TheBigKahuna
Well-known member
Peter's needs to be fired. Period. And he can take the entire rest of the coaching staff with him. The guy is an absolute idiot.
GDT: Canes @ Islanders 11/16 7:00
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cmaleski2
Well-known member
Johnny Boychuk was a +5 that game.
I must be too old school because after Darling let in that 3rd goal that would have been it for him for the night if I was the head coach. His play hasn't been anywhere near good enough for me to give him the benefit of the doubt if he sucks in the 1st period. This loss reminds me of last year when we were at that point where a win would elevate us to a playoff spot, if every so briefly and early....but we lost that game. We NEVER win that game that gets us to that playoff spot. And when you think this team has it going with a 5 game point streak, they remind you why it is we miss the playoffs every year...crappy goaltending, sloppy defense and a general lack of killer instinct, especially on the road.
I must be too old school because after Darling let in that 3rd goal that would have been it for him for the night if I was the head coach. His play hasn't been anywhere near good enough for me to give him the benefit of the doubt if he sucks in the 1st period. This loss reminds me of last year when we were at that point where a win would elevate us to a playoff spot, if every so briefly and early....but we lost that game. We NEVER win that game that gets us to that playoff spot. And when you think this team has it going with a 5 game point streak, they remind you why it is we miss the playoffs every year...crappy goaltending, sloppy defense and a general lack of killer instinct, especially on the road.
CanadaCanes
Well-known member
Great analysis as always CMal! It’s always the same old, same old with this team and it’s really gotten old. Darling is a big man but why oh why does he go down and leave that much open net to shoot at on breakaways? His style seems at times to change from one game to the next but his confidence and body language both leave something to be desired. Peters and his crew simply refuse to change it up! This team needs to start sending messages that young players in Charlotte are hungry for their job at the NHL level if these guys on the big club don’t want to get it done. Francis needs to get off his ass and make a bold trade or do something of significance soon.
cmaleski2
Well-known member
Can we honestly say that Scott Darling has stolen a game for us so far this season? Isn't that what #1 goalies are supposed to do every so often? Its not that Darling has been awful all of the time, but he definitely hasn't been anything more than average to below average so far. Average is a drastic improvement over what we usually see but we definitely were looking for more than average considering the amount of money we are paying Darling. Legit #1 goalie smore often than not bail out their D when they screw up. Not seeing enough of that with Darling so far.
I'm not at all impressed so far with Darling. Not saying I'm clamoring for more Cam, but we have hitched the "Playoffs Train" to Darling and he is sputtering too often in the first '17 miles' for my taste.
I'm not at all impressed so far with Darling. Not saying I'm clamoring for more Cam, but we have hitched the "Playoffs Train" to Darling and he is sputtering too often in the first '17 miles' for my taste.
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CarolinaPen
Active member
If Francis was really thinking Darling was the complete answer to making the playoffs I am worried. Darling has been average and will hopefully get better, but he alone was not the answer for this team reaching the playoffs. Coaching and adding consistent offense are also glaring holes for this team that were not addressed in the off-season.
The Canes were already in the toughest division in the NHL and every team got better this off-season except Pittsburgh and Washington....who also happen to be the two teams that could afford not to improve. Comparing to last year, NJ has somehow leapt ahead of the Canes and Carolina is going to be left fighting with Philly for the Metro basement. Sound familiar?
ThinIce
Well-known member
Nice assessment. Darling hasn't been the savior many of us were hoping he'd be, but I'm not gonna write him off just yet. He was awful last night and I hope that motivates him (and the goalie coach) to get better. I've seen things that I like about him (better puck handling) but I think it's a confidence thing right now.
I turned the game off after the Isles went ahead by a goal in the 3rd. It's too bad this team wastes a 4-goal output, especially when coming back to take the lead in the 2nd. There were some defensive breakdowns, but most of this has to hang on Darling - he's got to get better. 4 goals ought to be enough to win a game.
SlapShots
Well-known member
I am not upset with Darling at all. I'm likely to give him a pass for the next month or so. He's played less than 20 games in front of this team. He's got his first job as a starter and he's trying to round into form. His save % is at extremes and a bit erratic-- .858 to .968. Nothing really consistent. I attribute that to learning curve, problems with the team in front of him, playing full time in the east and just trying to settle himself. His save percentage is .905 overall, but I suspect he will finally settle in the .915 area, which is what you want.
Elsker
Well-known member
I'm also cutting Darling some slack for all the reasons SlapShots cited.
New everything...defense, special teams, even opponents as he switches conferences and dramatically increases workload.
In fact, in a good-intentioned effort to make sure the correct signals were sent to all that there is a new sheriff in town, we may be over-playing him during this transition season.
Last season he had 27 complete games, with 4 being OT's, and partial appearances in 5 others.
