GDT: Tampa @ Carolina Game 5: The Wretched Rally Towel Prophecy

[Canes]

As constructed we cannot compete with the likes of Tampa and Boston. The last 3 years have proven this, and until we make some fundamental changes this will remain the norm.

Not going to be easy though. We basically need another version of the Dougie trade to get us to the next level... and that's if Dougie decides to come back. Given expansion draft nonsense and the flat cap, I think our best bet is just to hold on for another year, develop our prospects, and reassess. Maybe if we're an elite regular season team next year, you re-evaluate.

 

[Lempo]

At least we made it to the June.

 

[spockBokk]

Sucks to lose like they did with so much potential for more this year, but oh well. This season was a complete blast to behold. The team finally started showing what type of team they could be, even if they most definitely still have a ways to go.

There will be changes, but that’s the nature of the beast. The core is strong and the expansion draft should provide some unique opportunities that otherwise may not be there.

I don’t really think they need to re-invent the wheel roster-wise. Either Hamilton signs for a discount, or he walks, so he very likely walks. Barrie is an option for free, and there will be options via trade. I think the inevitable and cap-wise necessary influx of some players on ELCs to the bottom 6 will be good for the team, make some guys fight for a spot every night. They need at least one more scorer. Does that come from within they system or via trade?
They need a guy to pair with Hakanpaa (who I think is cheap re-sign) who can actually be trusted with 15 minutes of ice-time, preferably more. I like Alec Martinez here. And they need another goalie to pair with Ned. I like Andersen for a rebound contract.

So, the mystery to me will be what they do to bring in 1-2 D and an impact forward. Should be a fun off-season.

Tampa became Tampa by making a few shrewd trades and mostly staying the course with their prospects and core. I hope the Canes do the same and when they’re ready, make the real over the top moves like Tampa has over the past 2 seasons.

 

[Roboturner913]

Lol. Gotta love people from other medias confused at our fans cheering the team on at PNC after they lost the series.

'

This has happened every time they ended the season at home since 2001. Do people really not know that by now? It's damn near a tradition.

 

[Roboturner913]

As constructed we cannot compete with the likes of Tampa and Boston. The last 3 years have proven this, and until we make some fundamental changes this will remain the norm.

Nobody wants to hear this, and I understand why, but it might simply be a case of having to wait those other teams out. They're older/more experienced etc. I'm not suggesting the Canes should sit around and stagnate waiting for their turn, but you just can't put a team made up largely of 20 to 26 year players out there against a team made up of 25 to 30 year old players and expect magic. It just doesn't work that way.

 

[DaveG]

As constructed we cannot compete with the likes of Tampa and Boston. The last 3 years have proven this, and until we make some fundamental changes this will remain the norm.

Watching what the Isles are doing to Boston we're not as far as you think. Imo we were the better team in our series vs them last year until the Svech injury, and they've been trending the other direction.

Our biggest need is some of the prospects to show they're for real. If we can even get contributions from 2 of Rees, Jarvis, Suzuki, Bokk, and Drury next year that opens up a lot of options

 

[spockBokk]

Watching what the Isles are doing to Boston we're not as far as you think. Imo we were the better team in our series vs them last year until the Svech injury, and they've been trending the other direction.

Our biggest need is some of the prospects to show they're for real. If we can even get contributions from 2 of Rees, Jarvis, Suzuki, Bokk, and Drury next year that opens up a lot of options

Man, I hope we get news of Drury signing soon. I have a feeling if he doesn’t sign, the chorus of “what if’s” over the years will get loud and louder and louder…

 

[HisIceness]

One thing that does have me optimistic is the last couple of drafts have been stellar, which hopefully bodes well going forward in that the FO continues to hit grand-slams in the later rounds and that some of these picks will pan out. The picks could also be used to get better talent as needed. There will probably be some guys elsewhere that will have us saying, "Aw shucks, shoulda taken him" but guys like Gunler, Rees, Jarvis, and the Finn that was signed a few weeks ago, those are the guys that have me excited for our prospect pool, and also will hopefully help us cope when a "fan-favorite" prospect gets traded elsewhere.

I also hope we can continue the savy-ness of things like getting Fox (Yeah I know he didn't sign but getting him in that Hamilton package was still genius and the FO got picks for him) and getting a 1st for Marleau. Such things are probably not going to be as lucrative just because of the nature of the off-season, but even getting a Fox-like prospect in a trade whether he signs or not is just smart business for a small-market team such as ourselves, if the kid doesn't sign, move him for something decent and move on.

