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The Hurricanes lost to the Penguins 3-1 Tuesday, and they sent defenseman Ron Hainsey with them for a 2017 second round pick and minor league forward Danny Kristo.
I doubt the Hurricanes will qualify for the postseason this year. I project them to be sellers and to relieve Bill Peters as head coach at season's end.
The other upcoming UFAs are Bickell, Stalberg, Ryan, McClement, and Tennyson. Of those the two likely to be in demand for PK, 4th line, or depth duty on a contender are Stalberg and McClement.
I think it's unlikely that Francis will fire Peters, but it's not inconceivable. Likewise I think it's unlikely that Karmanos will fire Francis, but it's not inconceivable. The fundamental problems at the Canes continue to be (1) the roster has too many AHL-caliber players, (2) none of the highly-paid players (Faulk, Rask, Skinner, Staal) is having a great year, and (3) Ward ran out of gas but there is no backup for him. Firing Peters won't fix #1 or #3, and I doubt it's the explanation for #2 either.
Before we played the Pens last month, we had scored 4 more goals than the other team(s) we played this year.
Outscored 24(?) goals since.
Fell off a cliff hit the wall, whatever.
Amazing to go 14-2-1 at home and lose all momentum.
The 5 day break really didn't help either. But, it is a negative across the league for quality play.
Before we played the Pens last month, we had scored 4 more goals than the other team(s) we played this year.
Outscored 24(?) goals since.
Fell off a cliff hit the wall, whatever.
Amazing to go 14-2-1 at home and lose all momentum.
The 5 day break really didn't help either. But, it is a negative across the league for quality play.
That sucks. I remembered they were doing pretty good at one point.
The blue-line has improved big-time from where it was even 2 years ago, I mean who knew Slavin and Pesce would be as good as they are? Hanifin is still developing and Faulk seems to be getting better after his slow start.
Now they need scorers. Sebastian Aho is an exciting player and it's good to see Jeff Skinner get back to his old ways, but we need guys like Jordan, Rask, Lindholm, etc. to step it up more.
We also need better goaltenders at this point. Ward is not getting any younger and would probably either benefit from being a backup or being traded. Lack has been overall, disappointing. I'm sort of hoping we can get Marc-Andre Fleury from Pittsburgh this off-season. I know he has had his struggles but I think a fresh start somewhere else would do wonders for him.
I don't think Francis or Peters are going anywhere, nor should they. Francis is building this team basically from the ground up. The team is also one of the youngest in the league I believe, growing pains are to be expected. That said there's been improvements since Francis and Peters took over the GM and Head Coach jobs. The Penalty Kill for example has been insanely good for a majority of this season, best it's been since the Cup year probably. The Power Play needs work but it's a lot better than it ever was under Maurice and Muller. Guys like Justin Faulk and Victor Rask (both 2nd round picks) took big steps forward towards their development as players under the current management. And Slavin and Pesce being as good as they are has been a breath of fresh air.
This upcoming off-season and next season are probably going to be telling for the future of this franchise. At some point, division foes like the Rangers and the Flyers are going to start to take steps back in the standings, which if everything falls into place, could open up a spot for us at regular seasons end.
The blue-line has improved big-time from where it was even 2 years ago, I mean who knew Slavin and Pesce would be as good as they are? Hanifin is still developing and Faulk seems to be getting better after his slow start.
Now they need scorers. Sebastian Aho is an exciting player and it's good to see Jeff Skinner get back to his old ways, but we need guys like Jordan, Rask, Lindholm, etc. to step it up more.
We also need better goaltenders at this point. Ward is not getting any younger and would probably either benefit from being a backup or being traded. Lack has been overall, disappointing. I'm sort of hoping we can get Marc-Andre Fleury from Pittsburgh this off-season. I know he has had his struggles but I think a fresh start somewhere else would do wonders for him.
I don't think Francis or Peters are going anywhere, nor should they. Francis is building this team basically from the ground up. The team is also one of the youngest in the league I believe, growing pains are to be expected. That said there's been improvements since Francis and Peters took over the GM and Head Coach jobs. The Penalty Kill for example has been insanely good for a majority of this season, best it's been since the Cup year probably. The Power Play needs work but it's a lot better than it ever was under Maurice and Muller. Guys like Justin Faulk and Victor Rask (both 2nd round picks) took big steps forward towards their development as players under the current management. And Slavin and Pesce being as good as they are has been a breath of fresh air.
This upcoming off-season and next season are probably going to be telling for the future of this franchise. At some point, division foes like the Rangers and the Flyers are going to start to take steps back in the standings, which if everything falls into place, could open up a spot for us at regular seasons end.
Ended up on the scoresheet tonight and recorded a shutout.
Stempniak, McClement, Nordstrom, and Teravinen need to step it up more.
The window for Ward to play better in goal has closed. The Hurricanes need to shop for a primary goaltender to replace Ward. This should have been done prior to the 2016-2017 season.
The window for Ward to play better in goal has closed. The Hurricanes need to shop for a primary goaltender to replace Ward. This should have been done prior to the 2016-2017 season.
But they have shopped, and did shop in the off season.
Consensus opinion is that the goalie market is very, very tight.
Ward had a slow start but played well until he ran out of gas after playing every game for a long time... partly because of Lack's injury, partly because Francis and Peters have not shown confidence in Lack. Until the last game, Lack had not given Francis and Peters any indication that he was worthy of confidence.
If Ward has a backup who can play 25-30 games a season without hurting the team, then Ward is probably good enough. Ward is not as injury-prone as he once was, but he's also not as young. Either we get a backup for him or we replace him with a younger goalie.
Problem is, free-agent goalies are not plentiful and the pipeline that the Canes have (Altshuller and Nedeljkovic) has not done well this season in Charlotte. Most of Charlotte's wins have come from a 35 year-old Leighton... not a good sign.
Ward is not an elite goalie but he is no longer getting paid like one.
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