Official 2009-10 Carolina Hurricanes Thread

[staal4pm]

Alright boys, what are we thinking here? Let's make this an ongoing thread where we discuss the team. There's not may of us here so there's no need to make a bunch of threads throughout the season. I think it will be easier with just one.

I'm going to call it right now. There will be one fight tonight. I don't think it will be TK, however. I think he lets his head rest for a bit. I think it will be one out of Gleason, Alberts, Walker, or Harrison (if he plays).

[Mr. America]

There are too many MW/LW's in this game for us not to have a scrap. Hopefully both teams come out with some energy and the RBC should be rockin!

[Mr. America]

Harrison is IN tonight!!!

[Mr. America]

Do you think our almost non existent preseason (4 games) was a good or bad decision? The team came out in game 1 with alot of energy, even out hitting the FLyers of all teams early on.Then they looked dead in the 2nd and 3rd.

Not to mention there wasn't alot of cohesiveness.

[RedWolf]

MEDIC !!!!

Did anyone NOT get cut that game... hope Cole isn't out for the year. I think we should have played at least 4 more preseason games. From the looks of it we haven't figured out how to play as a team.

[Mr. America]

I think its safe to say this team has issues at the moment. Doesn't look like they've played much together.

There I said that. wanted to say it somewhere, but not dare do it on a Canes forum somewhere.

[staal4pm]

Originally Posted by RedWolf

I think we should have played at least 4 more preseason games. From the looks of it we haven't figured out how to play as a team.

Amen, brotha, and I agree with you too, Captain. This team just looks not ready to play. Seem to be a step late every time or unsure what to do in certain situations. The special teams have also been just abysmal. 1-18 on the PP (6%) and 7-13 on the PK (54%). What the hell is that! We have much better players than that! To me, that's a direct result from the lack of preseason games.

Looks like Timmy will take Cole's spot on the roster. That means Ruutu is up with Staal and Samsonov (I think Whitney should be there), Walker is up with Jokinen and Brind'Amour and our fourth line is Conboy, Yelle, and Kostopoulos.

3 games this week against the Florida teams. Time to win some games and get out of the cellar. I think 4 points at the minimum is what we need. Would love to get 5 or 6. Even though Tampa is much improved, these are teams we need to beat consistently.

[staal4pm]

WE WON!!! 2-1 in a shootout but I'll take it. Did a bit better on special teams (1-5 on the PP, 7-8 on the PK but it came on an extended 5 on 3). Ward looked great, especially in the shootout so it's good that he didn't show any ill effects from Boston. Gleason and Alberts were nasty on the back end, they both had a strong game. Our shootout line up of Samsonov (goal) - Jokinen (no goal) - Ruutu (goal) looked good. And we still have Cullen we can throw in there. We look to be set on those this year, which is great. Samsonov went for his classic forehand-to-backhand and left Smith poking at nothing.

Some cause for concern though. Tampa Bay looks to be a good team on the back end, but for the third game in the row to start the sason we didn't mount much of an offense. Good that we won with defense, but we need to start scoring some goals. 3 goals in 3 games. Yuck.

Secondly, Pitkanen did return to the lineup but it was a short one. He did assist on Jokinen's goal and had a pretty good first period. But he took a penalty and got two more for mouthing off around the midway point of the second and didn't take another shift for the rest of the game. The team's calling it a lower body injury. No details of this point but needless to say this is not the news we were looking for.

Oh well. We have a few days of rest before Florida on Friday. Need to win that one, too.

[Mr. America]

I'm confused about Joni. I have read that he was injured, then I also read that Maurice said he got "cold" during the 3rrd with all the PK going on so he left the bench.

What about the Conboy fight?

[RedWolf]

Listened to the game on the laptop, sucks it wasn't televised. You just can't gauge progress when the game is announced. Watched the Oilers game and noticed no Big Mac (not that they needed him... but still).

If Big Mac hits the waiver wire I will pay good money to pick him up. I don't care if he doesn't "fit our style" at the moment our style is slightly better then ECHL caliber.

[RedWolf]

Originally Posted by Mr. America

I'm confused about Joni. I have read that he was injured, then I also read that Maurice said he got "cold" during the 3rrd with all the PK going on so he left the bench.

What about the Conboy fight?

Not that this adds clarity to the question but there is this from the canes twitter page: http://carhur.com/182

There was good news and bad news on the Joni Pitkanen front. The rugged defenseman saw his first action of the season after recent knee surgery and played nine shifts in the first period, but saw just two minutes of action in the second and didn’t return for the third.

