Current State of the Canes ... encouraged?

I've admittedly been a fairly harsh critic of our new owner thus far, but for the first time since he took over the club I got the receipt for a payment for my season tickets and wasn't ticked off at myself for my decision to renew. That got me thinking a bit.

So ... where are you with regards to the current state of the Canes? Encouraged, still skeptical, off the wagon and staying off? As of today, with the Calgary trade, the signing of DeHaan and Mrazek and the 2018 draft class behind us I'm feeling at least somewhat encouraged. I think we're starting to see that, while unconventional, our new owner's approach to management is not completely daft. With his management team in place, Dundon is no longer making decisions in a vacuum as he unavoidably was in the early days. That has resulted in moves that LOOK more traditional, even if the decision making process to get to that point was less different than the NHL norm. Yeah, the roster is still a work in progress but for the first time in a long time I'm left thinking that we're actually making progress.

And look ... I'm a pragmatist from way back. So long as the end result is there, I could care less how the sausage gets made. I'm wondering how the rest of you feel though. What say you all?

Eagerly awaiting training camp, opening night, etc. On paper, and one ice are rarely ever similar. I've had high hopes squashed many times before.

Signs of promise for sure, the goal tending still scares the heck out of me but the defense and youth up front has me excited. I guess I want to be a believer, but still skeptical until we see real results on the ice where it counts. Brindy to me is a guy that will back his words with actions and sit guys that are not pulling their weight...far too much "all talk and no action" in the past from the likes of Peters, Muller, etc. I like the depth and youth coming along with this team and hope that better days lie ahead, I want to see a playoff crazy Triangle soon again.

Not forking up the second overall pick and then the trade with Calgary has gotten my hopes up again. Oh wait, that actually happened after Peters picked up anchor and moved his dog and meh show up to Calgary, where I'm sure they'll be super patient with this schtick. That being said, I'm still holding out final decision until the opening night, when reality will inevitably come crashing down on us.

I too am feeling more encouraged about this team's prospects for the future. These are very tangible actions that went deeper than what I was expecting, especially regarding our defense. I also believe they will continue moving pieces when the opportunity arises (or when they create an opportunity). A far cry from "we like our team"

ThinIce said:

A far cry from "we like our team"

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This might be the real root of whatever optimism I've got surrounding the Hurricanes. We have FINALLY moved past all the excuse making and defensiveness about our roster and onto more pragmatic ground. Dundon put it well in that Atlantic article ... whether you miss by a mile or a single step, you still missed your goal and something must be done to address that shortcoming. I'm paraphrasing, but that's the gist of it. That kind of thinking, I fully support.

I am very encouraged. Too many years with a "we like our core" mentality, when it felt to me like that core was mired in a culture of complacency.

There are some big holes still, but some luck, some bold moves, and a new approach has me cautiously optomistic--things may not magically get fixed in one year with all the youth we have, but the direction certainly feels better.

The next moves (Faulk? Skinner?) may increase the short term optomism, but as long as we don't fire sale those guys, I'm still in a more positive mode.

On added thought-coaching. It just hit me what bugged me about both Peters and Muller. They both were smarmy and did not engender trust--I never really believed anything they were saying. I don't think it is a stretch to say that Brindy is much more trustworthy.....and I feel the same about his assistants. We'll see if they can coach as a team, but again, while not perfect, the coaching changes provide another reason to be encouraged and its great to see smarminess gone. Finally.

I like what I’ve seen so far and what we’ve seen so far is more than what we saw in the last several years combined. I do wonder how this all would look if we did not come in second in the lottery. Svechnikov is a huge win, and that was sheer luck. By the same token, Peters’ downfall was in large part due to Darling and that was fairly unpredictable too. Also, would we have pulled the trigger on the Calgary deal if management hadn’t been forced to by the players’ unreasonable demands? Again, it came out looking like a big win, but it was at least partly circumstantial. That brings me to DeHaan. That was a flat out win that nobody saw coming and that appears to have not been stumbled upon in the least but instead planned and well executed. That’s why I’m excited about the future.

Nevertheless, with all the changes, the new season could be a train wreck at times. That’s fine. I’m not expecting us to challenge the Caps and Pens for the division this year. I am expecting to see some experimentation and accountability and tweaking or wholesale course correction when things don’t go right.


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I like that we are finally making substantial moves that actually appear to be improving the roster. I sure do like that we lucked into Svechnikov. I'm a bit worried that I'm not going to like what they do with Skinner and Faulk. And no matter what, I'm going to be worried that our goaltending is going to wreck everything.

I do like that Dundon is a straight shooter. He came out and said 'our job is to find players better than you'. Assuming from here we trade Faulk and don't do anything else with the blueline, its Hanifin and Faulk out and de Haan and Hamilton in. Guess what? Those are 2 players 'better than you'. AND they are paying them very little above what Hanifin wants and Faulk makes. Dundon also has indicated that he is willing to spend, but be smart about it. For those still griping about 'cheap', I argue 'smart'. And the new Defense is exhibit A.

I'm excited about the moves so far and really excited to see Svech, Necas and Zykov play. Until the work is done with whatever becomes of Faulk and Skinner I will remain worried about the forward mix and us making some sort of 'Whaleresque' type of deal where great players go out and not so great players come back. But I'm excited for sure that things are changing.

