LATEST STORIES FROM SHUTDOWN LINE
Rebuilding the bottom-six
Between their minimal scoring contributions, lack of size, poor defensive play and general inconsistencies, the bottom-six was a major troubling point for the Hurricanes this season. It wasn't supposed to be a problem going into the year because on paper, the Canes had plenty of depth forwards to make up their bottom-six and had plenty of guys who they could supposedly count...
Storm Aftermath: Tuomo Ruutu
Now signed to a four-year, $19 mil. contract, Tuomo Ruutu is expected to play a key role in the Hurricanes future by being a contributor in the team's top-six while providing a much-needed physical presence on top of that. It's hard to deny that Ruutu makes an impact whenever he is in the lineup but unfortunately, Ruutu spent most of this year watching the team from the press...
Storm Aftermath: Eric Staal
All Carolina fans breathed out a collective sigh of relief when it was announced that Eric Staal would be ready for the 2013-14 season after suffering a sprained MCL while playing in the World Hockey Championship. As team captain, Staal's presence would have been missed in the locker room if he was out for a longer time but his impact on the ice would have been an even bigger...
Storm Aftermath: Jordan Staal
Fan expectations always vary from player to player in a given year and this season, I think Carolina fans had higher hopes for Jordan Staal than anyone else on the roster. It made sense to expect a lot from him, too. He has always been one of the best two-way centers in the NHL and has shown the ability to be even more than that during his time with the Pittsburgh Penguins when given...
Hurricanes Goals Versus Salary Values: Findin the best bargains on the team
Even in a year with a $70.3 million salary cap, finding players on cheap deals is essentially to building a winning club. Not every team has the same funds and those in smaller markets have to find players on bargain contracts to stay in contention rather than try to outbid their competitors. Big market teams have to do this, as well and it will be important next year with the cap...
Storm Aftermath: Kevin Westgarth
A "need" that Hurricanes GM Jim Rutherford wanted to address last off-season was acquiring an enforcer to help prevent other teams from taking liberties on some of Carolina's more skilled players. The Hurricanes specifically wanted to invest in some protection for Jeff Skinner, who has already suffered two concussions in his young career, and the old theory is that...
Storm Aftermath: Tim Gleason
We will continue our player reviews from this past season by taking a closer look at the year that was for Tim Gleason. Recently signed to a four year, $16 mil. contract, Gleason is set to be a key cog in the Hurricanes defense corps for the next few season and is expected to provide a solid, veteran presence for players like Justin Faulk to learn after. Gleason has also established...
Storm Aftermath: Jamie McBain
It's about that time of the year where we will look back at the season that was for the Hurricanes by taking a look at the individual performance of each player. Last season I did this by showing how effective each player was at controlling scoring chances but I'm going to take a different route this time. Scoring chances are very important, but they're just part of...
Who will be the best player available?
When I wrote about who the Hurricanes should select with with fifth overall selection in this summer's draft, I said that they should take the best player available. Defense might be their biggest need right now, but thinking long-term, the Canes are going to have to replace Alexander Semin, Tuomo Ruutu and possibly Jiri Tlusty so taking a forward isn't the worst thing...
Second Round Playoff Predictions
I managed to go 7-1 in my first round playoff predictions and now we'll see if I can keep the ball rolling in the second round. I have a feeling that it will be tough since most of the matchups have two very good even strength teams going up against one another, so things like goaltending, special teams and puck luck are going to play a role in whichever team wins. The one series...
Carolina Hurricanes 2013 Zone Entries
One of the growing developments in hockey analysis is tracking zone entries to gauge a team's performance in the neutral zone. Why is neutral zone play important? I've gone over this a few times, but I don't have a problem repeating myself. A recent study done by Eric Tulsky and some other hockey bloggers & researchers have shown that being able to win the battle...
Tracking the Playoffs: Rangers vs. Capitals Game 6
Yesterday, the Rangers forced what is now the third Game 7 of this year's playoffs by defeating the Caps 1-0. Washington may have a new coach, but last night's game had a very similar vibe to the series these two teams played in the second round last season. Aside from the second period, neither team managed to produce much offense and the Rangers were playing a very conservative...
Tracking the Playoffs: Islanders vs. Penguins Game 6
Anybody who thought the Islanders couldn't top the heartbreak of Game Three was proven wrong last night after they were eliminated from the playoffs last night by the Pittsburgh Penguins on the heels of an overtime goal by Brooks Orpik. The whole game was pretty similar to how Game Three went where the Islanders vastly outplayed the Penguins in just about every area but goaltending...
