What's Preventing The Hurricanes From Taking That Next Step?

[Eco]

How can you be cheap and a cap team at the same time? No one has been able to answer that one for me yet.

I believe the Canes are notorious for not paying their coaches what other teams do. I believe it's been a big sticking point for Rod in recent years.

 

[647Hockey]

A cup winning team doesn't necessarily need top elite scorers (like some posters mentioned in this thread), but it sure helps. Usually a cup winner has some studs that carry the offence, but not always. But a rock solid goalie is I think always mandatory. When was the last time a team won the cup with a crap goalie? LA Kings way back has Kopitar as their best forward and he got maybe 80 pts. STL and Vegas won cups and their best player might be 80 pts too. Carolina is similar where Aho gets around 80.

But I think their goaltending gets a bit shaky. And their style of play which is shoots tons of shots on net and eventually something goes in or there's some good bounces or rebounds that happen dry up as other teams play better or they run into stud goalies who dont let in shitty goals (like Varlamov letting in some doozies off bad bounces).

They are like Capitals of 80s and early 90s. Well balanced team top to bottom. Can demolish regular season teams, but come playoff time you dont get star players stepping up like other teams.

 

[Brookbank]

Can’t score. They don’t have an elite talent who drags them into the game on forward.

I thought Aho was a big deal.

 

[bleedgreen]

We lack enough chemistry. We’re generally too soft. The goaltending is good but not great. Aho is a great player but not nearly enough by himself, they need another top six center. With the failure in this spot you can clearly say they made the wrong choice letting Tro go, as he was a great fit. That’s the one deal they needed to suck it up and pay an “aging” player. With the development of Jarvis/Svech he’d have better linemates now.

Rod is great, and was exactly what they needed to turn the ship around but his ideal team is one made of grinders with a little skill, and the Canes are not that. The coach doesn’t match the personnel, and the style of play is a surprise to no one in the playoffs….when everyone is playing a similar way just better.

This years team never felt as good as some of the other recent squads to me so I’m not really shocked this year. We passed way too much in the offensive zone all season.

Sign Guentzel, create a second line that’s almost as good as the first, add some tenaciousness. It’s time for some change. Embrace it and turn the loss of key players into a step in the next direction.

 

[bleedgreen]

I believe the Canes are notorious for not paying their coaches what other teams do. I believe it's been a big sticking point for Rod in recent years.

What’s that got to do with the team on the ice? The owner really only wants to pay the players, but they do get to the cap so “cheap” doesn’t really apply where it matters the most. RBA makes sure his staff is taken care of but that staff is part of a team that struggles to take the next step….maybe we’re ready to get fresh blood in there?

The Canes could use some fresh blood kind of everywhere.

 

[MaxDummy]

I feel like they play their guts out all year and when it comes playoffs time their gas tank isn't as deep/ the other teams step their game/intensity up from regular season

 

[Coffey]

Should have traded Slavin for McDavid.

 

[Artorius Horus T]

coaching staff, especially Rod

 

[WaitingForThatCab]

I feel like they don't have another gear for the playoffs because the coaching staff squeezes everything out of them in the first 82. That's a team that could benefit from more regular season energy management, IMO.

 

[Bruce Granville]

The goalies are too shaky.
They need a #1D. It sure didn‘t help Pesce got hurt.
You need another top 2 C.
And goal scorers.
And size and grit.
Too many individual mistakes.
And it sure doesn’t help if you run into the Presidents Trophy winner.
If one way of scoring doesn’t work in the playoffs, you need to adjust. Passing and shooting is for the regular season. Now you need to drive the net, hit the players on the forecheck and get depth scoring.

Sign Guentzel. Get a better goalie. Try to keep some of your aging (29+ yo) talent for a longer and thus lower cap hit.
Moving on from every player turning 30 is not smart…Trocheck would help.

 

[rea]

Think they have great depth, their goal tending is fine, albeit glass. Think their need is probably grit and truculence. Not saying they can't hold their own right now, but theres something to be said when the opposition has to plan and think about entering corners or watching whose on the ice. The wear and tear physically put out, is only half of it, as it also wears on players mentally, which has dramatic effect on gameplay

 

[bleedgreen]

I feel like they play their guts out all year and when it comes playoffs time their gas tank isn't as deep/ the other teams step their game/intensity up from regular season

I think this is an underrated thought during Rod’s time. I would only counter with this year they didn’t seem as dogged and obsessive as other years, so I don’t think they burned through the fuel quite as much as other years and they don’t seem as tired as they have seemed in the past. I think the Rangers have better chemistry and are winning the special teams game within the game because of that, and that’s probably the biggest issue this year.

 

[647Hockey]

Think they have great depth, their goal tending is fine, albeit glass. Think their need is probably grit and truculence. Not saying they can't hold their own right now, but theres something to be said when the opposition has to plan and think about entering corners or watching whose on the ice. The wear and tear physically put out, is only half of it, as it also wears on players mentally, which has dramatic effect on gameplay

I watched some of the Isles series. And going by what everyone says about Canes, they are a well balanced puck moving team. So the team all seem to be pretty good at moving the puck out and passing.