“We took so many penalties in the second period and he got cold,” Maurice said. “He needs to stay warm and stay on the ice. There wasn’t an injury or a re-injury. He got stiff and didn’t feel he could go. It was unfortunate because in 4-on-4 hockey he’s pretty darn effective the way he skates and moves the puck.”

[staal4pm]

Originally Posted by RedWolf

Listened to the game on the laptop, sucks it wasn't televised. You just can't gauge progress when the game is announced. Watched the Oilers game and noticed no Big Mac (not that they needed him... but still).

If Big Mac hits the waiver wire I will pay good money to pick him up. I don't care if he doesn't "fit our style" at the moment our style is slightly better then ECHL caliber.

One of my old buddies at State interns for the media relations group there and he FTP'ed me the link to the closed-circuit arena feed. I was able to watch that online. Next time this situation pops up, I'll try to let you guys know.

As for Stevy Mac, I think the Canes will stand pat on him and all other enforcers for the time being. Atlanta put Josh Gratton on waivers the other day and he is infinitely better than MacIntyre yet not so much as a whimper from us. That tells me all I need to know: this team is currently not in the market for a tough guy. Which saddens me; I'm a firm believer that every team needs one. With Brookbank and Conboy our team played its best hockey of that 2007-2008 season. Our team's record with Conboy is not an aberration. However, when Cole comes back who would you put a goon like MacIntyre in the lineup over? That's my thing. We'll give up too much talent if we sit somebody. TK plays on the penalty kill, Yelle is a center and also on the PK, Scotty is Scotty, even Timmy can play defense in a pinch. The team's make up unfortunately just doesn't lend itself to having a <5:00 goon.

Please don't construe those remarks as pacifism: I don't post on the Canes forum for a myriad of reasons, not in the least because they don't like tough hockey over there. I would love for us to have Orr, Godard, Brash, Belak, any one of the top guys.

[RedWolf]

CC feed sounds great, you can toss us PMs to keep distribution from getting out of hand.

I know Big Mac is a homer's dream. The guy has family outside Charlotte and I think he's being wasted in Edmonton. This team toughness stuff never works IMHO, and with our talent level (assuming people are healthy and preforming relativity close to expectations) we should be able to fit in someone. Maybe not a pure goon, but someone that's more toughness then skill.

I really don't want to see a replay of that Bruins game. Hell even the Wings signed May, did we just get promoted to softest team in the league?

[Mr. America]

No, we are still toughr than Detroit. He was a guy I suggested elsewhere the canes should look into, or maybe even trading for Riley Cote.

Didn't know Big Mac has family in Charlotte?

[staal4pm]

I'll definitely slide the CC links next time I get them. He usually calls me around a half hour before game time when their pregame stuff starts cranking out. If I get it, I'll PM you guys as soon as possible.

I had no idea he had family outside Charlotte, either. I remember he played for parts of 2 or 3 seasons, saw him fight some ECHL clown and ragdoll him pretty good one night after a Panthers game. I agree with you, Red, that the team toughness angle almost never works. You can pile yourself with MW's but what happens when Colton Orr cranks Cullen again? At least then we had Commodore, who had taken on some pretty tough guys in Lowell during the lockout year but even that was awful.

I think any good team needs some sort of physical deterrent, even someone like Brookbank who is not very good at what he does. He's at least someone other teams have in the back of their minds. I had no illusions that guys like Stephen Peat or Trevor Gillies had any prayer of making the team. My only point now is say we do go out and get someone, hypothetically lure Aaron Downey out of semi-retirement. Who would we sit? I think what we would lose by taking a Jokinen, Yelle, Kostopolous, Walker, even a Conboy out of the lineup would far outweigh the benefits brought by an Aaron Downey, or any other available tough guy.

NO chance we're softer than Detroit, no way. Brad May isn't that great of a fighter and I doubt he'll take on many top guys. We'll see how long he stays in that lineup, too. I can think of a few teams softer than us: Florida, Phoenix sans-Bissonnette, maybe NYI since Rechlicz got sent down (but that might be a stretch, maaaybe Buffalo, Detroit, Chicago currently with Eager and Burish out with injury (they're not even that much really).

Just my opinion, though. You make good points though and I see where you're coming from. Just think: for a few games in the inaugural season (1997-1998) we iced a lineup that had Stu Grimson, Enrico Ciccone, Keith Primeau, Gary Roberts, and other scrappy guys like Kevin Dineen, Steve Leach, Kevin Haller, and Adam Burt. Sigh.