That said, these prospects are years away and the likes of TT/Aho/Pesce/Slavin are either in their prime or hitting it now, so the FO has to take that into consideration. I'm really hoping we can get Drury to sign this Summer, if not, well this off-season would probably time to flip him for something decent.

 

[chaz4hockey]

Svech, bokk and 1st for eichel

A big no…health risk

 

[Buenos Necas]

Nobody wants to hear this, and I understand why, but it might simply be a case of having to wait those other teams out. They're older/more experienced etc. I'm not suggesting the Canes should sit around and stagnate waiting for their turn, but you just can't put a team made up largely of 20 to 26 year players out there against a team made up of 25 to 30 year old players and expect magic. It just doesn't work that way.

Yeah I tend to agree, the true window for this group is just opening. We've certainly got some work to do this offseason, but I don't think fundamental change is necessary.

Tampa as currently constructed is also an unfair comparison being way over the cap and all. They'll be losing several quality players next year. Colorado has plenty of UFAs this summer too.

 

[Roboturner913]

Speaking of "waiting them out," Boston seems like a team that has already passed its peak. Bergeron is 35, Krejci is 34, Marchand 32, Rask 33 - and that's not a team with a tremendous amount of scoring depth either. I'm not trying to pick on them in particular, I'm just saying that our window is just now starting to open while some other teams' window is beginning to close and we shouldn't be talking about blowing up a roster that should in theory be set to be a playoff team for at least the next 5 to 7 years. Because I think that would just be an overreaction based on short-term frustrations.

 

[tarheelhockey]

As constructed we cannot compete with the likes of Tampa and Boston. The last 3 years have proven this, and until we make some fundamental changes this will remain the norm.

We competed with them, we just weren’t better.

How do we get better? Keep developing and make the most of this group. Take advantage of opportunities to add. There’s not much more to it than that. Tampa and Boston are fully mature teams. We’re not.

Yet.

 

[spockBokk]

Speaking of "waiting them out," Boston seems like a team that has already passed its peak. Bergeron is 35, Krejci is 34, Marchand 32, Rask 33 - and that's not a team with a tremendous amount of scoring depth either. I'm not trying to pick on them in particular, I'm just saying that our window is just now starting to open while some other teams' window is beginning to close and we shouldn't be talking about blowing up a roster that should in theory be set to be a playoff team for at least the next 5 to 7 years. Because I think that would just be an overreaction based on short-term frustrations.

Exactly.

I somewhat expect a “we like our group…but we’re going to tinker”-type message in the coming days…

 

[HisIceness]

I hate to say this but I have doubts about Eichel getting back to the player he is. We may or may not have seen his peak.

I don't think that matters anyway since I can't see us trading for him, but whoever does get him is taking a huge ass risk.

 

[HisIceness]

'

This has happened every time they ended the season at home since 2001. Do people really not know that by now? It's damn near a tradition.

They're all so used to their teams fans throwing things on the ice when said team is eliminated probably.

 

[Penaltykiller17]

Call me crazy, but I think we're right-ish where we need to be all things considered. Not to make excuses, putting into perspective we have a lot of 1st/2nd/3rd year players asked to play some big time roles for this team:

1st year players this season:

Ned - Asked to be a starting goalie for a team with championship aspirations
Lorentz
Bean - Was a 2nd/3rd line parings while quarterbacking the 2nd unit pp

2nd year players this season:

Necas - Expected to be a 1st/2nd line player that is expected to score a high amount of points
Geekie

3rd year players this season:

Svechnikov - Expected to be a superstar-caliber player
Foegele
***Rod Brind'Amour*** (Not a player, but he is still new to the head coaching position compared to other remaining teams)

When you compare our roster to Boston or Tampa, while on paper there's not a high gap between us, there is a significant gap in experience. Both of those teams are heavily reliant on veteran presence, most of whom have been battle tested in the playoffs for many years, and/or have championship experience. In fact, if you look at least the last 5 stanley cup champions, they are all teams that for the most part were reliant on veteran presence. I don't think you could point to a team remaining (Montreal excluded) that relies as much on young players playing significant roles on the team as we do.

I think we're in a delicate and critical point in our team. There are areas where we need to improve from both a personnel standpoint, as well as some coaching adjustment/philosophies that need to be made. But I would rather lean more on standing pat over what some may be suggesting for more of sweeping changes. I've seen teams recently be in a similar situation as us, then they start making bizarre trades, bad signings, etc that makes them worse not better. I would say moving forward we need to be more opportunistic than aggressive.

 

[Roboturner913]

We competed with them, we just weren’t better.