How should Carolina approach this year's draft?
For some people, the NHL Draft is one of the most exciting times of the year because it's a chance to get a look at some of the league's future stars. It's also a beacon of hope for some teams who may have just had a bad season and are hoping to gain an elite player from a high pick. Some teams have been in this position far more often than others (see the Oilers) but...
Tracking the Playoffs: Rangers vs. Capitals Game 5
You always have to expect the unexpected in the playoffs and the Rangers/Capitals series has been full of surprises. I think most people were expecting a lot of close games going in, but what they probably weren't expecting was for the Rangers to look as poor as they have at times this post-season. Despite being the lower seed in this matchup, the Rangers were a much stronger...
Tracking the Playoffs: Wild vs. Blackhawks Game 5
The Wild/Blackhawks series was easily the most lopsided matchup in the Western Conference and the final result ended up being that way with the Blackhawks defeating the Wild in five games and outscoring them 17-7 in the process. The Wild put up a good fight in Games 1 & 3 but in the end, they didn't have the depth to compete with the Blackhawks and were just overpowered for...
Tracking the Playoffs: Islanders vs. Penguins Game 5
Going into this series, I had a feeling that goaltending was going to be a deciding factor and by that, I meant that the team who got slightly better goaltending would be the one who advanced. The Penguins had a decisive edge in this department based on their regular season numbers but after Marc-Andre Fleury experienced yet another playoff meltdown, their goaltending in this series...
Charlotte Checkers Statistical Stars
The Charlotte Checkers season came to a disappointing end last weekend when they lost their first-round series to the Oklahoma City Barons on the heels of two blowout losses. Disappointing ending aside, it was a great season for Charlotte as the team managed to finish fourth in their conference despite using 42 different skaters and having to deal with numerous roster changes once...
Tracking the Playoffs: Rangers vs. Capitals Game 4
Not going to lie here, I thought the Rangers should have been able to handle the Caps at even strength fairly easily based on these two team's play in the regular season. This hasn't been happening, though as the Rangers have been outchanced 39-36 by the Caps at evens heading into tonight's game. They aren't getting dominated but they were outplayed in two out of...
Tracking the Playoffs: Wild vs. Blackhawks Game 4
The Wild pulled a bit of a shocker on Sunday afternoon by not only defeating the Chicago Blackhawks in overtime, but also outplaying them for the majority of the game on top of that. Chicago matches up favorably to the Wild in just about every area, so many were expecting this series to be a quick one but the Wild showed in that game that they could hang tough with one of the best...
Tracking the Playoffs: Islanders vs. Penguins Game 4
"Goaltending Gongshow" would be an appropriate headline for what went down at the Nassau Coliseum last night as the Islanders were able to tie the series. The goaltending on both sides has been bad, but last night's game may have been the ultimate display of goaltending ineptitude where Evgeni Nabokov was bad and Marc-Andre Fleury was ten times worse. The "quality...
Hurricanes Individual Even Strength Scoring Chances
If you've been following this blog for any amount of time then you probably know that I've been tallying and posting the Hurricanes scoring chance numbers on a game-by-game basis and now it's time to reveal the team's overall performance. However, before we get into that, let's provide some context to the team's numbers. Last week, I discussed how the Hurricanes...
The Hurricanes and shot blocking
Last week, I picked apart and analyzed the performance of the Hurricanes defense corps and talked about the reasons why they struggled. One of the conclusions I came to was that the Hurricanes had too many third-pairing defensemen on their roster and not enough guys who could handle top-four minutes without getting hammered at even strength. The other problem that some have pointed...
Tracking the Playoffs: Rangers vs. Capitals Game 3
Rangers head coach John Tortorella has stated a few times that he thinks this series is closer than some believe and that his team has played well in a few areas, specifically with generating offense. That may have been true for Game One, but the Rangers had a lot of problems the next game and the truth is that they weren't very good last night either. They were able to keep...
Tracking the Playoffs: Wild vs. Blackhawks Game 3
Both of the afternoon games yesterday followed a similar pattern. We had two 1 vs. 8 matchups with the lower seed vastly outplaying the higher ranked team and both games going to overtime. The difference between the two games is unlike the Islanders, the Wild actually got rewarded for their efforts and were able to finish off the Blackhawks in overtime to stay alive in the series...
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