What's Preventing The Hurricanes From Taking That Next Step?

[nbwingsfan]

Can’t score. They don’t have an elite talent who drags them into the game on forward.

I don’t know if I buy that anymore.
The current veersioj of Aho is better than anyone on say Vegas or STL’s winning team. They also finally made a big move getting Guentzel to help him out

 

[Kranix]

As constructed they should be going deep every year. They're deep and methodical, but they're kind of like a way better version of last year's Kraken or the Islanders. Lots of "name" players up and down the lineup, but they will hit a wall unless something really magical happens. It's hard to win.
I also think they lack the greasiness and adaptability necessary to win it all.

 

[Osakahaus]

As constructed they should be going deep every year. They're deep and methodical, but they're kind of like a way better version of last year's Kraken or the Islanders. Lots of "name" players up and down the lineup, but they will hit a wall unless something really magical happens. It's hard to win.
I also think they lack the greasiness and adaptability necessary to win it all.

I feel insulted because the Hurricanes have way better talent than the islanders and Kraken, the problem lies both in net and in their fortitude. One thing goes wrong on home ice, and they begin to panic. They would greatly benefit from having an actual veteran leader who isn't old man Brent Burns.

Seriously if the Islanders series did ANYTHING wrong, it was not taking advantage of a severely declining Brent Burns.

 

[GIN ANTONIC]

There's no award for "should have"

There's no award for having the math on your side.

It's not as simple as "they're great analytically they're only beaten by great goaltending!"

Their gameplan leaves something to be desired. With the right matchups maybe they could win a cup but that can be said for most teams that make the playoffs.



I mean not to be a jerk but Carolina did trade for Fox.

Why they did, who knows, since it seemed like he wasn't going to sign with them from the beginning.

For sure... he'd be a very big specific case by case exception to that general rule. Calgary knew for damn sure he wasn't signing with them but Carolina had a couple years to see if they could get him to warm up to the idea of Carolina. In the end they re-couped 2 x 2nds so at least they got something.

New York has been very fortunate with number of high impact players choosing them as their preferred destination. Some cities are going to have that advantage but it's certainly not something that a team can/should bank on.

 

[Lt Dan]

They need more Ahos

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

You HAVE to get inside in the playoffs.
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The one series Carolina did it with consistency under Rod in the playoffs, they utterly smoked an elite Devils team in 5, granted a very young Devils team learning its way. But you would think they would've learned lessons going into the Florida and a rematch with NYR that's what you have to do.

I don’t know if I buy that anymore.
The current veersioj of Aho is better than anyone on say Vegas or STL’s winning team. They also finally made a big move getting Guentzel to help him out

STL isn't a repeatable team and Vegas got one of the best goaltending performances we'll see in Adin Hill

 

[bov]

Canes are soft as shit and have been for the duration of their contending "window", but in this case I think the Rangers are just a strong opponent. A couple of these games could've gone either way too, it really could be 2-1 Carolina.

 

[roon]

Canes are soft as shit and have been for the duration of their contending "window", but in this case I think the Rangers are just a strong opponent. A couple of these games could've gone either way too, it really could be 2-1 Carolina.

Agree'd - in game 3 the Hurricanes handed the Rangers the game when they completely forgot how to play hockey during the PP where they gave up the shorty and about 2 more odd man's while up a guy.

It's not like the Rangers have been dominant though.

 

[eco's bones]

This is the year it seems to me the Canes really need to make noise because their window could shut fast. They seem to have an abnormally large number of unrestricted and restricted free agents coming up over the next two summers including the entirety of their defense as UFA---4 guys this summer, 3 next. It will be interesting to see how they hold it together.

 

[nbwingsfan]

The one series Carolina did it with consistency under Rod in the playoffs, they utterly smoked an elite Devils team in 5, granted a very young Devils team learning its way. But you would think they would've learned lessons going into the Florida and a rematch with NYR that's what you have to do.



STL isn't a repeatable team and Vegas got one of the best goaltending performances we'll see in Adin Hill

That’s great, but changes nothing about them “not having the star power”. They clearly do.

 

[Over the volcano]

Problem is they're a bunch of jerks

 

[um]

Continually bringing back Freddie Anderson and starting him when clearly he’s not the guy is an interesting choice.

Then again so is continually believe Kotkenemi is magically going to become a 2C

It’s okay, they got Kuznetsov now!

 

[KevinRedkey]

Vancouver back in the Naslund days,
Ottawa in the Heatley days,
San Jose in the Nabokob days,
Carolina and Toronto now...

