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2023-24 Canes Misc Thread

I'd assume that Roy will want to shuffle the line matchups at home and I'd guess he'll start by getting Horvat's line out against KK and Necas instead of Aho or Staal. That's gonna shift Carolina's D-pair setup, so look for Slavin and Burns to pair with KK's line while Skjei and DeAngelo get whichever line pairs up with Pageau's unit. I'd guess that will be Aho's line but maybe Roy will look to burn that line against Staal's group and try to get Nelson going offensively. Either way you slice it, NYI doesn't really match up well ... at least so long as KK can keep getting into the possession game with his group and Necas doesn't blow it by doing that turnover machine thing he sometimes does. Kuznetsov of course, remains the wild card. The Isles can't really do anything to match up with Carolina's fourth line, but they also can't afford to shorten the bench. Brindy is free to shift gears and throw Koozie up with Necas to change pace, or throw Drury up there if they need a bigger defensive presence and KK is doing one of his disappearing acts.

Either way look for DeAngelo to be sheltered and given every opportunity for offensive zone restarts. That's why he's with Skjei and not Slavin. You WANT Slavin for key defensive zone draws and you don't want to have to juggle the pairings any more than you have to. The Canes have used all three D pairings with all four forward lines, so they're not as stuck in their rotations as most teams. They'll juggle the 5 man groups, not the D pairings ... unless everything goes pear shaped.
 
I'll be VERY interested to see what Roy does with his setup. They played their version of the possession game in Game 1 and couldn't convert zone time into goals. Then they went to their soft trap but ended up yielding all manner of possession to Carolina despite turning a few scoring chances into early goals. Throwing Sorokin in net is all well and good, but it doesn't solve his problem. The best way for them to play is the most dangerous.
 
polarbare said:
Roy said it's Sorokin's net for game 3
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Honestly ... proably irrelevant. Sorokin had a rough second half, and even if his ego is sufficiently bruised to coax out an "eff you" showing and he ends up standing on his head in Game 3, that kind of crap rarely lasts.
 
agreed. He's not playing at the level he has in years past. He's still a very solid tendie but I don't fear him more than Varly right now
 
polarbare said:
agreed. He's not playing at the level he has in years past. He's still a very solid tendie but I don't fear him more than Varly right now
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Put it this way ... none of the betting odds sites changed their numbers when the switch was announced. And yes, I look at that stuff even though I never bet, because the sports books know what they're doing when it comes to expected outcomes. Otherwise they'd be out of business.
 
More stuff is leaking out on Pesce, and from some of the more reliable media sources. Sounds like the kind of thing you can play through after it stabilizes if you have to. So, more than likely it's an MCL injury or a partial ACL tear. Pesce is the slowest guy on the Canes' D when he's healthy, so if he's going to be gimpy I'd rather just figure something else out. We'll see how it unfolds.
 
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