Speculation: Offseason Roster Building Thread - Trades, Signings, Rumors

[Finlandia WOAT]

better goaltending means the team makes the playoffs this year, and possibly 2015-16, but they don't go far.

If the goal is to squeak into the playoffs, a better goalie and a little bit more scoring + improvements from TT and (specifically) Aho isn't the worst gameplan.

But we get back to the question, how do they get that 1st line center? Pray that Roy turns into a more skilled jstaal?

@bg: agree with rask, thats kind of wjat im getting at. if he has time, he can make plays, but split second reacting and i fond his vision a bit lacking.

i think he still has room for improvement, there were times he would engage physically amd lose. he could still sttemghthen a bit, and thst could make an exponential difference.

 

[Brock Anton]

All I ask for is a goalie (mainly MAF), that's it. I can't stomach another year of Ward/Lack.

 

[Big Daddy Cane]

^

I’m pretty confident that the Canes will go in a different direction in goal. During the 1st intermission interview on Saturday, GMRF said and I quote: “… we’ve struggled with our save percentage in net and that’s an area we’re going to have to look at closely.†That’s a very diplomatic way of saying one of Ward or, more likely, Lack won’t be back. I mean, I don’t know how he could justify, to himself or the fanbase, giving that tandem a 3rd chance.

 

[MinJaBen]

All I ask for is a goalie (mainly MAF), that's it. I can't stomach another year of Ward/Lack.

I would hope that MAF is no higher than 4th or 5th best option for us. With the expansion draft, there are going to be a lot of guys that would not have normally been available that now might be. Plus the UFAs like Bishop, Darling, and Elliot.

 

[RodTheBawd]

Eleven teams scored 212 goals or less (Canes scored 212). Of those 11 teams, only 1 made the playoffs (Sens).

The Sens had a negative goal differential...they're not a model playoff team.

Not taking a drastically different view than you...but I would say this team needs more than just a better goalie to be a legit playoff team.

I guess the idea is that our goaltenders are what they are. From a forwards/goal scoring perspective, we still have some guys with upside. Find a legit starter, hope for improvements from our young skaters, better chance than not to be tailgating in late April.

 

[DougieSmash]

I'm not even fan of Fleury but he's better than Darling. Darling is not good, i don't care about the stats. I watch him couple of times, he's not a starter material. Pretty good backup but we need more than another Lack type project.

 

[Roboturner913]

As much as a 4th liner can be, I think Nordy has made himself into a core piece of the team. I was one of his biggest critics early in the season, but he's become thoroughly dependable and consistently wins battles against bigger, stronger players the same way Aho does. I see him as a guy you can build your 4th line around for the next 5-6 years.

As for Ryan and Stempniak, I think you keep one of them for offense on the cheap, but not both. I lean toward Ryan because he seems to be the smarter player and gives you more effort defensively. Too many times Stemp was taking dumb penalties, or killing a possession with a dumb pass, and I'm not sure I saw him really commit on a backcheck all year. It's not hard to see now why's he's bounced around the league so much, despite all his offensive talent the overall package ends up being kind of like the frustrating C student you know could do better but he's content to coast through life.

 

[Brock Anton]

I would hope that MAF is no higher than 4th or 5th best option for us. With the expansion draft, there are going to be a lot of guys that would not have normally been available that now might be. Plus the UFAs like Bishop, Darling, and Elliot.

Guys like Korpisalo etc. would likely cost something pretty valuable to get, Fleury would probably cost us Lack and a middling draft pick. It's a no-brainer move. As for the UFA's, Bishop is the only guy I'd be interested in. Elliott is meh and Darling is a gamble, especially when he's probably going to get a nice contract.

 

[Big Daddy Cane]

The more I look at it, the more I think that this is a really robust goalie market. We mostly mention Bishop, Darling and Fleury, but there's also Bernier, Elliot, Grubauer, Raanta, etc. Another interesting name is Steve Mason. Mason had a down season in 16-17; it was a disappointing ending to what was a very productive stay in Philadelphia. That performance combined with the sheer number of options available will put downward pressure on the market for his services. Mason may be a free (in terms of assets) short-term, cost-effective solution for the Canes.

 

[garnetpalmetto]

Also i'd want to lock Slavin (Hanifin too) and choose a captain. Skinner, Faulk or Jordan.

I'm fine with multiple alternates again next season. Jordan doesn't want to be captain so remove him from consideration altogether. Remove the "A" from Rask and give it to Slavin. Otherwise I'd advocate giving the "C" to Skinner.

I'm not even fan of Fleury but he's better than Darling. Darling is not good, i don't care about the stats. I watch him couple of times, he's not a starter material. Pretty good backup but we need more than another Lack type project.

