Apr 20 2011
Canes Season Recap— Grading the Defense #NHL #Hurricanes
Well, for the 2nd time in the last 4 years the Hurricanes had a shot to make the playoffs with a win in their last game. As usual they crapped the bed and lost. Not only did they lose this year they got embarrassed on home ice by the TB Lightning. With the Bolts already in the playoffs and nothing to gain by winning, all it would have taken is a hot 1st 10 mins and some big hits, like in the Red Wings game 2 games earlier, and the Lightning would have packed it in just trying not to get hurt. Instead the Canes came out flat, and got smoked in the first period being down 3-0 before you could even get back to your seat with a beer. 
The Canes were in the top 5 of the league in pure number of back to back games and it hurt them a bit. They were and impressive 14-3-4 in the front end of these and a depressing 7-12-2 in the back end of these. At first glance 21-15-6 isn’t so bad… .500 on paper but still leads to you missing the playoffs. The Canes finished the year better then I thought from the beginning of the year, but 1 game worse then what I predicted last month down the stretch. I thought they would manage to slide into the playoffs by 1 game or so and lose in 5 in the first round. Seeing how far they were out of it with 7 days left to finish one game out isn’t bad at all. An 8-1-1 run before the last day of the season will do that. BUT, two of the games they lost will hurt for a while. The Sunday game at home vs Buffalo will sting a bit, as will the obvious loss that put them out of the playoffs.
I will save my overall thoughts on the team and the coaching for the last of these recaps b/c I will go more into overall salary cap #’s then as well. For now, I will start with reviewing and grading out the defense. Remember these grades are mainly for the team only, not rating them vs the whole of the NHL.
The young offensive defenseman came into this year with HUGE expectations. After putting up 10 points in 14 games at the end of last year, the front office and fans alike were looking at him to be a savior. Not so fast. McBain started REAL slow. He looked slow and lost for most part of the first half of the season only netting 1 goal before mid January. There were times this year I thought the kid needed some time in Charlotte to work on his game a bit, but they kept on going to the kid to get him some work in the show. He did heat up down the stretch and during the last month and a half of the season he often looked like he fit in, redeeming himself in the eyes of many. On paper his 7 goals and 23 assists might look good enough, they don’t truly tell how bad he was the first half of the year. Is the end of the season the McBain we get for next year or is he just an offensive player who feeds off of the teams hot streaks. Guess we will find out next year.
Grade– C- He didn’t make any impact this year at all. If it wasn’t for a hot last 20 games he would be a D-
Outlook–> McBain is obviously here to stay and at 23 he’s got plenty of time to grow. I am going to be optimistic with him and say I think we will see a better first half next year, as usual providing they put something around him on the blue line. He will need to step up defensively if he is going to get prime ice time next year.
Allen came over in a deadline deal for Sergei Samsonov to bolster the defense which had a complete lack of defensive play. Before that only Gleason could be considered an actual defensive defenseman. Allen did what he was asked to do. He played hard each night. His numbers down the stretch were good for his style of play. He netted 5 assists with a +4, with 35 hits and 27 blocked shots. I thought he was a guy who never took a night off hustle-wise and I liked what I saw from the 30 year old.
Grade– B If he managed to toss in a goal or two I would have given him an A
Outlook–> Allen is signed next year for 2.9 mil against the cap. I think he’s good value for the money and a great start for the back end to work with next year. Happy to see him in a Canes uni for at least one more year.
Gleason did what he always does for this team. He shows up, he plays hard, he takes no crap from the opposing team, and he hits HARD. Tim played in all 82 games for the Canes and while I say he hits hard, he still lacks that killer touch in front of the net. I would like to see him finally put a hurting on some players camped out in the crease, as this is ALWAYS killing the Canes down low. More teams score in close then ever should vs this team. That being said, Gleason is never one to shy away from hitting and from sticking up for his teammates. He will drop the gloves with anyone and plays through all sorts of pain day in and day out. His numbers reflected his hard play from the season. He netted 2 goals and 14 assists and had 85 penalty minutes. The best stat tho is his hits (215) which ranked 5th among NHL defensemen. He also managed 141 blocked shots too which night in and night out help out just as much.
Grade– B Again. like Allen, Gleason had a great year.. few more points and improving on the -11 and he would grab an A
Outlook –> Like Allen here as well Gleason is signed for next year. At 2.75 mil for one more year, he will look to improve on his penalty killing and manage to get that hard shot back on track. Another guy whom I am glad is here and if they can pair him up with a two-way D-man or an offensive one, looks to be a good top 4 D-man for years to come for this team.
Joni Pitkanen is my scape-goat for this year. He’s the object of my utter hatred on this team. I have not seen a more lack of effort on 75% of plays from a player since Jaromir Jagr left the league. I am sick and tired of his same old lolly gagging into the offensive zone going down the left boards slow trying to hold in the puck, which he manages to do about 5% of the time and the other 95% of the time he misses and starts an odd man rush. As long as a good defensive forward like Sutter is out there, you are ok. If not, it’s usually a goal for the other team. As always Pitkanen played when he felt like it. He often only plays well when the team is winning and is either benched or a good offensive option for the other team when they are losing. In wins this year Joni was + 21 with 4 goals and 21 assists. In losses -23 with only 1 goal. Down the stretch people will only remember the OT goal he scored vs the Islanders, his ONLY game winning goal of the year. However, what it doesn’t tell you is that it was a beautiful play by Skinner to set up what might have been his only true slap-shot of the whole year.
