made it until the Broons and Laffs went on winning streaks of their own.

I'll put it this way: the current Hurricanes team is their "core" going forward. J Staal, Skinner, TT, Aho, Lindholm, Rask (with Williams, Stempniak, Nordstrom, Ryan and McGinn the periphery) + Slavin, Pesce, Faulk, Hanifin + Darling.

They're still lacking a 1st line center, or even another good offensive center will do (like, say, Eric Staal at 3 million), but that's the configuration they're going with.

If they're healthy, if everyone plays to their top level and Darling plays like he's expected to (lower end starter, but not replacement level), and they still can't make the playoffs, it's time to start panicking.

 

[Byron Bitz]

As a leafs fan I'm jealous of their D

 

[Cardiac Jerks]

As a leafs fan I'm jealous of their D

As a canes fan I'm jealous of your young forwards.

 

[Vohaul]

A solid team already with a potential for much better than they displayed last season. Good group of defenders. They could use a little more firepower in their forward crop as they haven't been a very high scoring team.

But I have to say Aho really is a treasure both for us Finns and for Hurricanes. Not only is he a really smart player with great hands and vision but he's got so much fight and just the right kind of attitude too.. Almost equal in my eyes to Laine as far as promising young Finnish players go.

 

[Bjornar Moxnes]

Kruger and TVR are massive additions. It gives the Hurricanes three defensive units, and Washington, Pittsburgh, Columbus and NYR are all 3 lines deep. Last year they had two, then they threw Derek Ryan (arguably the worst defensive center in the League) with Hanifin and AHL'er out onto the ice and prayed they woldn't **** up too much. It's why they had such an insane home-road split, they could hide those guys at home with offensive zone starts and easy competition, leaving Slavin and Staal to handle the hard work.

Now they have Slavin-Pesce; J. Staal with Faulk; and Kruger with Fleury and TVR. Fleury is the weak link here, he'll probably get burned by Kessel this year when Pitts goes 3 deep, but that is still a great improvement over last year.

Enough to make the playoffs? We'll see: but barring injury they have too much talent at defense and too much depth at forward (though lacking at center) to be a lotto team. They're better than New Jersey and Philly. Darling should be an improvement over Ward/Lack, aka the worst tandem in the League last year, whose ineptitude was still not enough to keep the Hurricanes out of the playoff race*, until the last week of March.

*: They were never in the WC slot (closest was 1 point out ) but they could have still reasonably made it until the Broons and Laffs went on winning streaks of their own.

I'll put it this way: the current Hurricanes team is their "core" going forward. J Staal, Skinner, TT, Aho, Lindholm, Rask (with Williams, Stempniak, Nordstrom, Ryan and McGinn the periphery) + Slavin, Pesce, Faulk, Hanifin + Darling.

They're still lacking a 1st line center, or even another good offensive center will do (like, say, Eric Staal at 3 million), but that's the configuration they're going with.

If they're healthy, if everyone plays to their top level and Darling plays like he's expected to (lower end starter, but not replacement level), and they still can't make the playoffs, it's time to start panicking.

Carolina was one of the better teams last season in terms of corsi against suppression, and overall shot supression. They were about average in allowing scoring chances. They allowed more high danger chances than on average though, but not that much more. Their main issue was their dreadful goals against metrics, some of the worst in the league.

 

[Elephant Igloo]

Pretty much the only thing you see on the internet anymore is Hurricanes coverage 24/7.

You think you're being so clever trying to deflect but there is way more relentless positivity around the Hurricanes than, for instance, the Blackhawks, Jets, or Canadiens, teams that are hated for winning recently, winning in the past, or being Canadian (the Habs get to double-dip, plus they traded the internet's special baby boy Subban). Bashing small-market New South teams is out of fashion now! People can't stop [MOD] over the Predators. Why can't you admit that people want your team to do well? They love your possession metrics!

 

[linusandvarlamov]

I think they'll be better this year. If Darling manages to put up solid numbers they'll be shutting down a lot of opposing teams. And it's not like they don't have talent on the front end. IMO Aho is going to have an even stronger season.

They're obviously missing that big #1 center but I still think they squeeze into the playoffs this year.

 

[Carolinas Identity*]

You think you're being so clever trying to deflect but there is way more relentless positivity around the Hurricanes than, for instance, the Blackhawks, Jets, or Canadiens, teams that are hated for winning recently, winning in the past, or being Canadian (the Habs get to double-dip, plus they traded the internet's special baby boy Subban). Bashing small-market New South teams is out of fashion now! People can't stop [REDACTED] over the Predators. Why can't you admit that people want your team to do well? They love your possession metrics!

i live in a pretty hockey crazy market and no one talks about the hurricanes

 

[bleedgreen]

They're better than they were last season, and for some reason last season we were close to a playoff spot at times. I didn't think we were good enough last season to deserve a spot. This season I think going in the team has put themselves in a legit position to fight for the last couple of spots. I love that theyre now improved enough to be competitive for that spot but this "media darlings" backlash is getting old. No one is saying the canes are threatening for the cup, though once you're in the playoffs anyone can make a run. All the media has said is that they've had a good offseason, they're better than they were going into last season and that combined with playing the solid team game they have been under Peters might be enough to get into the dance.

People seem to be already rooting against us because of increased media coverage, that's ridiculous.

 

[Elephant Igloo]

I'm just annoyed with "smart fans" fawning over their Corsi numbers and the desire to be in on the ground floor of a team that most people don't like (not dislike, but just don't think about much). Plus, it's another way to stick it to northern fans, which has become very much in vogue as the entirety of Canadian hockey culture gets blamed for everything wrong with the game.

 

[Carolinas Identity*]

I'm just annoyed with "smart fans" fawning over their Corsi numbers and the desire to be in on the ground floor of a team that most people don't like (not dislike, but just don't think about much). Plus, it's another way to stick it to northern fans, which has become very much in vogue as the entirety of Canadian hockey culture gets blamed for everything wrong with the game.

if we are being fair, this post is basically doing exactly what you are protesting but in reverse

this post is railing against new age, younger fans who do not hold to the same hockey folklore previous generations have, and as such, mayhap as a result of the advent of the dawning of "fancy stats" and other metrics

if i may be so bold, i interpret your first sentence as you being annoyed with people who 'fawn' over new things and change to the game the same way steve kouleas must treat me as anathema for referring to 'sweaters', dressing rooms', and 'intermissions' as 'jerseys', 'locker rooms', and 'half-times'

also, what is wrong with wanting to be in on the ground floor of something? actually it is an apt comparison as they are such a new team, relatively speaking

they are not world beaters by any stretch but they are actually kinda fun to watch and they are a young team getting better and made a couple shrewd moves this off season

there is reason to be optimistic and look forward to the season even if we all know we won't win anything, at least not yet

and to your last point, that is very much a double edged sword as, while i admit there is vitriol that goes south to north, there is a lot that goes north to south as well

not justifying it as i am just as guilty of it as anyone, but it goes both ways

 

[No Fun Shogun]

Expecting them to show a lot of promise but still fall well short of a playoff spot.

 

[HisIceness]

Lets be honest, the Hurricanes media darling status would be so much worse if they were playing in Quebec. Lets all be thankful for the NHL in Raleigh