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

[647Hockey]

They just aren’t very good. Very vanilla. They do everything ok but don’t have a core to push into top 4 in spring. They’re just, blah. They remind me of the jets

Very similar team to the 80s and ealry 90s Capitals. Solid regular seasons, no superstar players, and a very balanced team where forwards and dmen can move and get pts. The team is strong enough to plow through regular season teams, but come playoff time always come up short. Not even close to going far.

Also, some of their playoff wins come from weak teams like Isles who scrape into the playoffs in the last week of the season.

 

[Perfect_Drug]

Lacks elite talent.

 

[KevinRedkey]

The current Canes team is worse than the Blues were. That's why we're disagreeing.

Also the Blues were not the preseason 11th pick after the ROR trade, that is silly. They were a great roster that had been decimated by the wretched horrorshow that is Jake Allen and Doug Armstrong had the junkie fix for him until Binnington just broke him away.

I watch the Canes and love RBA and root for them as my adopted playoff team the last two years but they are not in this ballpark:

2018-2019 Blues roster GP

Bouwmeester 1240 regular, 74 playoffs, 17 NHL seasons + 1 lockout year, retired
Perron 1131 regular, 104 playoffs, 17 NHL seasons, active (missed 99 games due to Thornton)
ROR 1073 regular, 81 playoffs, 15 NHL seasons, active
Steen 1018 regular, 91 playoffs, 15 NHL seasons (would have played in lockout year too), retired
Pietrangelo 1016 regular, 139 playoffs, 14 full + 2 partial NHL seasons, active
Schenn 940 regular, 75 playoffs, 13 full + 2 partial NHL seasons, active
Bozak 814 regular season games, 68 playoffs, 13 NHL seasons, retired
Maroon 780 regular, 160 playoffs through Friday, 11 full + 2 partial NHL seasons, active
Tarasenko 753 regular, 105 playoffs through Friday (he scored), 12 NHL seasons, active (missed a lot due to injury)
Schwartz 730 regular, 102 playoffs, 12 full + 1 partial NHL seasons, active
Parayko 659 regular, 82 playoffs, 9 NHL seasons, active
Gunnarsson 629 regular, 68 playoffs, 12 NHL seasons, retired
Bortuzzo 560 regular, 60 playoffs, 12 full + 2 partial NHL seasons, active
Edmundson 530 regular, 82 playoffs, 9 NHL seasons, active
Barbashev 515 regular, 79 playoffs, 8 NHL seasons, active
Dunn 480 regular, 43 playoffs, 7 NHL seasons, active
Sundqvist 426 regular, 37 playoffs, 7 full + 2 partial NHL seasons, active
Fabbri 398 regular 30 playoffs, 8 NHL seasons 1 fully missed, active
Thomas 396 regular, 45 playoffs, 6 NHL seasons, active
Sanford 334 regular, 35 playoffs, 8 kinda NHL seasons, semi-active
Binnington 280 regular, 41 playoffs, 6 NHL seasons, active
Blais 257 regular, 27 playoffs, 7 NHL seasons, active

Was a Word Hero those playoffs apparently:
Allen 429 regular, 29 playoffs, 11 NHL seasons, active

Facts don't really care about your opinion or revisionist history.

 

[GIN ANTONIC]

They just aren’t very good. Very vanilla. They do everything ok but don’t have a core to push into top 4 in spring. They’re just, blah. They remind me of the jets

But they made it to the final 4 last year so…

 

[pekka55]

Decent regular season team, not that good playoff team. They lack starpower. They have a bunch of 50-80 point scorers and sure that's enough to be a consistent playoff team, but will not get you far in the playoffs.

 

[TommyDangles]

They lack an elite offensive d man. All the remaining teams have one except Carolina.

 

[T REX]

Tails

 

[KevinRedkey]

They lack an elite offensive d man. All the remaining teams have one except Carolina.

I'm admittedly just nitpicking, but I don't think Florida really has one either. Montour just kinda had an outlier season last year.

