Carolina Hurricanes

Current Reality and Future Potential of Canes. Minor Trade (Updated) February 21, 2017, 11:53 AM ET [12 Comments] Ben Case  Carolina Hurricanes Blogger • RSS • Archive • CONTACT

(Updated) The Canes have made their first move as they approach the trade deadline. The Canadiens have sent the Canes 25 year old defenseman Philip Samuelsson for defenseman Keegan Lowe. Samuelsson is the son of Charlotte Checkers Head Coach Ulf Samuelsson and was a second round pick in 2009 by the Penguins. 

I don't envision him seeing any time on the Canes roster. He will be a free agent this summer, so his time with the Canes may be short-loved. I do like his size- he is 6'3 210 lbs. He has 101 points in 344 AHL games and has only seen 13 NHL games. In 2014, Erkk Piri with EliteProspects said: 

Samuelsson is a defenseman with good instincts for the position. Plays a safe, steady game from the backend, and knows his limitations. Can be a physical presence at times, but lacks some bulk to be a real menace in that area. He could also improve his skating ability.

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I am hoping this is an early indication that GMRF is trying to move Hainsey out. However, Dahlbeck, Tennyson and Muphy are also easily expendable too. In the event that GMRF decides to call up Fluery or McKeown, the Checkers will need some extra help. 

The Canes are in the midst of a full on “dumpster-fire.” A little over a month ago, the Canes found themselves in a great position to make a playoff run. However, since January 17th, the Canes have gone an embarrassing 3-9-0 and been grossly outplayed numerous times. 

It is almost perfectly fitting to see a team that was exceeding expectations throughout November/December completely fall apart for over a month right before the trade deadline. As they rode an impressive five game losing streak into the All-Star Break, I thought that they would hit “reset” and get back to business.

The first three games (and only three they’ve won in a month+) back from break they actually looked competitive again. However, there is a blunt reality that the Canes literally dress around 6-8 AHL players who are barely NHL capable on a consistent basis: Tennyson, Dahlbeck, Hanifin, McGinn, Ryan, Stalberg, McClement, Rattie (gone now), Di Giuseppe, Nordstrom.

The lack of depth, especially on the offensive side, has led Coach Peters to balancing the lines and essentially creating 2-3 completely worthless offensive lines. The Canes have blindly stumbled offensively and have made even the worst NHL goalies look like the reincarnation of Martin Brodeur. 

While I haven’t counted the specific number, I can say with almost 100% certainty that the Canes have seen a back-up or AHL “call-up” goalie for over half of the games this season. Despite that, the Canes are still one of the bottom third teams in scoring and 5v5 shooting %. Goalies are thrilled to play the Canes because they know for one night they will have the fastest “chest in the league” for an evening. 

Just how bad are the scoring woes? Well, in the last nine losses they have been outscored 39-8. If you exclude the 5-1 win over the Flyers and the 5-4 win over the Islanders, then in the last ten games the Canes have been outscored 40-10 and gone 1-9-0. 

Now I’m no math genius, but 10 goals in 10 games is pretty much always an equation for a guarantee to lose—especially when six of those nine goals came in three games…that means four goals in the other seven games…

You thought the Flyers ruined goalies and was a crappy market to play in...well…here in Carolina, fans expect 82 shutouts and 82 1-0 wins or it must be the goalie’s problem. Now I am not saying that Ward is perfect or exempt from responsibility for the losses—more that Canes’ fans have an unrealistic mindset and grossly oversimplify the problems and refuse to acknowledge the true reality of this team. 

Ward has been subject to 3 AHL quality D-men playing a night the entire season, as Tennyson, Dahlbeck and Hanifin have been mostly terrible despite having moments of quality D. Yes, I said it—Hanifin is playing at an AHL level quality—this isn’t NHL ’17 where he is a complete stud. The funny thing when people talk about the Canes is the discussion on how deep the blue-line is—really?

Potential is just that—potential. Until it materializes into something, there is only the potential for depth. The reality is the Canes currently have 3 top-4 D, an aging veteran who is disengaged, and 3 AHL guys who on competitive teams would be in the AHL.

While Ward does let in stoppable goals, he also plays in front of a unit that let’s guys walk uncontested to the net, leaves wide open (and multiple options) forwards for backdoor tap-ins and refuses to pick up guys who go towards the net. 

Teams have discovered that the way to beat the Canes is to make them skate and not allow them to play a “1990-2000’s” style Devils trap. Once the Canes start skating, they typically stop playing smart, positional hockey and team’s capitalize on mistakes, turnovers and transitional plays. 

Given all of this, I seriously ask does it matter who is in net when/if you can’t score? Canes fans have this unrealistic idea that by maybe allowing one less goal they will be playoff contenders—I’ve got news though a 4-1 loss counts the same as a 3-1 loss and so forth. 

As a Devils fan, I can tell you an elite goalie doesn’t fix scoring problems in today's NHL, it elongates a rebuild by bailing out a completely awful team to being mediocre—Seriously...how’s that no scoring and elite goalie strategy working out for the Devils since acquiring Schneider? 

The fact is that the Canes are a young and developing team. While there is tons of potential, people need to remember that there is a difference between potential and reality. The last month has been a brutal reminder of the reality of dressing 4-5 AHL forwards, 2-3 AHL D and a goalie who is on par with most NHL back-ups. 

The Canes take on the Penguins tonight and hope to extinguish the dumpster fire. The last time they played the Penguins convincingly won 7-1. The big question tonight is how many Canes are going to play at an NHL level tonight…Puck drop is at 7:00 and is on FSCR and ROOT. Go Canes![/size]