How do you we better? Keep developing and make the most of this group. Take advantage of opportunities to add. There’s not much more to it than that. Tampa and Boston are fully mature teams. We’re not.

Yet.

Too many people thinking this is a finished product. People saying things like

"Svech isn't the star he should be".....what? He's 20 years old and was the 3rd leading scorer on a very good team this year. Hell even Necas is 2 years older than Svech and everybody loves his game to death, and rightfully so.

"Jake Bean will never been an NHL defenseman!" Based on what? half a season of experience at age 22? Do people understand how rare it is for a defenseman to have success at that age? you can't compare him to Slavin and Pesce at the same age, that's not fair at all.

I get the impatience to a degree because we all thought this was a good opportunity for a finals run, but man. Sometimes the other team is just plain old better. You don't take the whole car to the junkyard because it blew a tire.

 

[Sens1Canes2]

Too many people thinking this is a finished product. People saying things like

"Svech isn't the star he should be".....what? He's 20 years old and was the 3rd leading scorer on a very good team this year. Hell even Necas is 2 years older than Svech and everybody loves his game to death, and rightfully so.

"Jake Bean will never been an NHL defenseman!" Based on what? half a season of experience at age 22? Do people understand how rare it is for a defenseman to have success at that age? you can't compare him to Slavin and Pesce at the same age, that's not fair at all.

I get the impatience to a degree because we all thought this was a good opportunity for a finals run, but man. Sometimes the other team is just plain old better. You don't take the whole car to the junkyard because it blew a tire.

You, sir, have been spewing nothing but sense all night. I was just thinking similarly - Tampa is loaded with vets. And their vets are studs. The Canes’ vets are good players, mostly role players really (one could debate what Staal is, but he certainly cannot carry this team), but the real core, the superstars and potential superstars, are babies.
They’ll get where the fans want them to get to, but it won’t be fast. It’s a learning curve and they were taught a pretty good lesson the last week or so.

 

[Roboturner913]

Me, I'm looking at 2-3 years down the road when the next "phase" of this team happens, when guys like Aho/Necas/Slavin/Pesce/Svech etc. have become the hardened playoff vets, Jarvis/Suzuki/Bean are coming into their own and you still have Jordo and maybe Martinook still kicking around as role players. That's when things start to really look good. I have no problem with the Foegeles and McGinns of the world but we depended on guys like that to play in the middle 6 all season and that's not ideal. If we can hang onto to everybody in a couple years this forward lineup is going to be as deep and talented as Tampa's is now.

 

[bleedgreen]

We played great this season, and I’m as ok as I can be with the exit. They’re better. It’s not just skill but they have chemistry, poise and execution. We don’t really match up anywhere. We don’t have the high end skill, we definitely don’t have enough of the other three.

While the other three can come in time, I don’t know that this core has that next level of skill.

I’m actually not a big fan of Eichel, and he’s banged up anyways but thinking about trading for him makes me wonder if for that level of success we need Aho to be a number two? As great as he is neither he nor TT are grab the game by the throat types. They thrive on mistakes and using space you give them. Svech is a power winger, which is great but has limitations. These guys have more room to grow but I could see us in on Eichel just because that’s a move that takes us to the next level and players like that don’t come available often. Just a thought. I’m not saying we need it or that this group can’t grow more. It will.

 

[Lempo]

I couldn't manage with John R. Eichel, Esq and his uncanny resemblance to the guy from Bill and Ted films.

Also, we are not shipping any of our boys to Buffalo.

 

[ClarkBolzano]

Oh no, Svech is actually going to be Seattle's major signing this offseason not Dougie like some have speculated.

Could be.

 

[ClarkBolzano]

We don’t have the grit to win in the playoffs. A nice regular season team where refs call a different game and play is looser is our peak right now.

Boston Islanders Vegas Colorado all have speed and grit and are superior playoff teams than Canes.

Sad part is that next season’s team will probably be worse due to Dougie leaving and losing another d to Seattle.

Plus, Svech doesn’t appear to be the super star that a #2 pick should generate.

He has played very bad all year but knowing his talent and his will to improve h will bounce back. And despite playing that his awful he s still 2nd or third in scoring.

 

[UseYourHedman]

I gained a ton of respect for your fans at the games and on these boards. So many of these team boards are filled with garbage, but you guys are a cut above. Wish you guys the best in years to come!

 

[LightningStrikes]

Good luck going forward! And who knows maybe we’ll see a Palat or Killorn on your team sooner than later given our cap crunch. Cheers!