Guys like Korpisalo etc. would likely cost something pretty valuable to get, Fleury would probably cost us Lack and a middling draft pick. It's a no-brainer move. As for the UFA's, Bishop is the only guy I'd be interested in. Elliott is meh and Darling is a gamble, especially when he's probably going to get a nice contract.

And agree with both of you. Elliott is garbage, Darling's a gamble who's been sheltered thus far, and Bishop's going to be out of our price range. Fleury's at least a proven commodity.

 

[Vagrant]

I have to add I don't get any negativity people have for Nordy or Ryan. Nordy was a beast. He's our fastest player, our best forechecker and he works like he's being whipped. He creates chances out of nothing, and he together with Stalberg was really fun to watch. I don't care if he gets knocked over easily and that he doesn't finish much. He's becoming a high end fourth liner that any team would love to have. Peters loves him, the guy does exactly what he's asked to do. I'm not sure what's not to like here. We have a team that had a lot of holes in our roster and this guy has taken one and made it his own. Just because it isn't one of the higher spots is no reason to not like the guy, all the spots need to be filled.

That's an understandable position on Nordstrom. My main point was that when he was given the extension, he was coming off a year where he scored 24 points and played 15:38 while being a positive player. He was highly dependent on Jordan and I think Hurricanes brass was hoping that chemistry would continue to make that line greater than the sum of their parts. To borrow from previous Hurricanes teams, there seemed to be more hope that he was a Larose than a Dwyer. As this season wore on, it became increasingly more obvious that Nordstrom wasn't going to be an answer on Jordan's line. He's just another guy. While I understand his value in the context of where our team was this past season, we should aspire to better from his slot. It really underscores how much heavy lifting Jordan did to make Nordstrom and Nestrasil look as good as they did last year that they're basically replacement level without him. I think a good question to ask yourself when thinking of upgrading on a player is if a really strong team would have a use for the player you're contemplating in your lineup for next season. I don't believe there are many teams that would be enthusiastic about Nordstrom in that capacity. That leads me to believing that it we might be better over the long term to allow players with more projected upside to have a crack at the stable but unspectacular minutes he occupied.

 

[AD Skinner]

I don't really remember anyone bashing on Nordstrom- for my money he's a fine fourth liner, nothing more. He definitely has a role here and he plays it well but if he were to move on I don't think we'd have a hard time replacing him. Ryan is a funny case. I know I made a few posts bemoaning his play, but really he's a fun player to watch if pretty frustrating. He's a smart passer and has an ok but not really great at the NHL level shot. I'd love to see him succeed in the NHL but don't really think he will beyond what he accomplished this season. He's not very fast and is easily pushed around with or without the puck- if he was 19-20 I'd think he had a ton of potential but he's 30. I guess it's possible that he could improve on his numbers from this year but it won't be much and it won't be for long. We could do worse (and usually have) for our 13th forward though. I just really don't want him to be counted on going forward.

 

[RodTheBawd]

I'm not even fan of Fleury but he's better than Darling. Darling is not good, i don't care about the stats. I watch him couple of times, he's not a starter material. Pretty good backup but we need more than another Lack type project.

MAF was terrible in the couple of games that I watched of him this year, he must be terrible. Is Darling as good as his numbers? No. Can he be an average starter? Yes.

 

[bleedgreen]

I think i disagree with that Vagrant, I think a lot of good teams would use him on their fourth line. I think he's pretty solid there. Great forechecker and great speed, that's enough to get you a look from just about anyone. Better finishing and he can be on the third line at times, and I think after last year we thought he could finish a bit better - I'm not writing him off that way yet. We have other spots I think that are more in need of upgrade or at least filling, such as the fourth line center spot right next to him. Down the road I could see upgrading there, but I don't think its a priority. I would put Mcginn or PDG on the third, I think they both are better finishers as of today. I think Mcginn is going to be a regular next year, and I think he can be top 9 pretty easily but if they both end up on the fourth I think that's a good thing.

As for AD, I think I disagree there too. I've seen a lot of negative comments about Nordy this year. I wasn't directing my comments at Vagrant to be honest, I hadn't read his post yet.

 

[raynman]

Nordstrom really seemed to find his niche this season. I really liked the look of the 4th line when it had Nordstrom and Stalberg. If Nordy had the hands to match the wheels and motor he'd easily be a 20 goal scorer. But that's probably the case for a large percentage of 4th line players haha. He's good enough on the PK that I imagine there are several teams that'd like him on their roster.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

better goaltending means the team makes the playoffs this year, and possibly 2015-16, but they don't go far.