But, when the team is hemmed in with forechecking they dont seem to have the grit to grind it out in either zone. They rely on getting the puck and passing it out with puckhandling/passing. So when Rangers and Isles can check effectively along the boards, that's when Canes seem to be most vulnerable.

 

[Bruce Granville]

Should have traded Slavin for McDavid.

McDavid has the same amount of goals as Mitch Marner…

 

[CatOTails]

Those are all tier 2 top end guys. Other than Aho theyre all complinentary players. Where's the 50 goal scorer? Where's the 100 pt playmaker?

Every single team remaining outside of Boston has 2-3 guys more productive and effective than Carolina.

It's fitting that you compared them to AV Rangers. There was ZERO top end talent on that Rangers team outside of their goaltender.

Vegas just won a cup without 50+ goal scorer and 100+ pt playmaker.

 

[Grifter3511]

Vegas just won a cup without 50+ goal scorer and 100+ pt playmaker.

Correct. There are outliers. Blues are another one. But they're not the norm. And Aho isn't Eichel (not to mention cap circumvention).

 

[Blueline Bomber]

The Canes last 8 playoff losses have been by 1 goal.

5 of them have been in OT (and one was a 1-0 loss that was seconds away from OT)

There’s issues they need to work out, but it’s not like they haven’t been extremely competitive in every loss they’ve had. Doing anything drastic is an overreaction.

 

[14ari13]

Offense, Brindemour, goaltending

 

[hirawl]

Nothing really. It's a game of small margins. The series against Rangers could easily be 3-0 to the Canes at this point.

 

[WarriorofTime]

How can you be cheap and a cap team at the same time? No one has been able to answer that one for me yet.

There are other non-cap related expenses to running a hockey organization. You can be cheap by cutting corners in those other areas.

 

[OneSharpMarble]

Cursed when they stole Kotkaniemi.

 

[Coffey]

McDavid has the same amount of goals as Mitch Marner…

Oh Jesus.

 

[Petey But Really Jim]

The problem is twofold: Eric Tulsky and Tom Dundon.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

I mean...I think it's the "shoot everywhere and often" strategy and thinking that because they can control the puck in the ozone and wrack up a ton of low percentage shots that they're "winning" at 5v5. Yes they get goals that way...both goals tonight came from that. But when it gets tight they don't seem to get enough scoring in other ways and we're seeing how the over reliance on shot attempts is obscuring some of the actual talent they have. The Aho and Guentzel line is deadly. They could be setting up high percentage scoring plays more often. Necas is a strong player, Svech can snipe it, Jarvis is an excellent player...but IMO those guys just don't get enough good looks and you're wasting your best players on netfront scrambles and deflections.

You just gotta have a bit more to your game IMO. Even when talking about "what's wrong with the power play" Rod was saying "we need more shots and to take away Shesterkin's eyes" which to me means their gameplan is still screen and blast the puck, not create high percentage passing plays.

And a bit of bad luck overall as well, but when you kinda lean so heavily on creating favorable conditions for "puck luck" then you're at the mercy of bad luck as well.

They'll say "but we controlled 5v5 and should have won that game" but then I'd say, why didn't you? Why didn't you win the other games?

Rangers don't have the horses and style to constantly shut down the Canes offense so they're doing their best bend don't break job and capitalizing on their chances.

e: "playoff hockey" and "playoff goals" aren't just deflections and netfront scrambles anymore. Anyone thinking that's the only way to get playoff goals is stuck in the past and needs to realize you have to have some amount of balanced attack. Score off the rush, score from deflections, net scrambles, score from skilled setup passing plays and snipes. You gotta do it all, and Canes focus too much on one aspect.

The bolded, they remind me so much of what Sullivan tries to have the Penguins do, and why the Pens have similar issues when they face better teams. The Canes just do it better than the Pens because they're younger/faster. But it's not the type of game that actually wins you series against good teams in this league come playoff time.

 

[Drake1588]

They are sometimes criticized for trying to fly in the face of established hockey practice, wisdom, however you want to call it, with respect to how to win games when it matters.

It's not payroll. They're a cap team. How they spend to the cap is up for debate, though. They seem to prioritize depth and spend their money accordingly, leaving less for top-tier difference makers who earn the big dollars.

• They lack elite finishers who elevate their games. Goal scoring is always hard for this team in the postseason, harder than it seems like it should be to score goals.
• Finishers who are greasy and crowd the crease might help in that regard.
• As talented as their top-end guys are, those players might not have that extra gear and/or leadership facet to their games, which sees a superstar put a team on his back. It's an intangible, but real when looking at most Cup winners.
• They always lack elite goaltending and don't seem willing to pay at the position, in terms of either trade cost or AAV cost. They don't believe in spending as much to acquire it as do other clubs.
• They might play a system that isn't conducive to playoff success (e.g., peppering the opposition with a high volume of low percentage shots). That isn't necessarily a condemnation of Brind'Amour, and we know he's all but certain to return, but some flexibility and creativity from him in terms of systems play might be overdue.