Some great teams just never quite pull it off sometimes. There's more 'right place, right time' to all of this than many would like to admit. St.Louis looked like they were in a somewhat similar boat, and they pulled one off. I don't think their roster was necesarily any better than the Canes was/is.

 

[kingsholygrail]

Brent Burns.

 

[Levitate]

Agree'd - in game 3 the Hurricanes handed the Rangers the game when they completely forgot how to play hockey during the PP where they gave up the shorty and about 2 more odd man's while up a guy.

It's not like the Rangers have been dominant though.

I mean the flip side of that is that the Rangers have been dominant on special teams. It's not that Carolina just "forgot how to play", the Rangers have a good and dangerous PK and they made Carolina pay for a mistake.

 

[Rsswmu]

The more hockey I watch, the more I think puck luck is the #1 determiner in who wins the cup, as there are so many relatively even matchups that come down to who gets the bounce.

I think if you replay these past three NYR/CAR games 100 times there's as many times when Carolina's up 3-0 as there is New York. They've all been one goal games, with two overtime games, where absolutely anything can happen.

Money Puck's Deserve-to-Win-O-Meter (which I think is in an interesting calculation) had Carolina as the better team for Games 1 and 3 for what that's worth.

Moneypuck’s formulas are so off. The 2 on 1 shorthanded goal was a 10% chance the two breakaways were each 10% or under. Not sure what how they come up with the numbers but they are way off.

 

[Dread Clawz]

They just got unlucky the last 2 games. It could easily be 2-1 Canes right now.

 

[SEALBound]

They just got unlucky the last 2 games. It could easily be 2-1 Canes right now.

I agree with this.

More than anything, I'm seeing self-inflicted wounds. A couple of bad penalties combined with a bad PP this playoffs...not the best combo if you want to be the President's Trophy winners.

 

[benedictTavares]

They need more Ahos

We can trade you wish.com Aho. Price is cheap!!!!!!!

 

[Voight]

IMO they are missing a gamebreaking offensive talent.

 

[Uncle Scrooge]

I mean, as it stands, it's losing OT games. They just make a huge difference. If you're on the other end of those games it's hard to win a series, especially against great teams.

Looking back, this team seems to have a hard time in the playoffs against other strong teams. This year they're down 3-0 to the Rangers. The Rangers also beat them in 2022, though that was a seven game series. FLA swept them last year. Tampa beat them in five en route to a second straight Cup. When Bergeron and Krejci were still around, the Bruins beat them quickly in 2019 and 2020.

I think losing to Boston was expected. The Canes weren't yet at the level they've been the last few years and the Bruins were top of the League.

Tampa had the best team in the League, and nobody was able to beat them.

Against the Panthers they obviously couldn't score, it was such a tight series and that's were their injuries kind of hurt. Svechnikov out and Pacioretty who was brought in to help them score more down the stretch didn't work out. They really needed a Guentzel type addition last year, but did hardly anything. Some bad luck as the Svech injury happened after the deadline.

I give them a "pass" for those series' to be honest, as in I don't think they choked or anything. Winnable games but I didn't like their chances to win 4 in any of them.

But then there's the Rangers. Absolutely should win at least 1 of the 2, especially the previous time they played. Rangers just kind of have their number, as the combination of Shesterkin, special teams and MSG is poison to the Canes. But that's no excuse.

Right now I think the lack of a 2C is a huge problem. When Kuzy's been scoring you see the difference it makes, but he's just not that good anymore. KK doesn't have what it takes and Drury is still developing.

Aho is a bonafide 1C, but he's no superstar. A guy like that needs more support.

 

[Goose]

Moneypuck’s formulas are so off. The 2 on 1 shorthanded goal was a 10% chance the two breakaways were each 10% or under. Not sure what how they come up with the numbers but they are way off.

Yeah they're not perfect, that's for sure, but I think there's some value there, in context, with a dose of salt, etc. etc.

 

[Stickpucker]

they're ugly and smell bad

This isn't a thread about Zibenijad

 

[Eco]

What’s that got to do with the team on the ice? The owner really only wants to pay the players, but they do get to the cap so “cheap” doesn’t really apply where it matters the most. RBA makes sure his staff is taken care of but that staff is part of a team that struggles to take the next step….maybe we’re ready to get fresh blood in there?

The Canes could use some fresh blood kind of everywhere.

Well, typically you can't attract top talent behind the bench if you aren't willing to pay them.

This leads to either an inexperienced or less talented PP coach, goalie coach, O coach, D coach, whatever, which turns out to be huge when you see teams that have lost a top assistant and then suddenly their PP/PK or another part of the game goes to shit.

 

[Kimota]

No more dancing.