Grade– D- I would have given him an F, but hey he did score 5 goals. Too often he doesn’t hustle and is no where to be found when the Canes needed a big play or big stop.
Outlook —> He’s an unrestricted free agent this year. YIPPPIE!!! I can only hope someone offers him a contract worth more then he’s worth so that Jim Rutherford won’t re-sign him. For some reason the Canes front office loves the guy, even tho he’s a waste of money. He made 4 million this year. Hey Jimmy, if you re-sign him for any thing more then 1.5 million you are complete moron. I would rather see more youngsters from the minors then this stiff.
Another deadline deal brought Joslin over from the Sharks in Feb. He’s a tough kid who plays hard and covers his own end fairly well. He’s a little slow of foot and doesn’t have the hardest shot, but he’s not one to shy away from contact and always hustles his butt off to get back into the play if he does get beaten in the neutral zone. He only managed to play 17 games for the Canes this year but his +7 with 21 hits impressed me the most. He’s got some real potential to become another Gleason, but I doubt we will see much in the way of point production out of him. That’s fine by me as long as he stays in the plus side of plus/minus and hustles every time he’s on the ice.
Grade– C+/B- Hard to give a guy who had 17 games a good or a bad grade. I say this grade b/c I like his heart and play style, but with only 2 pim’s it tells me he’s just not rough enough yet. Perhaps a fight or two next year?
Outlook–> Joslin is a restricted free agent. I think they will tender him a qualifying offer and see him sticking around. I don’t think Goose is top 4 material, but he is definitely a guy I can see them having at top 6. Depending on who they sign or bring up he is likely #6 and/or a healthy scratch/injury replacement on most nights. Keep up the good work Joslin I am rooting for you.
Jay Harrison came a LONG way in ’10-’11. Last year he was a mostly scratched meh-type player who I thought would have been cut after the year. He was given a starting 6 job this year and it took him a while but he found his stride. He was pretty mediocre to blah the first half of the year but once January hit. it was like he was a different player. In 2011 he was +8, with 3 goals and 3 assists. Doesn’t sound like much, but for a guy you don’t expect anything from it was huge. I thought his tough(111 hits), and defensive minded play were excellent and I actually was happy to see him on the ice at the end of the game. Unfortunately he went down the end of March to an upper body injury and missed the rest of the season. The Canes missed his defensive presence on the PK and he could have been a minor piece which could have made a difference of those 2 points.
Grade– B- Don’t get me wrong he was great the 2nd half of the year, and I talked him up well, but after all is said and done he is still Jay Harrison, and not a Duncan Keith type player (yet?). With only 3 goals and a little more then half the hits I would like to see from him there is still room for improvement no matter how much he impressed me this year.
Outlook–> Harrison made 500K last year, and is an unrestricted free agent. I don’t see too many teams that will throw big money at him, so I see Rutherford giving him a slight raise, maybe to 700K and him sticking around for another year to see if he keeps improving. I see him being the 5/6 D man on this team and playing most every night.
I was a real happy man last off season when the Canes brought Corvo back. I thought they got good value for him in the trade to Washington, and to have him back in the place he felt comfortable in 08-09, was a positive investment. He didn’t disappoint either for most of the year. Before January he notched 6 goals and 7 assists and played a good leadership role on the back end. He continued his great start with a 13 point January and a 3 goal february. He looked good on the PP all year moving the puck well and getting 23 of his 40 points there. This would have made for a GREAT year if not for 2 glaring items. First defense. Boy did he look bad on defense this year. He was down right awful, at times looking like a Pitkanen clone letting guys just go right around him. I expected a hell of a lot more two-way play from him this year. Instead we got good offense (40 points) and poor D (-14). As bad as he was defensively he was both bad offensively and defensively in March and April. The Canes needed him in a big way in March and he was not there. They needed him in April and he was not there either. People might not remember the 23 PP points this year from Corvo, but they will certainly remember his disappearing act down the stretch.
Grade — B- I teetered on C and B- on Corvo. He was so one dimensional and pulled such a disappearing act in March/April that I really wanted to throw him a C. However, he was such a great leader and played so well offensively through Feb. that he deserves a B-.
Outlook—> Corvo is signed for one more year at 2.25 mil. Right now he’s the Canes top offensive D-man and top Point man (as a Defenseman). I am hoping someone gets it into his head that he needs to play more two-way and then he will have quite a year. If he doesn’t then they will continue to let up too many goals like this year. And for a team who will likely be fighting for 8th AGAIN next year they need all the defensive play they can get.
Overall the defense for the Hurricanes was average to below average at best. They allowed far too many shots on Cam Ward, and they never EVER clear out the front of the net. They need a top defenseman coming in here to replace the God-awful Pitkanen to even THINK about a playoff run. Mark my words, if Pitkanen comes back next year they will NOT make the playoffs.
