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

GDT: Canes v. Red Wings 3/28 7:00

cmaleski2

Well-known member
Canes and Wings go again tonight at PNC in what is really a must win for the Canes.

I expect that other than backup goalie, the Canes will roll out the same lineup with possible forward line adjustments. The Ryan Murphy drive to 35 will continue and I would think that Nedeljkovic will be flying up from Florida to man the door for the Canes tonight with Charlotte playing in Cleveland this evening (we should have an announcement on the emergency recall sometime by noon).

In other action important to the Canes long shot playoff chances, Nashville is at Boston, Florida is at Toronto. Philly also plays tonight but the reality is that for the Canes this is all about the 4 teams in front of them at this point. All of the teams ahead of the Canes need to lose multiple games cleanly and the Canes need to get 2 points every time pretty much from here on out. There is still a scenario where Toronto goes on a major swoon, Boston takes the 3rd position on the Atlantic and the Canes sneak into the 2nd wildcard spot so we are actually rooting for Florida to beat Toronto tonight. Any scenario where the Canes make the playoffs is very unlikely, but still possible. Grabbing the one point late in the game last night was important.

So root for Nashville, root for Florida, and hope the Canes can get the 2 points tonight to keep the crazy longshot dream alive.

I'm hoping the Canes rally from here on out to honor Eddie Lack and don't lose focus and fall apart. Yeah, professionals doing a job, get ready for next game and perform, blah blah blah, but that injury last night had to shake up the Canes.
 
Last edited:
I think the drive to 35 is over. Murphy left the game last night with a lower body injury. No morning skate so we might not know until this afternoon.

Fox Sports Carolinas for TV.
 
I think the drive to 35 is over. Murphy left the game last night with a lower body injury. No morning skate so we might not know until this afternoon.

Fox Sports Carolinas for TV.

I thought he got sent to his room again.
 
If Murphy can't play then Dahlbeck has officially "secured" himself a contract from the Canes for next season. On the ice for the rest of this season this won't matter since Murphy is a nightmare out there. If anything that would allow Peters to not have to play Murphy again. IF he got hurt it must have happened in the last half of the 3rd period because Murphy was out there. I just assumed the Canes shortened the bench as they have been doing with Murphy for most of the past couple of weeks.
 
A logical conclusion, but the Canes game day twitter feed said it was a LBI.

Probably from a coach putting a deserved boot in his backside. Alarmingly poor decision-making last night, even by his standards. At one point, I was begging for him to be benched.
 
Probably from a coach putting a deserved boot in his backside. Alarmingly poor decision-making last night, even by his standards. At one point, I was begging for him to be benched.

I was hollering to send him straight to the showers!
 
this has been really exciting stuff. Canes need this win tonite. Those neutral zone giveaways last night were so uncharacteristic of their recent play. I guess Tennyson draws back into the line up? I sure hope he's hungry.
 
If Murphy can't play then Dahlbeck has officially "secured" himself a contract from the Canes for next season. On the ice for the rest of this season this won't matter since Murphy is a nightmare out there. If anything that would allow Peters to not have to play Murphy again. IF he got hurt it must have happened in the last half of the 3rd period because Murphy was out there. I just assumed the Canes shortened the bench as they have been doing with Murphy for most of the past couple of weeks.

Right now It looks like one of Eddie Lack, Lee Stempniak or Joakim Nordstrom would be the Vegas expansion selection based on an assumed Canes protection list of Seven forwards, three defensemen and one goaltender:

Cam Ward-G
Justin Faulk-D
Trevor Carrick-D
Klas Dahlbeck-D (if tendered a 2017/18 contract)
Jordan Staal-F
Elias Lindholm-F
Jeff Skinner-F
Viktor Rask-F
Brock McGinn-F
Teuvo Teravainan-F
Phil DiGiuseppe-F


McClement, Ryan and Tennyson are UFA's to be, Aho, Pesce, Slavin, Hanafin and Wallmark are exempt.

You have to wonder if Francis may explore that third protected D slot where Dahlbeck projects now with an acquired player via trade right before the expansion draft. Anaheim has the likes of Josh Manson and Shea Theodore that may have to be exposed...would Bob Murray take one of the Canes second round picks in a trade for one of his extra dmen? Teams must submit their list of protected players by June 17, 2017.
 
Last edited:
One thing on that list CanadaCanes.....if Murphy fails to get to 35 games then I'm assuming Dahlbeck will be extended and then be exposed as our mandatory minimum DMan exposure. In that case we have an extra DMan spot available on that protection list. If it plays out that way that leads to all kind of interesting options where the Canes can go out and make a trade for a Dman that another team doesn't have a protection spot for. Even if Murphy does somehow make it to 35 games, Ronnie could still look to trade for a a Dman and protect him instead of Dahlbeck. Otherwise I think that list is spot on unless Francis makes some deals before the expansion draft. One could argue that Lack could end up being protected and Cam exposed based on Lack's recent play, not sure how that ultimately plays out. I don't think there is any chance Cam Ward would be taken by Vegas. If the Canes really want a chance to be rid of one of their 2 goalies to Vegas then exposing Lack is probably the smarter move.

