• Moderators, please send me a PM if you are unable to access mod permissions. Thanks, Habsy.

GDT: Canes @ Dallas, 2/11 at 8:30 pm Eastern

i think the canes got most of the boxes checked yesterday
4 on 2 leading to a score
4 straight stick penalties - well, one was a holding the stick
lazy passes - Gardiner....
Letting Dallas get all the loose pucks
and probably others
 
The goaltending needs to be addressed by the summer, no sense having a team that you believe to be a contender and then expecting mediocre goalies to get you to the promised land. It's getting to a point where the Canes have to start thinking about a true 60 game stud in net instead of trying to pigeon hole the position with these average tandems. I know it's easier to look back now on things, but Robin Lehner sat out there in free agency for quite some time and was available and the Canes had zero interest last summer. Lehner has quietly put together two very solid seasons together on two different teams and now deserves a long term gig. Holtby might be out there this summer, but the Canes cannot keep doing what they have been doing in goal and expecting different results.
 
Look ... warts and all, the team is on pace for 98-100 points. That's normally a playoff team, although the imbalance between the East and West this year is conspiring against that. They've got a real need to correct the current issues on D, and need a personnel shakeup to make that happen I think. I'm not giving up on this team yet.
 
The goaltending needs to be addressed by the summer, no sense having a team that you believe to be a contender and then expecting mediocre goalies to get you to the promised land. It's getting to a point where the Canes have to start thinking about a true 60 game stud in net instead of trying to pigeon hole the position with these average tandems. I know it's easier to look back now on things, but Robin Lehner sat out there in free agency for quite some time and was available and the Canes had zero interest last summer. Lehner has quietly put together two very solid seasons together on two different teams and now deserves a long term gig. Holtby might be out there this summer, but the Canes cannot keep doing what they have been doing in goal and expecting different results.
I've seen at least 5 professional reporters indicate that the Hurricanes DID have interest in Lehner this summer. I've never seen any specifics as to why that interest didn't result in signing the guy, but life is complicated that way.

I'm not minimizing the need for better goaltending by any means, but once again I'll point out that the guys in front bear at least as much responsibility for the number of Grade A chances against that this team is giving up. There were some fairly illuminating charts floating around the internet on that subject just last weekend. The Canes not only lead the NHL in expected goals against, but do so by a HUGE margin when you factor in frequency. Both of the goalies are actually above average when you look at expected goals against versus actual. Timing is a factor, but the general statistical trend indicates that the defensive zone coverage is much more to blame than the keepers.
 
I hear everyone on the goaltending uncertainty, but I think the bigger problem right now is defensive effectiveness....We may not give up a ton of changes, but we give up the most high danger chances. And most seems to be caused by really bad plays--lazy passes, predictable rims around the boards that get stolen, failure to clear, or passing 3 feet behind a skater. Hamilton has made the defense a mess. The turnovers aren't constant, but when they happen they are daggers. What does happen over and over is we can't clear our zone with any speed anymore, we don't possess the puck (its dump and chase or dump and change).....Gardiner was awful last night.

I think we are where we are because of the crazy talent of Aho, Svech, and Turbo (and Hamilton). Now everyone is is muddling--and then those guys create a miracle or another line gets lucky.

But it all starts by our inability to clear our zone with possession and speed.

(was writing while you were posting, JB)
 
I knew I opened myself up on that one, LOL. And I agree on the poodle. Beautiful golden.

Jack Daniels, the Golden at Westminster, won best in group at the National Dog Show in Philly, but couldn't pull off best in show. The dog world deep state is anti-Golden.

Oh, and just so my post on topic: puck.
 
Hard to know where even to begin with this season's roster.

Goaltending will need to be solved before our real window of contention opens as the core approaches their mid-20's, but we are getting the average save percentage that should work if we were limiting the quantity of shots like last season. Plus, quality has increased (placing us all alone in the "Fun" corner of those charts jeffbear referenced) since we cannot seem to get the puck out of our own zone on any kind of consistent basis. Last night looked like a half-court game for large stretches, particularly in the second. And those turnovers at the blue line lead to high-percentage right down the middle shots just as everyone's heading the wrong way and/or regrouping.

In their heads they seem to see themselves as still a "hard to play against" fore-checking team...but they're not. But since our reputation is still that we are, we do get everyone's "you better bring it" effort, just like their coaches exhorted. So we're getting out-hustled. You can see it in the vectors of individual movements and the results of the individual battles.

The team just generally seems to lack situational awareness. Perhaps due to the youth, since that's a life-experience skill. But they lack it in the moment and they seem to lack it from a where-am-I-in-the-season perspective, as well.

I'm going to be okay if they miss the playoffs. I just hope we realize we will in time to make some major adjustments before the deadline and not have to wait until the draft to do it all.

But I also haven't given up on the team. We have what it takes if we can get it going. And also have a couple of players in Charlotte that could help if we can get Rod to play them. Plus I do expect them to be active before the deadline in a positive manner, not just fire sale.

Not panicking over last night, which was pretty much a predictable auto-loss. Just not liking what I'm seeing from any of the games at the moment. Need some pants-on-fire hockey, guys. Stat.
 
Last edited:
I've seen at least 5 professional reporters indicate that the Hurricanes DID have interest in Lehner this summer. I've never seen any specifics as to why that interest didn't result in signing the guy, but life is complicated that way.

I'm not minimizing the need for better goaltending by any means, but once again I'll point out that the guys in front bear at least as much responsibility for the number of Grade A chances against that this team is giving up. There were some fairly illuminating charts floating around the internet on that subject just last weekend. The Canes not only lead the NHL in expected goals against, but do so by a HUGE margin when you factor in frequency. Both of the goalies are actually above average when you look at expected goals against versus actual. Timing is a factor, but the general statistical trend indicates that the defensive zone coverage is much more to blame than the keepers.
I think looking back now the Canes probably should have signed Lehner for the same two year term as Mrazek and paid him more cash to shore things up. Lehner ended up with another one year deal and perhaps it didn’t help things that the Canes swept the Islanders with Lehner in net and that was pretty fresh for the Canes when July 1st arrived.
 
If the Canes had been willing to go multi-year with Lehner, they would have signed him I think. For whatever reason, they weren't ... and neither was anyone else who was any good. Lehner's been pretty open about that ... at least as much as he can be without burning any bridges. He ended up in Chicago because he thought it was the best springboard to a real contract.

As to whether or not he'd have been better than Mrazek as Carolina's 1A, I mean ... probably, yeah. His career has been pretty consistently good aside from that one season when he was really dealing with the bottom end of his addiction curve. And even then he managed to post a league average save percentage behind a bad Buffalo defense. He's more positionally sound and less of a risk taker in net than Mrazek and just generally a more stable goalie. Ironic I guess, since off the ice he's been far less stable ... which is almost certainly why he was sorting through garbage contract offers last summer. I was pretty open that, personally I wanted the Canes to take a strong run at the guy. I understand why they hedged their bets though, and they they certainly weren't alone in doing so.
 
Back
Top