This season he's played 13 of our 17 games, with 5 being OT's. That's a 63-game season pace when I thought I saw discussions of him getting maybe 55 games max this season as a transition to carrying a heavier load.
I do feel better with him in goal. He's stopping shots that I don't think Cam would. And Clutterbuck has feasted on Cam through the years. He certainly wasn't going to stop that breakaway thunderbolt.
Would he like to have that missed glove one back? Yep. But Cam has a ton of those. At least short side is better covered these days. Heck, he can cover both sides. But, hey, that's why there's always a five hole if you can get them moving.
And it's the defense's job to prevent cross-crease passes and one-on-none breakaways where skilled dekes can make that target available.
I do think he will grow into the role. I am not afraid to challenge Cam to be a strong 1B.
We're going to need them both.
New everything...defense, special teams, even opponents as he switches conferences and dramatically increases workload.
In fact, in a good-intentioned effort to make sure the correct signals were sent to all that there is a new sheriff in town, we may be over-playing him during this transition season.
Last season he had 27 complete games, with 4 being OT's, and partial appearances in 5 others.
This season he's played 13 of our 17 games, with 5 being OT's. That's a 63-game season pace when I thought I saw discussions of him getting maybe 55 games max this season as a transition to carrying a heavier load.
I do feel better with him in goal. He's stopping shots that I don't think Cam would. And Clutterbuck has feasted on Cam through the years. He certainly wasn't going to stop that breakaway thunderbolt.
Would he like to have that missed glove one back? Yep. But Cam has a ton of those. At least short side is better covered these days. Heck, he can cover both sides. But, hey, that's why there's always a five hole if you can get them moving.
And it's the defense's job to prevent cross-crease passes and one-on-none breakaways where skilled dekes can make that target available.
I do think he will grow into the role. I am not afraid to challenge Cam to be a strong 1B.
We're going to need them both.
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Elsker
Well-known member
Was browsing through some stats and advanced stats on both Rask and Faulk earlier this evening, looking for some clue as to why so anemic in scoring this season.
Still fairly early in the season, but with 20% of games played we're beginning to have a large enough sample size to at least look for anomalies, if not project final results.
Both are certainly Co-Keepers of the cursed dead monkey paw ever since Aho broke free of its spell. Still, at least a goal a game is missing from somewhere among these misfiring three and we need them to snap out of it.
Only real clue I could see was all the usual indicators of physical engagement, face offs, hits, blocked shots, takeaways, even giveaways, were down for Rask this season. I've seen discussions by eyes better than mine that he's becoming more of a perimeter player and not going to the net as much he was before which is exposing his foot speed issues.
Otherwise all numbers for Rask seemed to be reasonable, even goals scored. It's just he's not taking the step forward (at least yet) that was hoped for and discussed by pretty much everyone, including Francis.
As for Faulk, just looks like he is ice cold. Way off pace for goals, but all other numbers looked similar to past seasons. Hopefully he will get that second one soon and the dam will break for him, too.
Later today would be a good time for that to happen.
EDIT: Just looked again at Faulk's shots, which were up this season. Second most on the team in fact (guess who for first) and only 10 shots behind him. But currently running at a pitiful 1.9% success rate that just has to trend to a more normal rate (7% or so) at some point.
Still fairly early in the season, but with 20% of games played we're beginning to have a large enough sample size to at least look for anomalies, if not project final results.
Both are certainly Co-Keepers of the cursed dead monkey paw ever since Aho broke free of its spell. Still, at least a goal a game is missing from somewhere among these misfiring three and we need them to snap out of it.
Only real clue I could see was all the usual indicators of physical engagement, face offs, hits, blocked shots, takeaways, even giveaways, were down for Rask this season. I've seen discussions by eyes better than mine that he's becoming more of a perimeter player and not going to the net as much he was before which is exposing his foot speed issues.
Otherwise all numbers for Rask seemed to be reasonable, even goals scored. It's just he's not taking the step forward (at least yet) that was hoped for and discussed by pretty much everyone, including Francis.
As for Faulk, just looks like he is ice cold. Way off pace for goals, but all other numbers looked similar to past seasons. Hopefully he will get that second one soon and the dam will break for him, too.
Later today would be a good time for that to happen.
EDIT: Just looked again at Faulk's shots, which were up this season. Second most on the team in fact (guess who for first) and only 10 shots behind him. But currently running at a pitiful 1.9% success rate that just has to trend to a more normal rate (7% or so) at some point.
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Elsker
Well-known member
He did have off-season shoulder surgery...but that was summer before last.
This season he was supposed to be ready to go.
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dwind
Well-known member
They didn’t hire Darling to audition for the job. He was hired to stop pucks and get the canes into the playoff. So far he has not performed and until he does the canes are outside looking in.