News & Notes XLIV: Revenge of the Seth

[cptjeff]

A hurricane giving the Hurricanes an extra home game would certainly be a bit of irony.

 

[Joe McGrath]

Jaccob is a fine A and a good leader but I don't think he has "The Leader" qualities.

If the spots were good cop bad cop the bad cop would be the "Fire. Time to get your shit together" that Aho has and good cop would be "Its one game lets calm down" that is Jaccob Slain.

Honestly I think they would make a very good leadership team.

Slavin is basically Glen Wesley. Spot on.

 

[AD Skinner]

If glen wesley and ron francis did the fusion dance jaccob slavin would be the result

 

[Svechhammer]

Wysh: The Canes will miss the playoffs

Why the Stars will win the Cup, and predictions for every NHL team's finish in the 2024-25 season

With opening night upon us, we reveal which teams will make the Cup Final, the clubs poised to make the playoffs and who'll be on the outside.

www.espn.com

 

[Lempo]

Wysh: The Canes will miss the playoffs

Why the Stars will win the Cup, and predictions for every NHL team's finish in the 2024-25 season

With opening night upon us, we reveal which teams will make the Cup Final, the clubs poised to make the playoffs and who'll be on the outside.

www.espn.com

Oh you wishynski.

 

[Joe McGrath]

He already outlined that it was one of his “bold predictions” for the year. If his actual preview had them in the playoffs that would be pretty hypocritical.

 

[Svechhammer]

He already outlined that it was one of his “bold predictions” for the year. If his actual preview had them in the playoffs that would be pretty hypocritical.

It's his legitimate pick

East playoff teams are

Toronto
Florida
Tampa
Boston
Buffalo
New York R
New Jersey
New York I

Those are the three playoff teams from the Metro Division, which means that the Hurricanes are not one this season. Which is, admittedly, extremely contrarian and deserves an explanation.

For context: ESPN BET gives the Hurricanes the third best chance of winning the East and sets their point total at 100.5. They've made the playoffs in each of coach Rod Brind'Amour's six seasons behind the bench, playing to a points percentage of .677 or better in each of the last four campaigns. They won the Metro for three straight seasons and were three points away from making it four in a row last season.

But attrition comes for every roster. Carolina lost Brett Pesce, Brady Skjei and Teuvo Teravainen during the offseason. That's a lot of talent and a lot of institutional knowledge. They lost Stefan Noesen. They watched Jake Guentzel choose a conference rival, despite their overtures for him to stay.

New GM Eric Tulsky leads a brilliant front office that did what it could to fill those holes or prevent new ones from opening up, like getting Martin Necas on a two-year bridge contract. I like William Carrier as a part of the Jordan Staal line. I'm less convinced that Sean Walker and Shayne Gostisbehere make up for what they lost on the blue line.

There are also lingering questions about their returning lineup, from Jesperi Kotkaniemi's viability as a second-line center; to Frederik Andersen's health and Pyotr Kochetkov's readiness to be "the guy"; to whether we're finally seeing the decline of Brent Burns as an offensive force.

I say they miss the playoffs by a hair. A brief step back before a leap forward with the next wave of Hurricanes, in players like defensemen Alexander Nikishin and Scott Morrow and forwards like Bradly Nadeau. I'm probably very wrong on this one. I'd actually like to be wrong on this one, because watching playoff hockey in Raleigh is a true perk of this gig. But the prediction is made.