News & Notes XLV: Simply Having A Wonderful Canesmastime

[AD Skinner]

Apparently the choices were decided by Carolina media and personal, so they're at least familiar with the players and what they mean to the franchise. Shane and Tripp, for example, each got a ballot.

Oh that’s cool. I didn’t know that but it the Pesce snub makes extra sense in that light. Those guys know where their bread is buttered

 

[Blueline Bomber]

Oh that’s cool. I didn’t know that but it the Pesce snub makes extra sense in that light. Those guys know where their bread is buttered

It also just might be they’re fans of players they’ve played with/gotten to know more. For example, both Shane and Tripp said Jeff O’Neill would have been a good inclusion. They also mentioned Erik Cole and Ray Whitney. IMO, those guys were solid soldiers for us, but I don’t see them as more important to the franchise than the forwards that were selected.

Personally, I think Gleason is a snub. 9 seasons with us is pretty long, and considering he’s now behind the bench as our defensive coach, his impact on the organization is pretty understated, IMO.

 

[tarheelhockey]

On reading those selections the first thing that struck me was “wow, this is really clear-cut”. We’ve got that RBA-Staal-Aho trio that isn’t up for debate, we’ve got Slavin and Wesley who are a head taller than the next guy, and Ward is like an automatic selection. Second team, who else would be there but Francis-JStaal-Williams and Irbe? It’s basically a list of guys who should get into the Canes HOF before anyone else.

As to the only real debate, the second team defensemen, I think Faulk solidly belongs there. First of all, statistically he’s miles ahead of any other D besides Slavin who passed him on sheer weight of compiling more games (and even then, Faulk is still way ahead of goals). Offense isn’t the only consideration for a D but it’s still a pretty big deal to be the franchise’s clear-cut offensive leader at the position. But more importantly he was our #1 D for a pretty long time. Even if he wasn’t a great 1D, this organization has historically lacked a player of that caliber and when we find one they’re often short-term guys (Dougie, Burns). Faulk was there night after night for hundreds of games, given the competition it would be weird if they didn’t give him a spot.

The Hedican/Pesce/Gleason trio is paper/rock/scissors to me.

 

[Bub]

A nice article in Finnish from the POV of a former and some unnamed current Finnish NHL scouts re: scouting for the Entry Draft, you may want to Google Translate it if it's your cup of tea.

Suomalaiset NHL-scoutit ällistyivät tähtijunnuista: ”Tilaa tuplahampurilaisen majoneesilla, nuuskamälli huulessa, ei puhu englantia”

NHL:n kykyjenetsijöiden työ on paljon muutakin kuin vain otteluiden katsomista. Scoutin silmissä kaikista tärkein on yksi ominaisuus, joka unohtui monelta esimerkiksi nuoren Jesse Puljujärven loistoa seuratessa.

www.is.fi

Interesting article. I didn't expect the damning indictment of Finnish junior hockey, so that was new. (Btw, I saw Joni Lehto play in the ECHL many years ago. He had the heaviest slapshot I've ever seen in person.)

 

[Lempo]

Interesting article. I didn't expect the damning indictment of Finnish junior hockey, so that was new. (Btw, I saw Joni Lehto play in the ECHL many years ago. He had the heaviest slapshot I've ever seen in person.)

It's not the first time it's been said aloud as of lately, at least in Finland. May even be this kind of articles are a somewhat programmed way of letting the big WHC-watching audience in to it.

 

[Bub]

It's not the first time it's been said aloud as of lately, at least in Finland. May even be this kind of articles are a somewhat programmed way of letting the big WHC-watching audience in to it.

Agreed. You have to think someone in Finnish junior hockey would ok even a rough article like this one, if only to get that message out: "bad times are coming unless we change NOW."

 

[chaz4hockey]

A nice article in Finnish from the POV of a former and some unnamed current Finnish NHL scouts re: scouting for the Entry Draft, you may want to Google Translate it if it's your cup of tea.

Suomalaiset NHL-scoutit ällistyivät tähtijunnuista: ”Tilaa tuplahampurilaisen majoneesilla, nuuskamälli huulessa, ei puhu englantia”

NHL:n kykyjenetsijöiden työ on paljon muutakin kuin vain otteluiden katsomista. Scoutin silmissä kaikista tärkein on yksi ominaisuus, joka unohtui monelta esimerkiksi nuoren Jesse Puljujärven loistoa seuratessa.

www.is.fi

Thanks for sharing. No mention of aho as a top player.

FWIW: I thought Finn team was very good this junior tournament but I gather the writer is worried about the next wave of players.

 

[mikeyfan]

Coach for the quarter century Team:

Brind'Amour or Maurice?

 

[Derailed75]

Coach for the quarter century Team:

Brind'Amour or Maurice?

RBA and I really don't think it's very close. Mo was great here for sure but Rod has no only made the team a winner but he has completey changed the culture and turned them into a force. We were just bitching about how bad the team is playing while (checks standings) they have the 5th best record in the league.

Just let that sink in RBA has turned the culture so much that we complain about their playing while sitting 5th in the standings.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

Coach for the quarter century Team:

Brind'Amour or Maurice?

Can RBA be a coach and a player?

 

[Lempo]

Thanks for sharing. No mention of aho as a top player.

FWIW: I thought Finn team was very good this junior tournament but I gather the writer is worried about the next wave of players.

Aho was a 2015 draftee, so at the beginning of the last decade of drafting. I think Barkov (2013 2nd) was an early harbinger of the hype era (from 2016 onwards), and now it starts to be safe to say how the high 1st round Finnish picks (Rantanen (2015), Laine, Puljujärvi, Juolevi, Kotkaniemi, Kakko, did I forget anyone) turned out, and... yeah, not too good track record even with guys who looked promising, and the scouts (Finnish and foreign) are not currently even seeing much promise as far as the upcoming Entry Drafts go. But it's hard to say how much the previous Finnbois not really living up to the promise is affecting on the NHL teams' assessment on how the SML success translates into the NHL.