GDT: HFBoards GDT: 10/22/2024 | Of all the games today, I have all of them.

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Carolina is a perplexing team. They have so much talent but still always seem mediocre

Everything is north-south with them.

Not sure if it’s the system or personnel, but they’re lacking some offensive creativity

My $0.02.

Seeming mediocre in their style of play is a fair assessment. They play a defense first, north-south, hard work style, which frankly, can be boring at times to some. It's the system, but they also don't have that very high end talent (McDavid, Drai, Kucherov, Panarin, Matthews, etc...). Aho is great, but not at that level.

On the flip side, since Brind'Amour took over in 18-19, the Canes have the 2nd best regular season winning % in the NHL, only behind Boston. They have 3 consecutive 100+ point seasons (and would have been 4 of 20-21 wasn't covid shortened).

They haven't gotten over the hump in the playoffs, which IMO is where their lack of true high end talent and high end goaltending hurts them, but they've also won at least 1 round in the playoffs for 6 straight years and been to the ECF two times in that stretch, so they've had some success, just not ultimate success.

The sum of their parts has been better than their individual parts, and that is largely due to the system/style they play.