If by better goaltending you mean Bobrovsky level, then yeah. If you mean just "average" then I'm not so sure. Here is how the Canes stack up against the average of the playoff teams in the east:

Goals For- Playoff teams: 244; Canes: 212; Delta: 32
Goals Against- Playoff teams: 208; Canes 230: Delta: 22

Not taking into account shot quality/scoring chances, getting average goaltending would bring that 230 down to a number consistent with (would be #4 or #5 among them) the playoff teams and we'd be around Toronto for GF/GA margin so we "might" be a playoff team. We still have the issue that no playoff team, other than Ottawa has scored as few goals as Carolina. This also doesn't take into account that our players suck at 3v3 OT and shoot-outs (3-6 in shootouts vs. Ottawa being 6-4 for example). We'd probably be close to a playoff team, but it's not a slam dunk that we would be with just league average goaltending.

Canes averaged 2.59 goals scored / game vs. league average of 2.73. Their median GF/G was 2.00, and in 42 of their games, they scored 2 goals or less. Hard to win in the NHL when you are only scoring at that rate in half your games, unless you have elite goaltending. Canes scored (excluding shoot outs):

0 goals: 5 times
1 goal: 18 times
2 goals: 19 times
3 goals: 21 times
4 goals: 10 times
5 goals: 6 times
6 goals: 0 times
7 goals: 1 time
8 goals: 2 times

Don't get me wrong, I do think improved goaltending is needed for this team to get to the playoffs, I just personally think that goaltending alone isn't enough, even to get into the playoffs unless it is absolutely fantastic goaltending. This team needs goal scoring as much as it needs goaltending IMO. That stretch in February where they scored 0, 2, 1, 0, 1, 1, 2 goals in their 7 losses really was a killer for this team. That, and losing 3 games to NJ (4-1, 3-2, 3-1) and two to Col (2-1, 3-1), all games where the team couldn't score.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Peters at the press conference was pretty blunt. Jokingly said that we have 11 picks and looked at Francis and said "we'll use 2 or 3, right?" He then went on to say we have gaps to fill and the guys coming up from the AHL aren't going to fill those. Pieces need to come in and said with the expansion draft, he expects to be able to get some guys with our picks/prospects.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Peters: Lindy is a winger and that's where we are playing him. He'll get some C based on match-ups, but he's a winger. Aho, he sees a Center long term, but not asking him to do that yet until he's ready for it.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

That didn't take long.

Friedman: Noah Hanifin - I think Canes would consider moving him.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/30-thoughts-canucks-coach-criteria-good-news-green/

18. One name to watch this off-season: Carolina’s Noah Hanifin. He played at least 20 minutes in 10 of the Hurricanes’ last 11 games (and came in at 19:58 in the other). I think Carolina would consider moving him if — and only if — an impact offensive forward was coming to Raleigh. So, don’t come at them with weak sauce. They are one of the few teams that could even consider this, because they have blue-line depth. But, Hanifin has a long, prosperous career ahead of him, and they will not trade him just for the sake of it.

 

[AD Skinner]

Peters: Lindy is a winger and that's where we are playing him. He'll get some C based on match-ups, but he's a winger. Aho, he sees a Center long term, but not asking him to do that yet until he's ready for it.

Am I totally out to lunch or was that long point streak of Lindholm's while he was playing C?

 

[Dishface]

Am I totally out to lunch or was that long point streak of Lindholm's while he was playing C?

He was on the wing. He only got 3 points out of 10 games or something when playing center towards the end of the season.

 

[Brock Anton]

We're probably going to need a Hanifin proposal drinking thread by the time the summer starts.

 

[Ole Gil]

That didn't take long.

Friedman: Noah Hanifin - I think Canes would consider moving him.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/30-thoughts-canucks-coach-criteria-good-news-green/

Canes definitely set up to be the Larssen/Jones half of the Hall/Johannson deal. Just a matter of figuring out who the other half is.

 

[SaskCanesFan]

Canes definitely set up to be the Larssen/Jones half of the Hall/Johannson deal. Just a matter of figuring out who the other half is.

And in both those cases so far it's worked out a fair bit better for the team acquiring a young D man than the one trading him away. I wouldn't be eager to make that kind of trade without really exploring other options.

 

[DaveG]

Canes definitely set up to be the Larssen/Jones half of the Hall/Johannson deal. Just a matter of figuring out who the other half is.

It's probably Reinhart IMHO. Guy just flat out plays better down the middle and won't really get the chance there with an elite offensive talent in Eichel, and their version of Jordan in O'Reilly in the two top-6 center spots.

I'd probably want a minor add from Buffalo to go with that swap but it's probably the fairest offer we'd get for Hanifin unless MacKinnon is suddenly on the market.

And in both those cases so far it's worked out a fair bit better for the team acquiring a young D man than the one trading him away. I wouldn't be eager to make that kind of trade without really exploring other options.

Don't disagree there at all.

IMHO first I'd try again to move Fleury and a 1st for Duchene, if they're still not interested then it's time to consider a trade involving Hanifin.