In the spirit of what you're touching on though - I'd say Aho/Slavin/Andersen is pretty weak 'best F/D/G trio" for anything past round 1. They don't really have that one guy they can lean on to shift into overdrive and steal a series. I do think the 7 remaining teams have at least one guy that can do that for sure.

 

[2014nyr]

I said the same thing after Jeffrey Epstein “died”

are you seriously suggesting he didn't hang himself in an unaliving proof cell without anything high enough off the ground to keep him from standing, the cellmate that was supposed to be there being moved a day prior and not replaced, the cameras recording him happening to go out that night, the prison having falsified records, and both people responsible for 24/7 surveillance falling asleep?

idno i thought it was a pretty airtight case. i could see having questions if he was the type of person who might be in possession of information that incriminated powerful people, but there's quite obviously nothing about him that would lead you to believe that was the case.

 

[Dicky113]

But they made it to the final 4 last year so…

Good point, I meant push past the final 4

 

[PocketNines]

Facts don't really care about your opinion or revisionist history.

What an idiotic response. Enjoy the losing

 

[Svechhammer]

It's a shame for his career that Guentzel is no longer a star player now that he plays for the Canes.

 

[MarotteMarauder]

Canes are indecisive in the O zone, then make bad decisions.

They go to the net but really don't stay there long, if a play isn't there immediately they vacate.

 

[Negan4Coach]

Perimeter team

The announcers were big mad tonight that the Canes elected not to take tons of low percentage shots from the perimeter like usual "They're getting away from their game AAAAAAA"

 

[Nogatco Rd]

My how the turntables have turned

 

[WarriorofTime]

Yeah the 2019 Blues were an extremely good team that each passing year correctly makes look more dangerous. Look at the roster of players, and the successes they have gone on to have elsewhere. The 2019 Blues had supporting players like Robert Thomas, Vince Dunn and Ivan Barbashev. Their rookie goalie turned out to be the franchise goalie for its history. Their captain became the only player to lead two different franchises in ice time to the Cup and he did it on first time clubs. You had guys like Alex Steen on the 4th line. Perron, Tarasenko, ROR, Schwartz, prime Schenn, prime Maroon factor. Tyler Bozak was on the third line and played a great swan song. The guys on the 2019 roster played a shit ton of NHL games in long careers.

The whole narrative about the Blues that year is wrong because hockey journalists are like high school level sophomore caliber writers and they couldn't resist the false "dead last" thing (.457 has never been 'dead last' in the NHL nor will it ever be, and indeed there were six significantly worse percentages on that day but we're too stupid in hockey world unlike the other major sports to grasp percentage versus raw points, it is Gorilla Time up in these brains). The Blues were preseason Cup favorites that year after the whole 2010s decade of being the West's top regular season team in wins.

The Blues were the weakest recent Stanley Cup winner, and that's why they are always the benchmark fans use to try and claim their team could win a Stanley Cup. They are the minimum hurdle of a modern Stanley Cup winner and the biggest anomaly

 

[WarriorofTime]

They just need to bite the bullet and commit to a window.

Imagine the Canes if they had Trocheck and Hamilton instead of Kotkaniemi and Burns. They need to retain Guentzel, but they won't.

Instead they'll continue to manage their assets and go for plays like Kuzy, Kotka, etc. and be continuously competitive but not getting over the hump.

A big X Factor is if Nikishin comes over and is truly the man. One more year in KHL then I would presume will come over with the season starting just as he turns 24. If they manage their processes well in the interim and they're getting a Number 1 Defenseman that just pops up like that, that would be massive and make them an instant favorite. At that point, with the players they should still have and where they would be with regards to their primes, they should go all in.

 

[hirawl]

The announcers were big mad tonight that the Canes elected not to take tons of low percentage shots from the perimeter like usual "They're getting away from their game AAAAAAA"

Ray Ferraro particularly was out to lunch about what was happening in the game. And he was observing it at the ice level between the benches ffs. It's like he didn't see a goddamn thing. That might be it actually. Someone get him something to stand on.

 

[WarriorofTime]

I'm admittedly just nitpicking, but I don't think Florida really has one either. Montour just kinda had an outlier season last year.