On the Calgary trade ... it's pretty clear that the Canes went to Dallas for the draft looking to make a move of some kind. Do they make that specific move if Hanifin and Lindhom don't balk at their (reasonable) contract offers? No, probably not. Does that devalue the move they ended up making? Not for me. The Canes took a potentially bad situation and flipped it into a good one in large part because they went into Draft weekend looking to be aggressive. I don't really care what triggered that, just that it happened.

Now, roll it back a couple of years. Prior management goes into Draft weekend the way they always did ... with a list and an open phone line "just in case" somebody else offers them something. That move NEVER happens under Francis because he never took a proactive approach towards anything to do with contracts or roster moves. Everything was reaction.

I'm definitely encouraged. It may take more than one offseason to correct what ails us. I feel like we are moving in the right direction.

If, a big ole industrial size if, we move Skinner, Faulk, etc and get a proper centre, I will start entertaining playoff hopes. Either way, I like the direction and hope it's just the beginning.

yes things are looking up except in goal but time will tell on that front

Encouraged.

I think the previous regime would have

Overpaid to resign Lindholm and Hanifan, or let that drag on until it was clear we were over a barrel and then traded them for less.

They'd have bought out Darling and brought in someone else and resigned Cam.

They would not have signed DeHaan.

they would have stood pat with the idea that the kids would be coming along so no need to make big moves on D, and the improvement would come from the new rookies on the roster.

Oh yeah - We'd have re-signed Ryan.

I'm much more comfortable leaning on the youngsters at forward for more scoring with what looks to be an outstanding blueline. As opposed to counting on youngsters up front AND at D.

cmon3 said:

I'm much more comfortable leaning on the youngsters at forward for more scoring with what looks to be an outstanding blueline. As opposed to counting on youngsters up front AND at D.

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Yeah. It's a build from the back end sort of deal for next season, barring more moves. Even Darling and Mrazek are not kids, per se. They both have a goodly amount of experience between NHL pipes, just not all of it good experience. Faulk or no Faulk, that's a pretty veteran D Corps by Hurricanes standards. We haven't had a group with that many collective games under their belts in quite awhile. Fleury is the only greenhorn and even he got an eyeful last year.

And if you are going to end up relying heavily on the under 25 crowd up front, then giving them a solid back end to fall back on is a good way to go. Of course, all that is predicated on one or the other of those goalies finding their game. That's a big risk, but having a solid top 4 on defense won't do anything but help those guys either. I mean, you guys know me ... D First should probably be tattooed on me at some point.

Encouraged and pleased would be the short answer so far.

Surprise defensive changes to the upside.

I am glass half full on the goalies just because Mzarek has such a positive attitude. Darling should be on a short leash. If he stinks, and is as rancid as last year, he should be demoted before a quarter of the season is past. Maybe he will be faster this year. He had the biggest five hole I had ever see before in NHL. Will he continue to play small and without confidence?

I am like most waiting to see where the scoring will come from, and by whom.

The front office changes have been really good now that we see they aren't complete buffoons. No Ryan, no Peters. Francis was good with the draft but not trades. These guys make trades and actually improve the team.

I am not sure this is a playoff team this year and hate to have high hopes dashed but am hopeful after seeing the defensive improvements. Faulk listened to Hainsey too much about holding the puck in the defensive zone, and unfortunately more time then not, lost possession in high scoring areas. Bye, bye Mr Faulk, hopefully, for more encouragement to the scoring department.

Encouraged? Yes. But...

Love the D, but Pesce and Slavin need to regain their 2016-17 form. They went from +23 to -6 and +1, respectively. They’ve also shown a propensity for playing better together than apart. Hamilton replaces the offense we got from Faulk for the 3 seasons prior to 2017-18 with better defense. de Haan doesn’t have as much offense as Hanifin showed last year but has been a + player for all but 1 year (when he was -7).

Someone has to pick up the scoring slack from Lindholm and Skinner (if he’s traded). As has been mentioned elsewhere on the forum, that’s a lot of pressure on Necas and Svechnikov to put up 45-55 goals. We bagged on Ryan a lot but that’s another 15 goals that have to be replaced. Ferland replaces what a healthy Stempniak provided...high teens-low 20s in goals, 40-45 points. Martinook > Nordstrom. We need a big bounce back year from Rask. Is he capable of regaining the 50 points he almost hit in 2015-16?

Goalie...I just don’t know. In 2015-16, Mrazek was 2.33/.921. Since then he’s been Cam Ward (last year) or Scott Darling (in 2016-17). Darling looks good, does it translate to better on ice performance? It had better or we’re on the outside looking in again.

I like the moves they made but of course I am not encouraged. For the billionth straight year we failed to seriously upgrade center and goalie. Maybe they ones we have turn it around but I am discouraged with that approach again.

Yeah ... I probably should have mentioned that at least some of my optimism comes from the fact that I was fully expecting the ineptitude of Dundon's early days to continue. Baby steps, but at least they're in the right direction.

as others have said you can't snap your fingers and fix the goalie issue. a 4 year deal when the guy plays badly is a major problem. I wonder what their plan is if both guys don't work out. Maybe they thought Skinner and other assets could have returned a goalie but that did not work, I guess it still could if the season starts badly with Darling and Mrazek.

I don't want to defend Darling as I have no idea if he can get better--but has anyone watched tapes or remember games he played in Chicago? Did he have the gaping 5 hole there? and constantly out of position.

He was so bad at fundamentals last year its hard to believe being in better shape is the answer. (or even confidence).

If he used to be fundamentally sound, maybe he can get back there....