Just a NHL fan making rounds on watching teams that interest me. Carolina is one of them. Looking to watch one of their next games (unfortunatly that's a few days out).
Has Necas been emerging or just off to a hot start? The few games I watched last year all these young kids are so solid and you would think it's just a matter of time before a couple take another step and push this team over the top.
Jarvis seems pretty interesting to me as well. Do you guys think he is a canadiate to take another step this season? Is Kotkaniemi playing up to the level of atleast an ok 2C?
Interested to see what Pacioretty brings to this team. I can't recall if he plays both RW or LW or just LW. Where do you guys expect he slots into the lineup? Who does he push down.
Any of your guys within the bottom 6 unique/notable?
What do you guys think your team identity is? What do you guys think other teams dread when playing Carolina?
I like to have solid 3 teams I root for during the playoffs and watch every one of their games. Carolina was close to making that list last year but I think they will this year.
Necas was really good 2 years ago but was terrible most of last year. His play seems to be tied quite a bit to confidence, which was shattered last year as his play slipped and he got demoted to the 4th line, but maybe there's more to it than that. Very early in the season but he looks like a different player this year. Extremely confident, knows when to slow the game down a bit versus before when he'd go full speed at all times and often lose the puck or make a stupid decision. He is defensively sound and doesn't really have holes in his game the way he is playing now. I highly doubt he keeps up his over ppg pace but can definitely see him getting 60-70 points. He did pace for 63 points 2 years ago and is fully capable of that over a full season. His ceiling is extremely high too but it's hard to take that next jump and I don't see it happening this year.
Jarvis could take another step but I think he's more likely to have a bit of a sophomore slump based on what we've seen so far. He's playing well out there but not really flashing like he did last year. That could change, the kid has all the tools. But we've seen both Svech and Necas have sophomore slumps here in recent years and I wouldn't be surprised if Jarvis is next in line.
Kotkaniemi isn't filling the stat sheet but he hasn't needed to; he's doing all the dirty work to set Necas and Svech up for success and I've been very happy with his paly so far this year. The way our team is constructed he's a perfectly capable 2C, and I think he'll continue to improve.
No idea what Rod will do but I suspect Patches will slot in on the first line with Aho and either Tervainen or Jarvis. Tough at times to split up Aho and Teravainen but Turbo has played well with Staal before and could help that 3rd line get rolling again. But I have no idea how it'll play out.
Bottom 6 -- Staal is a guy who would win multiple Selkes if it was truly best defensive forward and not "best defensive forward who also puts up a lot of points." He was hugely responsible for our dominance against Boston at home in the playoffs last year, completely shutting down Bergeron, Marchand and Pastrnak. He's not playing as well this year so far but I'm not too concerned, he's had some slow starts before. Other than him no one super notable in the bottom 6 in my opinion. Stastny and Stepan are solid vets to have around and are playing well there but they're aren't all that special at this point.
Identity: A hard working, grinding team who will never let their foot off the gas while still having plenty of speed and skill. Very defensively responsible with solid goaltending. There are questions of whether we have enough superstar power and elite scoring capabilities from individual players and I think that's where we've come up short in the playoffs lately, but we do have plenty of young guys with high upside who could take that next step. Svechnikov is an example with his play so far this year. If he played like this last playoffs I think we easily beat the Rags, possibly beat Tampa and would at least give Colorado a run for their money. But he was pretty bad most of the playoffs last year, at least compared to what he's capable of. I think teams dread the constant pressure and how difficult it can be to get chances against us.
