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GDT: Canes v. Devils 12/20 7:00

A

andyt

Canes Moderator
Staff member
Is this the first meaningful game against the Devils since the 2009 Playoffs?

The Canes are riding an 11 game point streak that allowed them to close what was an 11 point gap on the Devils to a tie. The Devils own the tiebreaker. The lineup could be a bit unsettled. Drury was sent to Chicago yesterday ahead of the roster freeze. We’ll have to see if there are any transactions today or if Aho is good to go. Expect Koochie in goal.

The Devils have to be counted on as one of the surprise teams of the year. Since losing the 2012 Final, they’ve made the playoffs once, in 2017-18. They finished with 63 points last season, 5th worst in the league. But these are clearly not those Devils. They’re coming in on a 5 game losing streak, one of them in OT, and 4-4-2 in their last 10. They have the best road points % in the league at 11-1-1. Jack Hughes leads with 16 goals, he and Jesper Bratt have 20 assists. Bratt and Nico Hischier are also in double figures for goals. Dougie Hamilton has 7 goals, 17 assists. Vitek Vanacek has carried the load in goal, starting 18 games. He’s at 2.37/.912. Mackenzie Blackwood completed a conditioning stint in Utica, he’s been out since November 3 with a sprained MCL. Before the injury, he wasn’t great, at 2.79/.880. The Devils can score, 7th in goals per game and 3rd in goals against. They’re 20th on the PP, 10th on the PK.

Red jerseys tonight. Bally Sports South for TV.
 
That five game losing streak begs a bit of attention. NJ a mess of a 6-4 game to the Islanders at home on 12/9 with the backup in net and then promptly went to the Garden and blew a 3-1 lead to lose to the Rangers in OT. I mean, that's all normal stuff, but they backed up with three pretty lifeless loses at home. They only managed 4 total goals in those 3 games, but have been stingy on defense all season for the most part. Bottom line ... don't expect a lot of open ice action tonight. This might be a good matchup, but it's not likely to be all that entertaining aside from the tension.

Now watch ... somebody will score 7 tonight. My job here is done.
 
Aho skating with Coghlan at the morning skate, but no word on who else is there. Koochie is in the starters crease.
 
Was it ever announced what Aho injured to keep him out this long? I thought initially it was said to be a game or two...
 
jeffbear said:
Bottom line ... don't expect a lot of open ice action tonight. This might be a good matchup, but it's not likely to be all that entertaining aside from the tension.
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That would describe most games against the Devils - dating back to the clutch & grab days.
 
CanadaCanes said:
Was it ever announced what Aho injured to keep him out this long? I thought initially it was said to be a game or two...
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Nope. Carolina is carrying on their tradition of saying as little about injuries as is humanly possible. Somebody will mumble something when Aho finally comes back to full practice.

Best guess ... high ankle or groin. Something medium term that's kept him away from the ice.
 
jeffbear said:
I'd love for somebody to dig in and fill out that story. I don't really care, but I am curious about what the mechanism was that triggered the paper re-assignment.
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DW is saving $4,000 the way I save pennies from the couch; don't hate. :ROFLMAO:
 
jeffbear said:
I'd love for somebody to dig in and fill out that story. I don't really care, but I am curious about what the mechanism was that triggered the paper re-assignment.
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I suspect it was the emergency loan exception to the roster freeze. He had to be in Chicago, on paper at least, so he could be recalled on an emergency basis. That allows the team to send him down if Aho is available before 12/28. Drury’s first recall on 11/8 wasn’t listed as an emergency. Note that Koochie was.

CapFriendly hasn’t posted the transaction yet, but that’s what I expect.

www.capfriendly.com

Thank You - CapFriendly - NHL Salary Caps

Thank you for the amazing 9 years
www.capfriendly.com www.capfriendly.com
 
I think it's as we discussed in the other thread. By doing that paper transaction, the Canes are now free to send Drury back down to Chicago during the roster freeze. Had they not done that paper transaction, even with Aho back, Drury would have to stay with the Canes until the roster freeze was over.

Chicago plays 3 games this week, Wed-Fri.
 
Makes sense ... good thing we have friends on a message board to do the job a beat reporter should be doing.
 
So is Aho 1C when he comes back, Stastny 2C, Kotkaniemi 3C and Staal 4C going forward you think? That would be my guess.
 
Christer said:
So is Aho 1C when he comes back, Stastny 2C, Kotkaniemi 3C and Staal 4C going forward you think? That would be my guess.
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2C means what to you? Stastny centering Jarvis and Turbo? I'm not sure that's happening. And Staal will still be centering Fast and somebody and taking on the primary checking role regardless of what you call that line.
 
StormChaserBH said:
Staal-Martinook-Fast as a line are going nowhere for the foreseeable future no matter how you number them
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No I get that. I am just calling them 4th line.
jeffbear said:
2C means what to you? Stastny centering Jarvis and Turbo? I'm not sure that's happening. And Staal will still be centering Fast and somebody and taking on the primary checking role regardless of what you call that line.
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Jarvis is in the top two lines until Max comes back. Then I guess he is on the third along with maybe Noesen and Kotkaniemi.
Aho, Necas and Max on the first and Stastny, Teuvo and Svech on the second would maybe be what I would like to see.
 
Christer said:
No I get that. I am just calling them 4th line.
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Calling that (Staal's line) a 4th line when they'll still be getting around 15 minutes per game seems fairly pointless to me. Especially when the actual 4th line (currently Drury's line) is getting 8-10 minutes. Stastny is just gonna slide down where he was. The whole point of signing that guy (aside from HOPEFULLY getting some goals out of him) was that he can literally slot in anywhere else in the lineup for an injured player.
 
I would much rather have Stastny centering the second line than Kotkaniemi and Staals line can get cut back a bit on time 5 v 5. Having Jarvis, Drury, Kotkaniemi, Noesen or whoever is left for that 3rd, or if you wanna call it 4th line, barely playing doesn't seem ideal for those young players (and I know Noesen isn't young but the others are).
 
Christer said:
I would much rather have Stastny centering the second line than Kotkaniemi and Staals line can get cut back a bit on time 5 v 5. Having Jarvis, Drury, Kotkaniemi, Noesen or whoever is left for that 3rd, or if you wanna call it 4th line, barely playing doesn't seem ideal for those young players (and I know Noesen isn't young but the others are).
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Tell it to Brind'Amour, because he's on a different page. But there's no reality where I can imagine him cutting back on Staal's ice time this season. That's still the primary checking unit and has been consistently effective all season ... on a team where consistency has been an issue otherwise.
 
Without even going into advanced stats, on a team that has only scored 9 more goals than the opposition, Staal/Martinook/Fast are +4/+7/+2, each with 15-16 minutes TOI in that checking role (granted that they aren't always together, but mostly). No way Brindy should be changing that at all. Goaltending isn't an issue with Freddie about to come back. Let's fix the PP and PK and get our scoring lines going. This team is better than it's been showing so far.
 
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