In the spirit of what you're touching on though - I'd say Aho/Slavin/Andersen is pretty weak 'best F/D/G trio" for anything past round 1. They don't really have that one guy they can lean on to shift into overdrive and steal a series. I do think the 7 remaining teams have at least one guy that can do that for sure.

Carolina has no superstars, very deep and complete team, but no superstars. That's been consistent throughout this nice run they've had and the biggest reason they can't get over the hump. Aho is the closest but falls a bit short.

 

[thaman8765678]

Turned out it was a jinx thread to the Rangers that was missing.

 

[Kaako Kappo]

I'm admittedly just nitpicking, but I don't think Florida really has one either. Montour just kinda had an outlier season last year.

In the spirit of what you're touching on though - I'd say Aho/Slavin/Andersen is pretty weak 'best F/D/G trio" for anything past round 1. They don't really have that one guy they can lean on to shift into overdrive and steal a series. I do think the 7 remaining teams have at least one guy that can do that for sure.

Hockey's a team sport. Toronto and Edmonton have no shortage of superstars they should be able to "lean on to steal the series", but that's not how it works. I'd argue that Vegas and Blues didn't have those either and managed to win. You'd ofc answer that Eichel, Marchessault or Stone were those guys, but your argument wouldn't hold too well because none of those are any better or worse than Aho. The thing is that they had all of those and more.

The problem with Carolina is that they're not as deep as people think. The center quality is straight up pathetic after Aho, Necas plays like he's in juniors and there's no true #1 pairing puck moving Dman on the team. It's their 6th playoffs in a row and Aho's line is still the only one consistently getting things done.

 

[kingsfanman]

Sounds like they need Pierre-Luc Dubois.

 

[HamiltonNHL]

They lack an elite offensive d man. All the remaining teams have one except Carolina.

Who the elite offensive D on the oilers ?

 

[Anton Dubinchuk]

Who the elite offensive D on the oilers ?

Evan Bouchard had 82 points this year and was 25th in scoring in the entire league.

 

[HamiltonNHL]

Evan Bouchard had 82 points

Evan Bouchard Hockey Stats and Profile at hockeydb.com

Statistics of Evan Bouchard, a hockey player from Oakville, ONT born Oct 20 1999 who was active from 2014 to 2024.

www.hockeydb.com

It's just more time on the ice with Drai / McDavid. Probably more PP time. It's less him than his line.

Evan Bouchard
Defense
Born Oct 20 1999  -- Oakville, ONT
Height 6.03 -- Weight 192 -- Shoots R


Selected by Edmonton Oilers round 1 #10 overall 2018 NHL Entry Draft

                                            --- Regular Season ---  ---- Playoffs ----
Season   Team                        Lge    GP    G    A  Pts  PIM  GP   G   A Pts PIM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2014-15  Oakville Blades             OJHL    1    0    1    1    0  --  --  --  --  --
2015-16  London Knights              OHL    43    2   15   17   24  10   0   2   2   2
2016-17  London Knights              OHL    68   11   33   44   24  14   3   4   7   6
2017-18  London Knights              OHL    67   25   62   87   54   4   1   4   5   6
2018-19  Edmonton Oilers             NHL     7    1    0    1    2  --  --  --  --  --
2018-19  Bakersfield Condors         AHL    --   --   --   --   --   8   3   5   8   6
2018-19  London Knights              OHL    45   16   37   53   40  11   4  17  21   6
2019-20  Bakersfield Condors         AHL    54    7   29   36   42
2020-21  Sodertalje SK               Swe-1  23    6   11   17   76
2020-21  Edmonton Oilers             NHL    14    2    3    5    2  --  --  --  --  --
2021-22  Edmonton Oilers             NHL    81   12   31   43   28  16   3   6   9   4
2022-23  Edmonton Oilers             NHL    82    8   32   40   28  12   4  13  17   4
2023-24  Edmonton Oilers             NHL    81   18   64   82   32
2023-24p Edmonton Oilers             NHL     8    3   10   13   14
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
         NHL Totals                        265   41  130  171   92  28   7  19  26   8