Speaking of the expansion draft, there have been rumblings that the NHL is going to look to keep all of the submitted protection lists secret in order to protect the teams and GMs from having to expose their strategies. While there will be a big 'made for TV' event where the results of the expansion draft are revealed, you won't know in advance who each team actually protected (which saps some of the intrigue from the entire process).
 
Last edited:
Stick tap to Brian LeBlanc, stealing from his Twitter, after the Canes tweeted that Murphy was out with a LBI.

"Hello, Klas Dahlbeck's agent? Ron Francis here. What kind of contract are you looking for? Great. You've got a deal."
 
One thing on that list CanadaCanes.....if Murphy fails to get to 35 games then I'm assuming Dahlbeck will be extended and then be exposed as our mandatory minimum DMan exposure. In that case we have an extra DMan spot available on that protection list. If it plays out that way that leads to all kind of interesting options where the Canes can go out and make a trade for a Dman that another team doesn't have a protection spot for. Otherwise I think that list is spot on unless Francis makes some deals before the expansion draft.

Speaking of the expansion draft, there have been rumblings that the NHL is going to look to keep all of the submitted protection lists secret in order to protect the teams and GMs from having to expose their strategies. While there will be a big 'made for TV' event where the results of the expansion draft are revealed, you won't know in advance who each team actually protected (which saps some of the intrigue from the entire process).

I agree CMal...with Francis holding lots of extra currency in early round picks and an extra D slot open...he could really use that to his advantage via trade prior to June 17th! The other extra bonus for the Canes is they really have no fear of losing anyone of real value from their core. If a player like Lack or Stempniak was picked by Vegas...that just frees up a few million in extra cash to spend this summer on goaltending or more forwards up front!
 
I think there is ZERO chance the Canes lose a goalie in the expansion draft so it doesn't really matter who is protected. There are far better goalie options available.
 
I think there is ZERO chance the Canes lose a goalie in the expansion draft so it doesn't really matter who is protected. There are far better goalie options available.

Not sure I 100% agree on that (well at least not the part where there is ZERO change the Canes lose a goalie).

The Canes have very little worth drafting and Vegas MUST take at least 3 goalies in the expansion draft. Given that protection list above, Stempniak or Nordstrom are really the only 2 other players that Vegas would have any interest in unless McPhee loses his mind and thinks Ryan Murphy can be turned into an NHL player.

I think Stempniak would be the player taken as he would give Vegas veteran presence, a short term commitment, and a top 6 forward for their first season. But I don't think you can say for sure that Vegas wouldn't take Lack instead if they are grabbing better forward and D talent from the other teams that also have better goalie options. We are also assuming that Stempniak is not protected (which I think is a safe assumption). BUT Ronnie COULD offer Vegas one of our surplus 3rd round picks for an agreement that they won't take Stempniak. Not saying that would be a smart thing for the Canes to do with all of the young talent turning pro next year, but Stempniak has a veteran presence the Canes pretty much are lacking other than Jordan Staal and Jeff Skinner at the forward ranks.

Vegas has a lot of requirements to satisfy:

* 20 of the players they draft must already be under contract for next season
* They have to take a minimum of 14 forwards, 9 DMen and 3 goalies
* The 30 players they draft must have a cap hit of at least 60% of this season's upper limit

Add that all up and I don't think its safe to say that there is no chance Vegas doesn't grab our unprotected goalie. The fact that the Canes have so little talent to expose, at least to me, increases the odds that Eddie Lack could be taken.
 
Last edited:
I guess the cap hit could be appealing with one of the goalies, but if that was the case I view it as a positive for Carolina. Then RF could go out and upgrade the position via trade or free agency.

Point being the Carolina team save percentage has been in the bottom 2-6 teams of the league the past 5 years. ANY roster change in goal for Carolina is a positive because it can't get any worse and Carolina doesn't risk losing a "good" player in goal.
 
I think there is ZERO chance the Canes lose a goalie in the expansion draft so it doesn't really matter who is protected. There are far better goalie options available.

It's also too early in the process to say that there are lots of better goalie options available...I could easily see JR and the Pens trading Fleury to anyone other than Vegas before the rosters have to be set. Lack could be a decent backup option in Vegas next year since he only will have one year left on his contract and Vegas may choose to grab a young goalie like Malcolm Subban in expansion who may need more AHL seasoning next year.
 
Back to Murphy - I've pretty much had it with him on the ice (lthough I thought Teravainan was incredibly awful last night and gave Murphy a run for his money). I'm sorry if he's injured, but there's no use even thinking about the 35 game qualifier - I just don't want to see him in our lineup. It was hard to watch last night's game as it wore on and we were extremely lucky to get a point.
 
Carolina had that game well in control but only managed the one goal before the Wings' brief outburst woke them out. From there the Canes just got whooped in all phases. Faulk pulled a couple out of his backside and got a point pretty much by himself. Everybody else pretty much just wilted. I'm interested to see how they start this one, just task mental health wise given the flow of lady night and what happened with Lack.
 
Back
Top